ILLUSTRATED 


Popular  Biography 


OF 


CONNECTICUT 


COMPILED    AND    PUBLISHED    BY    J.    A.    SPALDING 

4 


HARTFORD,    CONN. 
PRESS  OF   THE   CASE,   LOCKWOOD  &   BRAINARD   COMPANY 

1891 


A    SECTION    OF    BUSHNELL    PARK,    HARTFORD,    WITH    THE    STATE    CAPITOL    AND    MEMORIAL    ARCH. 


201 3147 


INTRODUCTION. 


N  presenting  to  the  public  this  new  contribution  to  the  State  literature  of 
Connecticut,  the  author  appreciates  the  fact  that  various  and  differing 
standards  will  be  adopted  by  both  its  casual  and  its  careful  readers  in 
forming  their  opinions  of  its  merits;  hence  he  desires  in  the  outset  to 
offer  a  few  thoughts  which  appear  to  him  to  be  essential  to  a  correct 
understanding  of  the  work,  and  particularly  of  its  success  as  an  accom- 
plishment of  a  purpose.  The  critic  who  views  it  solely  from  a  literary 
and  artistic  standpoint,  and  reaches  his  conclusions  from  such  an  observation,  will  be 
Hkely  not  only  to  do  its  author  an  injustice,  but  to  lose  sight  altogether  of  some  of 
the  best  and  it  is  believed  the  most  praiseworthy  features  of  the  book.  It  may  be 
said,  too,  that  whoever  has  made  up  his  mind  in  advance  that  a  biographical  work 
which  includes  but  six  or  seven  hundred  subjects  must  exhaust  the  field  and  prob- 
ably embraces  everybody  of  any  note  whatever  within  the  borders  of  the  State,  is 
doomed  to  a  large  disappointment.  And  the  few  — perhaps  it  may  prove  the  many  — 
who  expect  here,  as  in  most  other  biographical  works,  to  find  simply  a  collection  of 
governors,  and  United  States  senators,  and  college  professors,  and  gentlemen  distin- 
guished for  very  rare  and  profound  attainments  of  one  sort  or  another,  will  find  that 
this  is  not  the  work  they  have  expected  it  to  be.  In  a  word,  whatever  reader  for- 
gets or  overlooks  the  Popular  feature  of  this  volume  will  need  to  be  set  right  in 
that  respect  before  he  can  enjoy  or  even  understand,  much  less  pass  intelligent  judg- 
ment  upon,  its   contents. 

The  inception  of  this  work  is  indirectly  attributable  to  the  annoyance  which 
its  author  has  experienced  in  his  previous  daily  newspaper  work,  through  the  pov- 
erty of  biographical  information  obtainable  from  public  sources  concerning  most  of 
the  fairly  prominent  citizens  of  our  State.  His  recent  complete  release  from  journal- 
ism afforded  him  an  opportunity  for  undertaking  to  supply  in  some  degree  the 
deficiency  referred  to;  and  with  that  end  in  view  this  work  was  begun.  It  is  due 
to  the  reader,  and  to  all  who  have  been  successfully  or  unsuccessfully  solicited  to 
appear  as  subjects  of  this  biography,  to  know  something  of  the  methods  which  have 
governed    its    preparation. 

During  the  month  of  December,  1890,  one  or  two  leading  citizens  of  every  town 
and  city  in  Connecticut  were  interviewed  by  the  writer,  and  an  arrangement  was 
made  in  conformity  with  which  these  gentlemen  subsequently  submitted  a  hst  of 
names  of  nearly  two  thousand  persons  in  all  portions  of  the  State,  prominent  in 
business  or  professional  life,  or  who  were  holding  public  positions  and  properly 
entitled  to  be  included  in  a  popular  biography  of  the  Commonwealth.  The  list  thus 
furnished  included  State,  county,  town,  and  municipal  officials,  representatives  of  the 
judiciary,     the     clergy,     the     military,     the     bar,     physicians,     merchants,     manufacturers, 


5  INTRODUCTION. 

artizans,  business  men,  and  whoever  else  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  State  could 
be  regarded  as  commendably  conspicuous  in  local  or  general  affairs.  To  each  of 
the  individuals  thus  designated  a  personal  invitation  was  extended  to  appear  in  the 
proposed  volume,  the  scope  and  character  of  which  were  fully  described  and  ex- 
plained. Each  recipient  of  the  invitation  was  requested  to  furnish  data  from  which 
an  accurate  biography  of  himself  might  be  prepared,  and  to  provide  a  photograph 
from  Avhich  a  vignette  portrait  might  be  made,  for  publication  in  the  book.  The 
invitation  was  a  cordial  one,  but  no  effort  was  made  to  induce  anybody  to  accept  it 
against  his  wishes.  Of  the  two  thousand  persons  thus  invited,  about  seven  hundred 
accepted  unconditionally  and  furnished  the  information  sought.  These  seven  hun- 
dred are  included  in  the  present  volume.  Others  desired  to  appear  in  the  book,  but 
imposed  conditions  which  could  not  be  complied  with,  —  "such  as  that  the  portrait 
should  be  a  full-page  steel  plate ;  or  that  the  sketch  should  carry  an  advertisement 
of  the  subject's  business;  and  in  one  case  a  gentleman  who  has  a  local  reputation 
for  writing  poetry  insisted  that  sundry  specimens  of  his  verse  must  accompany  the 
sketch.  Others  declined  the  invitation  for  various  reasons,  principally  on  the  score 
of  "  modesty " ;  and  still  others  would  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  matter  because 
they  had  the  impression  that  somehow  they  were  going  to  be  swindled.  Of  the 
entire  list  fully  one-half  never  responded  to  the  invitation.  As  will  be  observed, 
however,  the  favorable  responses  were  enough  to  render  the  volume  sufficiently  for- 
midable in  size,  thoroughly  comprehensive  in  character,  and  representative  of  every 
section  of  the  State.  It  is  a  good  beginning  of  an  effort  the  principal  object  of 
which  has  been  to  familiarize  the  people  of  Connecticut  with  the  qualities,  the 
characteristics,  the  accomplishments,  and  the  features  of  their  fellow-citizens  who  are 
or  have  been  leaders  and  chief  burden-bearers  in  all  the  active  duties  of  life.  To 
fully  accomplish  the  work  thus  begun,  and  similarly  present  the  numerous  subject^ 
yet  remaining,  would  require  and  perhaps  may  occasion  the  issue  of  succeeding 
volumes. 

Reference  has  already  been  made  incidentally  to  the  Popular  feature  of  this 
compilation ;  wherein  it  differs,  as  it  was  intended  to  differ,  essentially,  from  all 
other  compilations  of  State  biography  that  have  heretofore  been  made  in  this  coun- 
try. The  term  Popular  in  this  connection  is  intended  in  its  best  sense  —  as  opposed 
to  Exclusive.  This  is  not  the  biography  of  a  class,  or  a  sect,  or  a  party,  but  of 
the  People.  Its  subjects  are  selected  from  all  walks  of  life ;  and  while  the  list 
includes  some  names  of  world-wide  celebrity,  and  many  of  great  distinction  in  the 
State,  it  embraces  also  others  unknown  to  fame  beyond  perhaps  the  limits  of  their 
own  neighborhood,  yet  among  the  most  honorable  and  in  their  sphere  the  most 
useful  citizens  of  the  Commonwealth.  It  may  be  safely  stated  that  there  is  abso- 
lutely no  other  published  collection  that  includes  fifty,  even,  of  the  seven  hundred 
sketches  which  are  spread  upon  these  pages;  yet  for  the  purposes  of  a  reference 
book  of  the  citizens  of  Connecticut,  to  be  consulted  for  information  concerning  peo- 
ple who  are  prominent  in  their  respective  spheres  of  activity,  the  least  of  all  these 
could  not  have  been  omitted  from  this  volume  without  abridging  its  usefulness  and 
impairing  its  value.  The  careful  reader  will  doubtless  be  surprised  to  discover  how 
many  citizens  on  lower  pinnacles  of  fame  than  those  whose  deeds  embellish  the 
pages    of    familiar    history    or    biography,    are    proven    by    this    record    to    be    the    peers 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

of  their  more  celebrated  contemporaries.  It  is  believed  that  this  publication  will  be 
the  ineans  of  pleasantly  introducing  to  their  fellow-citizens  a  great  many  gentlemen 
of  distinguished  ability  and  accomplishments,  whose  lines  of  action  have  been  circum- 
scribed by  local  limits, —  whose  works  are  universally  recognized,  but  whose  per- 
sonality   has    heretofore    been    comparatively    obscure. 

Inasmuch  as  the  publication  of  these  sketches  was  to  be  made  with  the 
authority  and  approval  of  their  subjects,  it  has  been  the  intention  of  the  author  in 
every  instance  to  consult  individual  wishes  in  their  preparation.  In  some  cases  only 
the  briefest  data  were  furnished;  and  the  sketches  of  this  class  of  subjects  will  be 
found  to  be  correspondingly  brief.  Others  entered  enthusiastically  and  extensively 
into  the  work  of  supplying  information,  affording  opportunity  in  many  instances  for 
complete  and  quite  elaborate  biographies.  The  results  in  every  case  furnish  a  fair 
indication  of  the  extent  to  which  facilities  have  been  supplied  or  withheld  by  the 
subjects  themselves.  The  author  is  under  obligation  to  many  gentlemen,  whose 
names  and  faces  appear  on  the  following  pages,  for  their  active  co-operation  with 
him  in  his  efforts  to  make  this  work  in  the  highest  possible  degree  interesting  to 
the  reader  as  well  as  valuable   for  reference. 

The  political  entanglements  resulting  from  the  State  election  (or  non-electionj  in 
November,  1890,  have  involved  many  of  these  biographies,  contributing  an  element  of 
uncertainty  as  to  the  political  status  of  some  of  the  subjects  which  has  rendered 
all  reference  thereto  a  matter  of  considerable  delicacy.  Wherever  allusion  has  of 
necessity  been  made  to  the  political  career  of  members  of  either  the  legislative  or 
executive  branch  of  the  present  State  government,  or  of  unsuccessful  candidates  for 
such  honors,  all  expression  of  opinion  has  been  avoided  and  the  record  intentionally 
confined  to  a  statement  of  facts. 

In  the  production  of  this  volume  it  has  been  the  aim  of  the  compiler  to 
exhaust  every  resource  for  securing  absolute  accuracy  of  detail  in  the  matter  of 
biography,  and  to  make  its  illustrations  faithful  and  creditable.  He  is  conscious  of 
having  exerted  himself  earnestly  and  honestly  to  prepare  for  and  place  before  the 
public  a  work  of  thorough  reliability  and  sterling  value.  He  trusts  that  the  effort 
will    meet    popular    appreciation    and    approval. 

J.     A.     SPALDING. 
Hartford,    July,    1891. 


INDEX. 


Abel,  Simeon,  Bozrah,  .....  361 

Abell,  S.  P.,  Lebanon, 126 

Adams,  Nelson,  New  Haven,        .         .         .  226 

Adams,  Sherman  W.,  Hartford,  ...  33 

Adkins,  H.  R.,  Winsted,        ....  294 

Allen,  B.  R.,  Hartford,          ....  27 

Allen,  Francis  B.,  Hartford,          .         .         .  127 

Allen,  John,  Old  Saybrook,  ....  324 

Allen,  J.  M.,  Hartford,           ....  19 

Allen,  Samuel,  New  Hartford,      .         .         .  293 

Alsop,  J.  W.,  Middletown,    ....  273 

Ames,  Anthony,  Danielsonville,  ...  So 

Andrews,  George  S.,  South  Glastonbury^,    .  162 

Andrews,  J.  E.,  Hamden  (Mt.  Carmel  Center),  173 

Andrews,  Joseph,  West  Haven,   .         .         .  137 

Andross,  W.  F.,  East  Hartford,   .         .         .  177 

Anthony,  Francis  G.,  New  Haven,       .         .  114 

Anthony,  William  A.,  Manchester,       .         .  29 

Arnold,  Charles,  Thompson,          .         .         .  237 

Atwood,  E.  F.,  Bloomfield,  ....  323 

Attwood,  Julius,  East  Haddam,   .         .         .  186 

Austin,  W.  N.,  Plymouth,     ....  142 

Austin,  Willis  R.,  Norwich,  .         .         .         .  337 

Avery,  Erasmus  D.,  Groton,         .         .         .  333 

Avery,  John,  Lebanon,          .         .         .         .  175 

Ayer,  Edwin,  Old  Saybrook,         .         .         .  323 

Babcock,  Charles  H.,  Stonington,         .         .  190 

Backus,  W.  W.,  Norwich,      ....  21 

Bailey,  A.  S.,  East 'Hartford,        .         .         .  360 

Bailey,  B.  A.,  Danielsonville,        .         .         .  157 

Bailey,  Ezra  B.,  Windsor  Locks,  ...  94 

Bailey,  J.  M.,  Danbury,         .         .         .         .  2S8 

Baird,  J.  G.,  Ellington,          ....  297 

Baker,  Davis  A. ,  Ashford,     .         .         .         .  170 

Baker,  Henry  A.,  Montville,          .         .         .  145 

Baldwin,  H.  C,  Beacon  Falls,      ...  64 

Baldwin,  J.  B.,  WiUimantic,          ...  268 

Ball,  Stephen,  Hartford,        ....  141 

Banks,  Frederick  J.,  Bridgeport,  .         .         .  294 

Banning,  Joseph  B.,  Saybrook,     .         .         .  180 

Barber,  Peleg  S.,  Stonington,       ...  42 

Barbour,  H.  S.,  Hartford,     ....  190 

Barbour,  Joseph  L.,  Hartford,      .         .         .  17S 

Barbour,  Lucius  A.,  Hartford,      ...  67 

Barbour,  Sylvester,  Hartford,       .         .         .  159 

Barker,  C.  W.,  North  Branford,  .         .         .  145 


Barker,  Nathaniel  C,  Lebanon, 
Barlow,  J.  H.,  Shelton, 
Barnes,  Charles  D.,  Southington, 
Barnes,  Seth,  Bristol,    . 
Barnum,  Joseph  H.,  Hartford, 
Barrows,  Albert,  WiUimantic, 
Barrows,  F.  F.,  Hartford,     . 
Bartlett,  R.  E.,  Lebanon,     . 
Bartley,  Joseph  Dana,  Bridgeport, 
Bartram,  E.  H.,  Sharon, 
Bartram,  I.  N.,  Sharon, 
Bassett,  E.  D.,  New  Haven, 
Bates,  Gustavus  D.,  Putnam, 
Batterson,  James  G.,  Hartford, 
Beach,  A.  Y.,  Seymour, 
Beach,  B.  P.,  Washington,    . 
Beach,  James  H.,  New  Britain, 
Beach,  S.  Y.,  Seymour, 
Beard,  J.  H.,  Shelton,  . 
Beardsley,  A.  S.,  Plymouth, 
Beardsley,  C.  W.,  Milford,    . 
Beardsley,  George  L.,  Birmingham, 
Beardsley,  James  W.,  Bridgeport, 
Beardsley,  M.  B.,  Bridgeport, 
Beardsley,  Samuel  G.,  Trumbull, 
Beckwith,  Cyrus  G.,  New  London, 
Beers,  Silas  C,  Cornwall, 
Belding,  A.  N.,  Rockville,     . 
Belknap,  Charles,  Bridgeport, 
Bell,  E.  L,  Portland,     . 
Bennett,  Edward  B.,  Hartford, 
Bidwell,  William  L.,  Windsor, 
Bigelow,  A.  C,  New  Fairfield, 
Bigelow,  Edward  F.,  Portland, 
Bigelow,  Hobart  B.,  New  Haven, 
Bill,  Benezet  H.,  Rockville,  . 
Bill,  Henry,  Norwich,    . 
Billings,  Charles  E.,  Hartford, 
Bissell,  F.  P.,  Hebron,  . 
Bissell,  Lewis,  East  Hartford, 
Blake,  Amos  S.,  Waterburj'. 
Blake,  Rufus  W.,  Derby,      . 
Blake,  William  P.,  New  Haven, 
Blakeman,  James  H.,  Stratford, 
Blakeman,  S.  G.,  Huntington, 
BHss,  Watson  H.,  Hartford, 
Bloss,  Samuel  L.,  Bethlehem, 


10 


INDEX. 


Boardman,  W.  F.  J.,  Hartford,    . 
Bolter,  James,  Hartford, 
Bond,  A.  H.,  Hartford, 
Bowen,  A.  J.,  Williniantic,    . 
Bradley,  DeWitt  C,  Westport,     . 
Bradley,  E.  E.,  New  Haven, 
Bradway,  Charles  P.,  West  Stafford, 
Brainard,  Leverett,  Hartford, 
Brainerd,  Erastus,  Portland, 
Brasie,  James  W.,  Washington,    . 
Brayton,  Charles  E.,  Stonington, 
Briggs,  Lucius,  Griswold, 
Brinsmade,  John  C,  Washington, 
Brooker,  Charles  F.,  Torrington, 
Brooks,  Isaac  W.,  Torrington, 
Brown,  D.  D.,  Chatham, 
Brown,  Francis,  Winsted,     . 
Brown,  Freeman  M.,  Hartford,    . 
Brown,  Hoxie,  Colchester,    . 
Brown,  Nelson  A.,  North  Stonington 
Browne,  J.  D.,  Hartford, 
Browning,  C.  F.,  Middletown, 
Bruggerhof,  F.  W.,  Noroton, 
Bryant,  S.  J.,  West  Haven,  . 
Buck,  Edwin  A.,  Willimantic, 
Buckl}-n,  John  K.,  Mystic,     . 
Bugbee,  Edwin  H.,  Putnam, 
Bulkley,  Edward  M.,  Southport,  . 
Bulkeley,  Morgan  G.,  Hartford,   . 
Bulkeley,  William  H.,  Hartford,  . 
BuUwinkle,  Richard,  Greenwich, 
Bunce,  Jonathan  B.,  Hartford,     . 
Burdick,  George  H.,  Hartford,     . 
Burlingame,  C.  S.,  Canterbury,    . 
Burr,  George  W.,  Middletown,     . 
Bushnell,  Cornelius  S.,  Madison, 

Calef,  A.  B.,  Middletown,     . 
Calhoun,  David  S.,  Hartford, 
Calhoun,  J.  Gilbert,  Hartford, 
Camp,  C.  J.,  West  Winsted, 
Camp,  Wm.  L.,  West  Winsted, 
Card,  A.  M.,  Sharon,     . 
Carpenter,  Ehsha,  Hartford, 
Carter,  Henry  B.,  Wolcott,  . 
Carter,  Stephen  B.,  Westminster, 
Case,  A.  Wells,  Manchester, 
Catlin,  L.  S.,  Bridgeport, 
Chadwick,  R.  W.,  Lyme,      . 
Chaffee,  J.   Dwight,  Mansfield, 
Chamberlain,  S.  E.,  Wethersfield, 
Chamberlin,  Franklin,  Hartford, 
Chandler,  F.  D.,  Eastford,   . 
Chapin,  J.  H.,  Meriden, 
Chapman,  M.  S.,  Manchester, 
Chapman,  Orrin,  North  Stonington, 
Chase,  George  L.,  Hartford, 


Page 

264  Childs,  F.  R.,  Hartford, 

258  Christ,  E.  K.,  New  Britain,  . 

207  Clark,  D.  N.,  Woodbridge,   . 

145  Clark,  G.  S.,  Middlebury,      . 

209  Clark,  Thomas,  North  Stonington, 

Si  Clark,  Wm.  B.,  Hartford,     . 

140  Clemons,  H.  N.,  Danielsonville, 

130  Cleveland,  Edward  S.,  Hartford 

302  Cleveland,  Wm.  N.,  Andover, 

145  Clowes,  Geo.  H.,  Waterbury, 
306  Cobum,  J.  M.,  Brooklyn, 

1 88  Colburn,  George  D.,  Union, 
109  Collins,  John  C,  New  Haven, 
331  Colt,  Henry  G.,  Winsted, 

22  Colton,  O.  B.,  Hartford, 

57  Commerford,  Charles  C,  Waterbury, 

373  Comstock,  W.  H.  H.,  New  London, 

136  Conant,  J.  A.,  Willimantic,  . 

275  Converse,  Julius,  Stafford  Springs, 

2S3  Cook,  Asa  S.,  Hartford, 

269  Cooke,  E.  Ludlow,  Hartford, 
33S  Corbin,  Lewis  A.,  Rockville, 
127  Corbin,  Philip,  New  Britain, 
337  Cothren,  William,  Woodbury, 

53  Countryman,  Franklin,  North  Branfor 

129  Countryman,  W.  A.,  Hartford,    . 

268  Cowles,  W.   A.,   Torrington, 

330  Crampton,  Samuel  R. ,  Madison,  . 

17  Crilly,  John  A. ,  Hartford,     . 

151  Crissey,  Ralph  I.,  Norfolk,   . 

146  Crofut,  Sidney  W. ,  Danielsonville, 
118  Crossfield,  F.  S.,  Hartford,  . 
143  Crothers,  T.  D.,  Hartford,    . 
205  Culver,  E.  E.,  Winsted, 
285 

103  Dains,  George  W. ,  East  Litchfield, 
Daniel,  William  F.,  Stamford, 

55  Davis,  Charles  H.  S.,  Meriden, 

304  Davidson,  C.  S.,  Hartford,    . 

255  Dayton,  A.  H.,  Naugatuck,  . 

270  Deacon,  Edward,  Bridgeport, 
300  De  Bruycker,  Florimond,  Willimantic, 

70  Dennis,  E.  C,  Stafford  Springs 

169  Dennis,  Rodney,  Hartford,  . 

329  Dewey,  E.  W.,  North  Granby, 

32S  Dewhurst,  Eli,  Bridgeport,  . 

104  Dick,  William  J.,  Newtown, 
173  Dickinson,  L.  A.,  Hartford, 
357  Dillingham,  E.  B.,  Hartford, 

66  Dimock,  Erwin  O.,  Tolland, 

232  Doherty,  John  B.,  Waterbury, 

36  Donahoe,  D.  J.,  Middletown, 

92  Dunbar,  E.  B.,  Bristol, 

246  Dunbar,  M.  B.,  Torrington,  . 

1 89  Duncan,  Thomas,  Windsor,  . 
179  Dunham,  George,  Unionville, 

40  Dwight,  Henry  C,  Hartford, 


INDEX. 


II 


Drake,  Sidney,  'Hartford, 

Eaton,  W.  W.,  Hartford,      . 
Edmonds,  George  B.,  Bridgeport 
Edwards,  Bulkeley,  Cromwell, 
Eggleston,  A.  F.,  Hartford, 
Eggleston,  J.  D.,  Meriden,    . 
Elliot,  George  E.,  Clinton,    . 
Ellsworth,  P.  W.,  Hartford, 
Ely,  Dudley  P.,  South  Norwalk 
Emerson,  Irving,  Hartford,  . 
Ensign,  Wooster  A.,  New  Haven, 
Etheridge,  Frank  W.,  Thomaston, 


Fay,  George  A.,  Meriden, 
Fenn,  ApoUos,  Plain ville, 
Fenn,  Jason  C,  Terryville, 
Fessenden,  Samuel,  Stamford, 
Field,  George  P.,  Tolland, 
Fisher,  William  H.,  New  Haven, 
Fitch,  Samuel,  Rockville, 
Fitton,  Crossley,  Rockville,  . 
Fitzgerald,  R.  N.,  Hartford, 
Fletcher,  D.  S.,  Hartford,     . 
Flint,  George,  Thompson,     . 
Forbes,  IraE.,  Hartford, 
Foster,  William  B.,  Rockville, 
Fowler,  F.  C,  Moodus, 
Fowler,  George  W.,  Hartford, 
Fox,  Charles  J.,  Willimantic, 
Francis,  Oliver  S.,  South  Canterbury 
Frisbie,  Lemuel  T.,  Hartford, 
Frost,  Russell,  South  Norwalk,    . 

Gaffey,  John  F.,  New  Haven, 
Gardiner,  Andrew  J.,  Danielsonville, 
Gardner,  N.  R.,  Baltic, 
Gardner,  W.  R.,  Waterford, 
Gates,  J.  Henry,  North  Branford, 
Gatling,  Richard  J.,  Hartford, 
Geer,  Erastus,  Lebanon, 
Gerhardt,  Karl,  Hartford,     . 
Gibbons,  Watson,  Hartland, 
Gibbs,  B.  B.,  Bloomfield,      . 
Gilbert,  H.  E.  H.,  Coventry, 
Gildersleeve,  Ferdinand,  Portland, 
Gildersleeve,  Henry,  Portland, 
Gildersleeve,  O.,  Portland, 
Gillette,  E.  B.,  Canaan, 
Gillmore,  J.  M.,  Rockville, 
Gilpin,  Joseph  F.,  Ansonia, 
Ginand,  David,  Bridgeport, 
Glover,  William  B.,  Fairfield 
Godard,  Harvey,  Granby, 
Gold,  T.  S.,  Cornwall,   . 
Goodman,  A.  C,  Hartford, 
Goodrich,  Alfred  R.,  Vernon, 


Page 
1 60 

87 
204 

197 
gS 

iq2 

296 
31 

114 
43 
41 

319 

297 
100 
302 
loS 

70 
322 
353 
193 
138 

65 
199 
187 
144 
176 
123 

37 
253 
179 
212 

96 
298 
350 
320 
129 
215 

74 
139 
308 

134 
370 
162 
109 
312 
152 
128 

235 
103 

^74 

88 

39 

50 

240 


Goodrich,  Stephen,  Hartford, 
Goodwin,  E.  O.,  East  Hartford, 
Goodwin,  J.  O.,  East  Hartford, 
Goodwin,  R.  S.,  Thomaston, 
Graham,  James,  Orange, 
Granger,  S.  A.,  Winsted, 
Grannis,  Alonzo,  Waterbury, 
Grant,  E.  M.,  Stamford, 
Grant,  M.  F.,  Norfolk,  . 
Graves,  Henry  B.,  Litchfield, 
Graves,  John  S.,  New  Haven, 
Gray,  John,  Mystic, 
Greeley,  E.  S.,  New  Haven, 
Greene,  Albert  C,  Westminster, 
Greene,  Jacob  L.,  Hartford, 
Greenslit,  David,  Hampton, 
Gregory,  James  G.,  Norwalk, 
Griggs,  C.  Edwin,  Chaplin,  . 
Griswold,  Charles,  Guilford, 
Griswold,  Edward,  Guilford, 
Gross,  Charles  E.,  Hartford, 
Guernsey,  L.  M.,  Mystic, 

Hall,  C.  W.,  Southington,     . 
Hall,  John  H.,  Hartford,       . 
Hall,  Lovell,  Middletown,     . 
Hall,  Russell  L.,  New  Canaan, 
Hamersley,  William,  Hartford, 
Hamilton,  Alexander,  Weston, 
Hamilton,  Charles  S.,  New  Haven 
Hamilton,  Wm.  H.,  Danielsonville 
Hammond,  E.  Payson,  Hartford, 
Hammond,  S.  M.,  Torrington, 
Hannum,  T.  W.,  Hartford,  . 
Harris,  George  A.,  Preston, 
Hart,  A.  S.,  Farmington, 
Hart,  Jay  H.,  Waterbury,     . 
Hart,  Julius  A.,  Beacon  Falls, 
Hart,  M.  A.,  Riverton, 
Hartigan,  Wm.  R.,  Burlington, 
Haughton,  S.  W. ,  Bozrah,    . 
Hauser,  Christian,  Waterbury, 
Hawley,  Joseph  R.,  Hartford, 
Hayden,  H.  Sidney,  Windsor, 
Healy,  Robert,  Seymour, 
Heery,  Luke  M.,  Versailles, 
Henney,  David,  Hartford,     . 
Henry,  E.  S.,  Rockville, 
Higgins,  John  E.,  Hartford, 
Hill,  Charles  E.,  Stamford,  . 
Hiscox,  O.  A.,  Woodstock,  . 
Hitchcock,  H.  P.,  Hartford, 
Hodge,  George  W.,  Windsor, 
Holbrook,  C.  M.,  Hartford,  . 
Holbrook,  S.  T.,  Norwich,    . 
Holcombe,  J.  M.,  Hartford, 
Holcombe,  N.  W. ,  Simsbury, 


12 


INDEX. 


Holmes,  Israel,  Waterbury, 
Hopkins,  Caleb,  Ellington,    . 
Hoppin,  James  M.,  New  Haven, 
Hough,  Elijah  J.,  Wallingford, 
Houlihan,  M.  J.,  Newtown,  . 
Hovey,  James  A.,  Norwich, 
Howard,  James  L.,  Hartford, 
Howe,  George  E.,  Meriden, 
Howe,  S.  H.,  Norwich, 
Hoyle,  James,  Willington,    . 
Hoyt,  George  H.,  Stamford, 
Hoyt,  H.  W.  R.,  Greenwich, 
Hubbard,  E.  H.,  Middletown, 
Hubbard,  L.  M.,  AValHngford, 
Huke,  Herman  W.,  Torrington, 
Hull,  Eliphalet  B.,  Darien,  . 
Hunter,  John  L.,  Willimantic, 
Huntington,  C.  W. ,  Hartford, 
Huntington,  James,  Woodbury, 
Huntsinger,  E.  M.,  Hartford, 
Hurlburt,  J.  H.,  Bridgeport, 
Hutchins,  Joseph,  Plainfield, 
Hyatt,  James  W. ,  Norwalk, 
Hyde,  A.  P.,  Hartford, 
Hyde,  Ephraim  H.,  Stafford, 
Hyde,  Frank  E.,  Hartford,  . 
Hyde,  William  Waldo,  Hartford, 

Ives,  S.  A.,  Thompson, 

Jackson,  C.  E.,  Middletown, 
Jennings,  George  H.,  Jewett  City 
Jennings,  William  J.,  Redding, 
Jeralds,  Bennett,  Yalesville, 
Jewell,  Charles  A.,  Hartford, 
Jewell,  Lyman  B.,  Hartford, 
Jewell,  Pliny,  Hartford, 
Johnson,  C.  G.,  Meriden, 
Johnson,  Horace,  Plainville, 
Jones,  A.  H.,  Meriden, 
Jones,  Edward  P.,  Branford, 
Jones,  George  E.,  Litchfield, 
Joslyn,  CM.,  Hartford, 
Judson,  Stiles,  Jr.,  Stratford, 

Keleher,  Daniel,  Stonington, 
Kellogg,  H.  Martin,  Lebanon, 
Kelsey,  Horace  E  ,  Westbrook, 
Ketchum,  L.  Y.,  Woodbury, 
Kiefer,  Daniel,  Waterbury,  . 
Kingsbury,  A.,  Coventry, 
Kingsley,  John  P.,  Plainfield, 
Kirkham,  John  S.,  Newington, 
Kirtland,  O.  H.,  Old  Saybrook, 
Knowlton,  J.  W.,  Bridgeport, 
Knowlton,  Marvin,  Willimantic, 
Knowlton,  N.  L.,  Ashford,    . 
Korper,  Adolph,  Willington, 


Page 
1 80 

278 
40 
280 
365 
26 
150 
158 
29S 

97 
224 

97 
184 

76 
262 
266 

258 

32 

281 

44 
246 
296 
116 

27 
2S2 
146- 
117 

342 

232 
iSi 

305 

149 

229 

22S 

228 

52 

154 

332 

306 

89 

39 

45 

78 
123 

64 
150 
180 
154 
348 

63 
148 
149 

62 
267 
233 


Ladd,  Charles  H.,  Sprague, 
Ladd,  Samuel  J.  P.,  Canterbury, 
Lake,  Thomas  A.,  Rockville, 
Landers,  Charles  S.,  New  Britain, 
Landers,  George  M.,  New  Britain, 
Langdon,  George,  Plymouth, 
Lathrop,  John  M.  N.,  Frankhn,  . 
Lawrence,  Charles  H.,   Hartford, 
Leach,  L.  M.,  Durham, 
Leach,  Oscar,  Durham, 
Leavenworth,  John  H.,  Roxbury, 
Leavenworth,  W.  J.,  Wallingford, 
Lee,  John  H.,  Norwalk, 
Lee,  William  Wallace,  Meriden, 
Leeds,  John  H.,  New  Haven, 
Leete,  Calvin  M.,  Guilford,  . 
Lewis,  Edward  C,  Waterbury, 
Lewis,  J.  B.,  Hartford, 
Lewis,  John  N. ,  Voluntown, 
Lewis,  William  I.,  Westbrook, 
Lincoln,  Charles  P.,  Andover, 
Lincoln,  J.  W.,  Chaplin, 
Lipsette,  Lewis  Allen,  Meriden, 
Litl|e,  Saxton  B.,  Meriden,  . 
Lockwood,  D.  B.,  Bridgeport, 
Lockwood,  F.  St.  John,  Norwalk 
Loomis,  Byron,  Sufifield, 
Loomis,  C.  P.,  Granby, 
Loomis,  Dwight,  Rockville, 
Loomis,  J.  N.,  Granby, 
Lounsbury,  Charles  W.,  Darien, 
Lounsbury,  P.  C,  Ridgefield, 
Love,  W.  DeLoss,  Jr.,  Hartford, 
Lucas,  Solomon,  Norwich,    . 

Mahl,  George,  Hartford, 
Main,  Charles  H.,  North  Stonington, 
Manross,  Elijah,  Bristol, 
Marden,  Francis  A.,  Stamford, 
Marggraflf,  E.  C. ,  Watertown, 
Markham,  E.  A.,  Durham,  . 
Markham,  Oliver,  Middletown, 
Marlor,  Henry  S.,  Brooklyn, 
Marlor,  Thos.  S.,  Brooklyn, 
Marsh,  Albert  P.,  New  Britain, 
Martin,  Charles  F.,  Pomfret, 
Martin,  Earl,  Danielsonville, 
Martin,  Thomas  R. ,  Waterbury, 
Marvin,  E.  E.,  Hartford, 
Marvin,  John  W.,  Saybrook, 
Mason,  J.  K.,  Suffield,  . 
Mattoon,  B.  H.,  Watertown, 
Maxwell,  George,  Rockville, 
McConville,  W.  J.,  Hartford, 
McGaughey,  J.  D.,  Wallingford, 
McGovern,  Patrick,  Hartford, 
McKensie,  T.  H.,  Southington, 


Page 
155 
236 
213 

25 
207 


INDEX. 


13 


McLane,  W.  W.,  New  Haven, 
McLean,  George  P.,  Simsbm-y, 
McNeil,  Charles,  Torrington, 
Merrill,  T.  B.,  Hartford, 
Merriman,    E.  A.,  Meriden,. 
Merrow,  J.  B.,  Mansfield,     . 
Merwin,  Samuel  E.,  New  Haven 
Messenger,  F.  M.,  Thompson, 
Miller,  Charles  A.,  Meriden, 
Miller,  Dan  A.,  Bristol, 
Miller,  David  H.,  Georgetown, 
Miller,  Edward,  Meriden,      . 
Miller,  W.  J.,  Shelton,  . 
Miner,  O.  E.,  Groton,    . 
Mitchell,  David  M.,  Southbury, 
Mix,  Frank  W.,  New  Britain, 
Mix,  Norris  B.,  Hamden, 
Moore,  D.  M.,  Colebrook,      . 
Moore,  N.  A.,  Kensington,   . 
Morgan,   D.  N.,  Bridgeport, 
Morgan,  James  T.,  Winsted, 
Morris,  Jonathan  F.,  Hartford, 
Morris,  Luzon  B.,  New  Haven, 
Morse,  George  M.,  Putnam, 
Morse,  George  N.,  Meriden, 
Morse,  Nelson,  North  Woodstock 
Moses,  WiUiam  E.,  Waterbury, 
Munson,  L.  L,  Waterbury,  . 
Mygatt,  A.   B.,  New  Milford, 

Nason,  A.  F.,  Hartford, 
Near,  John  N.,  Bridgeport,  . 
Neary,  Thomas,  Naugatuck, 
Nelson,  Robert  W.,  Hartford, 
Nettleton,  W.  H.,  Bristol,     . 
Newport,  E.  C,  Meriden,     . 
Newton,  C.   B.,  Stafford  Springs 
Nichols,  C.  N.,  Andover, 
Nichols,  James,  Hartford,     . 
Nichols,  Stephen,  Bridgeport, 
Nickerson,  L.  J.,  Cornwall,  . 
Noble,  Thomas  K.,  Norwalk, 
North,  Joseph  Howard,  Goshen, 
Northend,  Charles,  New  Britain 
Northrop,  B.  G.,  Clinton,      . 
Northrop,  D.  W.,  Middletown, 
Noyes,  Benjamin,  New  Haven, 
Noyes,  F.  B.,  Stonington,     . 

O'Neill,  John,  Waterbury,  . 
Osborn,  N.  G.,  New  Haven, 
Osborn,  Orlando  C,  Oxford, 
Osborne,  C.  E.,  Monroe, 

Page,  Charles,  North  Branford, 
Page,  J.  D.,  Harwinton, 


Page 

57 

67 
349 
254 
201 
328 

51 
327 

66 
298 
300 
265 

59 
310 

76 

198 

142 

.251 

24S 

42 
302 
290 
272 
354 

63 
205 

79 
143 
217 

196 

83 
288 
220 

369 
287 
261 
308 

20 
194 
205 

60 
363 

71 
132 

342 
314 
329 

190 
202 

288 
92 

318 
170 


Paige,  A.  W.,  Huntington,  . 
Palmer,  H.  R.,  Stonington,  . 
Palmer,  John,  Brooklyn, 
Palmer,  WilUam  F.,  Scotland, 
Parker,  A.  M.,  Putnam, 
Parsons,  H.  A.,  Salem, 
Parsons,  E.  F.,  Thompsonville, 
Parish,  R.  N.,  Montville, 
Patterson,  B.  C,  Torrington, 
Patterson,  H.  D.,  Naugatuck, 
Peabody,  Joseph,  Jr.,  Waterford, 
Pearl,  Patrick  H.,  Hampton, 
Pease,  Theo.  L,  Thompsonville, 
Peck,  CHfton,  Frankhn, 
Peck,  Henry  W.,  Bethlehem, 
Peck,  John  H.,  New  Britain, 
Peck,  Tracy,  New  Haven,    . 
Peck,  WiUiam  Wales,  Woodbridgc 
Perkins,  Charles  E.,  Hartford, 
Perkins,  Joshua,  Danielsonville, 
Phelps,  Charles,  Rockville,    . 
Phelps,  Clinton,  East  Granby, 
Phelps,  James,  Essex,  . 
PhiHps,  J.  M.,  Andover, 
Pickett,  J.  A.,  New  Britain, 
Pickett,  Rufus  S.,  New  Haven, 
Pierce,  John,  Southbury, 
Pierce,  Joseph  B.,  Hartford, 
Pierpont,  Joseph,  North  Haven, 
Pike,  R.  G.,  Middletown,      . 
Pike,  WiUiam  C,  SterUng,    . 
Pine,  Charles  H.,  Ansonia,  . 
Pine,  J.  E.,  Winsted,     . 
Pinney,  Charles  H.,  Derby, 
Pinney,  Marcus  A.,  EUington, 
Pinney,  Royal  W.,  Derby,    . 
Piatt,  David,  West  Haven,  . 
Piatt,  Orville  H.,  Meriden,    . 
Plumb,  D.  W.,  Shelton, 
Pomeroy,  Charles  B.,  WiUimantic, 
Porter,  John  Addison,  Pomfret, 
Porter,  Noah,  New  Haven,  . 
Post,  William  H.,  Hartford, 
Potter,  Giles,  New  Haven,    . 
Potter,  Lester  L. ,  Hartford, 
Pratt,  Ambrose,  Chester, 
Pratt,  Francis  A.,  Hartford, 
Pratt,  Lewellyn,  Norwich,    . 
Prentice,  Amos  W.,  Norwich, 
Preston,  E.  V.,  Hartford,      . 
Preston,  Miles  B.,  Hartford, 
Prescott,  WiUiam  H.,  Rockville, 
Prior,  Charles  Edward,  Jewett  City 
Prior,  Israel,  Stamford, 
Pulsifer,  N.  T.,  Manchester, 

Quick,  A.  J.,  South  Coventry, 


301 


14 


INDEX. 


Read,  David  M.,  Bridgeport, 
Reade,  H.  L.,  Jewett  City,  . 
Redway,  George  M.,  Hartford, 
Richards,  A.  T.,  Hartford,  . 
Richards,  F.  H.,  Hartford,  . 
Robbins,  S.  W.,  Wethersfield, 
Robertson,  A.  Heaton,  New  Hav 
Robinson,  H.  C,  Hartford,  . 
Rogers,  William,  Hartford,  . 
Rood,  David  A.,  Hartford,   . 
Root,  G.  Wells,  Hartford,     . 
Root,  J.  G.,  Hartford,  . 
Rouse,  George  W.,  Voluntown, 
Rudd,  William  B.,  Lakeville, 
Russegue,  H.  E.,  Hartford, 
Russell,  Charles  A.,  Killingly, 
Russell,  T.  W.,  Hartford,     . 
Russell,  William  C,  Orange, 

Sage,  Rufus  B.,  Cromwell,   . 
Sanger,  Marvin  H.,  Canterbury, 
Scanlan,  John  E.,  Hartford, 
Scott,  L.  P.,  Bethlehem, 
Selden,  Joseph,  Norfolk, 
Semple,  Alexander,  Broad  Brook 
Sevin,  N.  Douglass,  Norwich, 
Seward,  S.  H.,  Putnam, 
Seymour,  Morris  W.,  Bridgeport, 
Sharpe,  W.  C,  Seymour, 
Sheldon,  H.  S.,  Suffield, 
Shepard,  James,  New  Britain, 
Shove,  Henry  E.,  Warren,    . 
Sibley,  P.  B..  Brooklyn, 
Simonds,  William  E.,  Hartford, 
Simpson,  Samuel,  Wallingford, 
Skelly,  M.  F.,  Woodbury,     . 
Skilton,  D.  W.  C,  Hartford, 
Skinner,  William  C,  Hartford, 
Smith,  Andrew  T.,  Hartford, 
Smith,  Charles  B.,  Hartford, 
Smith,  C.  H.,  Naugatuck,     . 
Smith,  Edward  J.,  Hartford, 
Smith,  James  D.,  Stamford, 
Smith,  Julius  B.,  Burlington, 
Smith,  Martin  H.,  Suffield,  . 
Smith,  Prentice  O.,  Franklin, 
Smith,  Robert  R.,  New  Hartford 
Smith,  Sidney  K. ,  Naugatuck, 
Smith,  Washington,  Canterbury, 
Spaulding,  Alva  W.,  Hartford, 
Spencer,  C.  M.,  Windsor, 
Spencer,  Daniel  C,  Old  Saybrook, 
Sparry,  Aner,  Hartford, 
Sperry,  Lewis,  East  Windsor  Hill, 
Sprague,  William  B.,  Andover, 
Squire,  W.  L. ,  New  Haven, 
St.  John,  S.  Y.,  New  Canaan, 


Page 

91 

77 

271 

277 

45 

333 

36 

21 

90 

96 

171 
292 

365 
211 

25 
144 

54 

18S 

107 

239 
210 

133 
141 
223 
102 

369 

20S 

357 

2S6 

90 

245 

370 

29 

52 

216 

274 

20S 

273 
290 
227 
250 
338 
345 
371 
322 

9S 
340 
316 
237 
356 
334 

84 
327 
365 
257 

S3 


Stagg,  Henry  P.,  Stratford, 
Stanley,  William  M.,  East  Hartford, 
Stanton,  Avery  A.,  Sterling, 
Stanton,  George  Dallas,  Stonington, 
Stanton,  R.  P. ,  Norwich, 
Staub,  Nicholas,  New  Milford,     . 
Steele,  E.  J.,  Torrington, 
Steele,  Thomas  S.,  Hartford, 
Stevens,  E.  C,  Norfolk, 
Stevens,  Frederick  S.,  Bridgeport, 
Stevenson,  William  H.,  Bridgeport, 
Stickney,  John  N.,  Rockville, 
Stiles,  Norman  C,  Middletown,  . 
Stillson,  Charles  H.,  Ansonia, 
Stone,  George  M.,  Hartford, 
Storrs,  Augustus,  Mansfield, 
Street,  F.  P.,  East  Hartford, 
Strong,  David,  Winsted, 
Sturtevant,  C.  P.,  Norwich, 
Sucher,  Theodore  H.,  New  Haven, 
Sumner,  E.  G.,  Mansfield,    . 

Taft,  George  E.,  Unionville, 
Taintor,  Henry  E.,  Hartford, 
Taintor,  James  U.,  Hai'tford, 
Taintor,  Ralph  S.,  Colchester, 
Terrill,  M.  W.,  Middlefield, 
Thomas,  Aaron,  Thomaston, 
Thompson,  Charles  E.,  Hartford, 
Thompson,  Curtis,  Bridgeport,     . 
Thompson,  E.  W.,  New  Britain, 
Thomson,  James  M.,  Hartford,    . 
Thurber,  Thomas  J.,  Putnam  Heights 
Tillinghast,  George  F. ,  Canterbury, 
Todd,  F.  Hayden,  North  Haven, 
Todd,  William  S.,  Ridgefield, 
Torrance,  David,  Derby, 
Towne,  Henry  R.,  Stamford, 
Turner,  S.  W.,  Chester, 
Tuttle,  Byron,  Plymouth, 
Tuttle,  Dwight  W.,  East  Haven, 
Twitchell,  Homer,  Naugatuck,     . 

Ulrich,  George,  Hartford,     . 

Vance,  Robert  J.,  New  Britain,    . 

Wads  worth,  W.   M.,  Farmington, 
Wait,  John  T.,  Norwich, 
Waldo,  George  C,  Bridgeport,     . 
Wales,  Henry  N.,  Willimantic,     . 
Walkeley,  Stephen,  Southington, 
Wallace,  Robert,  Wallingford, 
Wanzer,  Homer  L.,  New  Fairfield, 
Warner,  Alexander,  Pomfret, 
Warner,  George  R.,  Hartford, 
Warner,  H.  A.,  New  Haven, 


INDEX. 


15 


Warren,  Charles  O.,  Eastford, 
Warren,  Tracey  B.,  Bridgeport 
Watrous,  Wm.  H.,  Hartford, 
Watson,  Thomas,  Winsted,  . 
Watson,  Thos.  L.,  Bridgeport, 
Weaver,  Thos.  S.,  Hartford, 
Webb,  Frank  P.,  Windham, 
Webster,  Chauncey  B.,  Waterbur 
Webster,  John  C,  Hartford, 
Wessells,  H.  W.,  Litchfield, 
Wessells,  L.  W.,  Litchfield, 
West,  Samuel  F.,  Columbia, 
Wheeler,  Joseph  K.,  Hartford, 
White,  Cyrus,  Rockville, 
White,  Edgar  D.,  Andover, 
White,  Edwin  S.,  Hartford, 
White,  Henry  M.,  Torrington, 
White,  Horace,  Manchester, 
White,  John  H.,  Hartford,    . 
White,  Walter  P.,  Putnam,  . 
Whiting,  Charles  B.,  Hartford, 
Whitman,  H.  A.,  Hartford, 
Whitney,  Amos,  Hartford,    . 


Page 

209  Wilcox,  Aug.  C,  New  Haven,     . 

260  Wildman,  H.   H.,  New  Fairfield, 

89  Wile,  W.  C,  Danbury, 

373  Wilkinson,   Edmund,  Greenwich, 

278  Willcox,  Washington  F.,   Chester, 

124  Williams,  Francis,  Chaplin,  . 

126  Williams,  Street,  Wallingford, 

364  Williams,  S.  P.,  Plainville,   . 

102  Wilson,  J.  C,  Stonington,     . 

263  Wilson,  N.  A.,  Harwinton,  . 

174  Winch,  J.  W.,  LTnion,    . 

284  Winslow,  Horace,  Simsbury, 

311  Wood,  John  H.,  Thomaston, 

358  Wood,  John  P.,  Brooklyn,     . 

128  Woodward,  L  B.,  Thomaston, 

216  Woodward,  P.  H.,  Hartford, 

197  Woodward,  W.  W.,  Danielsonville, 

113  Wooster,  Wm.    B.,  Ansonia, 

189  Worden,  Lewis,  Danielsonville,    . 

372 

244  Yeomans,  M.  P.,  Andover,  . 

23 8  Yergason,  E.  S.,  Hai'tford,  . 

120  York,  S.  A.,  New  Haven,     . 


Page 
98 
225 
362 
316 
135 
343 
225 
204 
255 
371 
351 
200 
118 
201 
215 

213 
360 
202 

lOI 

260 
105 
203 


ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


BIOGRAPHY  OF  CONNECTICUT. 


M.    G.    BULKELEY. 


HON.    MORGAN    G.    BULKELEY,    Hartford: 
Governor  of  Connecticut. 

Morgan  G.  Bulkeley  was  born  in  East  Haddam, 
in  this  state,  December  26,  1S37,  and  removed  to 
Hartford  in  1846,  where  he  obtained  his  education 
at  the  Center  District  and 
High  schools.  His  Ameri- 
can ancestor,  Rev.  Peter 
Bulkeley,  emigrated  from 
England  in  1634,  settled. 
in  Massachusetts,  and  af- 
ter a  life  of  much  useful- 
ness died  in  1659.  His  son, 
the  Rev.  Gershom  Bulke- 
ley, prominent  in  Connec- 
ticut colonial  history,  mar- 
ried the  daughter  of  Presi- 
dent Chauncey  of  Har- 
vard College  ;  and  their 
son,  the  Rev.  John  Bulke- 
\ey,  became  the  iirst  minister  of  Colchester  in  this 
state.  His  grandson  Eliphalet  was  father  of  John 
Charles  of  Colchester,  and  grandfather  of  Eliphalet 
A.,  whose  career  is  too  well  known  to  the  older 
residents  of  Connecticut  to  require  much  presenta- 
tion here.  He  became  a  lawyer,  interested  himself 
in  politics  and  finance,  was  the  first  president  of  the 
^tna  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford,  assisted 
in  the  organization  of  the  republican  party  of  this 
state,  and  was  its  first  speaker  of  the  house  of 
representatives.  Among  his  sons  was  Morgan  G., 
the  subject  of  this  biography. 

Governor  Bulkeley  began  his  business  career  as 
bundle -boy  in  a  mercantile  house  in  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.,  in  1852.  He  quickly  advanced  b}'  merit  to 
be  salesman,  confidential  clerk,  and  finally  partner. 
Upon  the  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  he  went  to 
the  front  as  a  private  in  the  Thirteenth  New  York 
Regiment,  and  served  during  the  McClellan  Penin- 
sula campaign  under  General  Mansfield,  at  Suffolk, 
Va.  After  his  father's  death  in  1872,  he  located 
permanently  in  Hartford,  the  better  to  supervise 
his  enlarged  financial  interests.  He  was  the  prime 
factor   in   the   organization   of  the   United   States 

2 


Bank,  and  became  its  first  president.  When  the 
presidency  of  the  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company 
became  vacant  by  the  retirement  of  Thomas  O. 
Enders,  he  transferred  his  abilities  to  that  position; 
and  the  unexampled  success  which  has  followe4  his 
management  of  that  company- 's  affairs  is  another 
tribute  to  his  rare  perception  and  managerial  skill. 

Mr.  Bulkeley  inherited  his  father's  love  of  politics, 
and  naturally  became  a  participant  as  well  as  an 
interested  observer  in  local  political  aflrairs.  Hav- 
ing made  municii^al  problems  a  matter  of  conscien- 
tious study,  he  became  councilman,  alderman,  and 
finally  for  eight  years  mayor  of  Hartford.  During 
his  incumbency  of  this  office  he  exercised  a  watch- 
ful care  over  income  and  expenditure,  advocating 
such  measures,  irrespectively  of  partizan  considera- 
tions, as  would  advance  the  interests  of  the  muni- 
cipality. He  was  liberal  with  his  private  means 
for  the  amelioration  of  the  distressed  and  the  com- 
fort and  pleasure  of  the  working  classes  within  the 
city ;  and  it  is  probable  that  he  distributed  in  this 
way  every  year  more  than  his  salarj^  as  mayor. 

Developing  as  he  did  while  mavor  of  Hartford 
such  rare  executive  ability  in  civil  affairs,  it  was 
not  singular  that  Mr.  Bulkeley's  friends  should 
urge  his  availability  as  a  candidate  for  gubernatorial 
honors.  Following  this  conviction  his  name  was 
presented  before  the  republican  state  convention  in 
the  fall  of  1886;  but  the  movement  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Lounsbury  had  acquired  such  momentum  that  in 
the  interest  of  harmonj^  Mr.  Bulkeley  authorized 
the  withdrawal  of  his  name  as  a  candidate,  and 
ardently  joined  in  support  of  his  rival  through  the 
succeeding  campaign.  In  August,  1888,  at  the  next 
state  convention  of  the  party,  Mr.  Bulkeley  was 
nominated  for  governor  by  acclamation,  and  on 
the  following  January,  1889,  he  was  inaugurated 
and  took  his  seat  at  the  capitol.  The  vigorous 
administration  which  followed  was  characteristic  of 
the  man,  and  will  long  be  remembered  as  among 
the  most  notable  ^\'ithin  the  history  of  the  common- 
wealth. 

At  the  state  election  in  November,  1890,  the  first 
gubernational  election  under  the  new  secret  ballot 

(17) 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


law,  results  were  declared  which  were  not  accepted 
as  conclusive  by  the  State  officials  to  whom  the 
election  statistics  are  returnable  under  the  statute, 
or  by  the  house  of  representatives.  The  legislature 
falling  to  settle  the  question  of  gubernatorial  suc- 
cession by  the  recognition  of  a  claimant  or  other- 
wise as  provided  by  law,  it  became  Governor  Bulke- 
ley's  duty,  under  the  constitution,  to  continue  to 
exercise  the  functions  of  that  office,  which  he  has 
done  and  will  doubtless  continue  to  do  until  his  suc- 
cessor "  shall  be  dul}'  qualified." 


living.  Mr.  Prentice  is  a  deacon  of  the  Broadway 
Congregational  Church  and  is  regarded  with  the 
utmost  esteem  in  the  city  where  he  resides. 


AMOS  W.  PRENTICE,  Norwich:  Merchant. 

Amos  W.  Prentice  of  Norwich  was  born  in  Gris- 
wold,  Dec.  20,  1816,  and  received  a  common  school 
education,  preparing  him  for  a  successful  business 
and  public  career.  Most 
of  his  life  has  been  spent 
in  the  city  of  Norwich, 
where  he  has  conducted  a 
mercantile  business  in  one 
place  for  fifty-seven 
years.  He  now  holds  the 
presidency  of  the  Nor- 
wich Savings  Society, 
with  one  exception  the 
largest  savings  institu- 
tion in  Connecticut.  He 
has  also  been  a  director 
•\    w    I'KENTicK  ^^  ^  number  of   corpora- 

tions and  for  half  a  cen- 
tury has  been  a  prominent  manager  of  financial 
and  industrial  interests  in  the  community  where  he 
resides.  In  1854  he  represented  the  old  eighth 
senatorial  district  in  the  senate,  his  colleagues  in- 
cluding James  Dixon  of  Hartford,  subsequently 
United  States  Senator,  Gov.  Henry  B.  Harrison  of 
New  Haven,  Colonel  William  H.  H.  Comstock  of 
New  London,  the  late  Gov.  Wm.  T.  Minor  of  Stam- 
ford, and  John  Boyd  of  Winsted.  In  1859  he  was 
elected  mayor  of  Norwich  and  in  1877  he  repre- 
sented that  town  in  the  legislature.  The  associates 
of  Mr.  Prentice  in  the  house  that  year  included  the 
late  Lieut.-Gov.  Gallup  of  Plainfield,  H.  R.  Hayden 
of  East  Hartford,  Eugene  S.  Boss  of  Willimantic, 
Internal  Revenue  Collector  John  I.  Hutchinson, 
Ex-Mayor  Wallace  A.  Miles  of  Meriden,  Lucius  G. 
Goodrich  of  Simsbury,  brother  of  the  bank  com- 
missioner, Lynde  Harrison  of  New  Haven,  and 
Winthrop  M.  Wadsworth  of  Farmington.  Ex- 
Comptroller  Chauncey  Howard  and  Henry  M. 
Cleveland  were  also  members  that  year.  Mr. 
Prentice  was  on  the  republican  side  and  exerted 
an  important  influence  during  the  session.  May 
18,  1840,  he  married  Miss  Hannah  E.  Parker, 
whose  death  occurred  Dec.  24,  1887.  Two  daugh- 
ters, Mrs.  John  Willard  and  Mrs.  A.  H.  Chase,  are 


B.VrTERSON. 


JAMES  GOODWIN  BATTERSON,  Hartford  : 
President  Travelers  Insurance  Company,  and  a 
leading  builder  and  building-stone  contractor. 
Hon.  Jas.  G.  Batterson  was  born  in  Bloomfield 
Feb.  23,  1823,  of  stocks  which  have  furnished  some 
of  the  ablest  and  most  versatile  business  and  pro- 
fessional men  of  Connec- 
ticut. His  mother  was 
sister  to  Major  James 
Goodwin,  long  president 
of  the  Connecticut  Mu- 
tual Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. His  father  having 
established  a  building- 
stone  business  in  Litch- 
field, Conn.,  he  lived  there 
through  his  boyhood,  and 
was  given  the  ordinary 
education  of  the  acad- 
emy, Avhere  he  fitted  for 
college,  but  did  not  enter. 
He  gained  from  his  father's  business  a  living  inter- 
est in  and  knowledge  of  geology  and  the  qualities- 
of  diiferent  stones  and  minerals,  which  has  been 
a  large  element  in  his  business  success.  After 
leaving  school,  he  went  as  an  apprentice  into  the 
publishing  and  printing  house  of  Mack,  Andrus  & 
Woodrufi^,  in  Ithaca,  N.  Y.,  and  served  out  his 
time;  then  returned  home  and  studied  law  in  the 
office  of  the  noted  Judge  Seymour.  His  health, 
however,  rendered  a  life  of  confined  study  imprac- 
ticable, and  he  went  into  business  —  first  with  his- 
father,  and  subsequently  (in  1S45)  independently  in 
the  same  line,  as  importer  of  and  dealer  in  granite 
and  marble,  and  later  removing  the  headquarters 
of  the  business  to  Hartford.  His  business  has 
grown  into  one  of  the  largest  in  the  United  States, 
owning  large  granite  quarries  in  Westerly,  R.  I., 
and  using  their  products  in  carrying  out  important 
contracts  for  public  and  private  building;  among 
others  the  magnificent  Connecticut  Capitol  build- 
ing, the  Connecticut  Mutual  building  at  Hart- 
ford, and  the  Mutual  Life  and  Equitable  Life  In- 
surance Companies'  buildings  and  the  Vanderbilt 
residence.  New  York.  He  was  the  first  in  this 
country  to  use  machinery  for  polishing  granite,  and 
has  devised  many  other  improvements  in  his  busi- 
ness. He  is  master  of  every  subsidiary  detail  of 
his  business  and  a  practical  architect  and  builder 
of  fine  taste,  as  well  as  expert  in  mechanical  de- 
tails. 

Mr.  Batterson  in   1863  had  been  on  one  of  his 
various  toiu's  through  Europe  and  the  East,  which 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


19 


have  made  him  one  of  the  best  informed  men  of 
the  generation  on  oriental  geography,  history,  poli- 
tics, and  social  life;  and  returning  from  Italy, 
where  he  had  given  acute  attention  to  marbles  and 
architecture,  passed  through  England,  where  the 
success  of  the  Railway  Passengers'  Assurance 
Company,  founded  a  few  years  before,  had  demon- 
strated that  accident  insurance  was  practicable  —  a 
fact  much  shadowed  by  the  failures  of  previous 
petty  attempts  in  England.  Grasping  at  once  the 
possibilities  of  the  new  business,  and  as  a  Hartford 
man  feeling  the  instinctive  local  capacitj^for  success 
in  the  insurance  field,  he  induced  a  number  of 
other  capitalists  and  active  business  men  to  join 
with  him  in  starting  an  accident  compam';  $300,000 
was  paid  in  as  capital,  and  a  charter  obtained  the 
same  year  for  insuring  against  accidents  of  travel 
alone.  But  it  was  not  till  the  next  year,  when  the 
charter  was  amended  to  allow  it  to  insure  against 
accidents  of  all  kinds,  that  much  business  was  done. 
Very  few  but  the  promoters  expected  it  to  live  any 
length  of  time,  and  when  in  a  year  or  so  it  became 
evident  that  it  was  to  be  one  of  the  great  business 
successes  of  the  age,  this  sudden  growth  and  pros- 
perity came  near  being  more  ruinous  than  its  first 
difficulties;  for  it  inspired  such  a  belief  that  the  ac- 
cident business  was  the  sure  road  to  wealth  that, 
in  the  "boom"  which  followed,  a  swarm  of  new 
companies  were  organized,  and  most  of  the  great 
railroads  ejected  the  Travelers  and  started  accident 
organizations  of  their  own.  A  new  corporation, 
the  Railway  Passengers'  Assurance  Company, 
composed  of  representatives  from  all  the  leading 
accident  companies,  was  formed  in  the  winter  of 
1866  to  consolidate  the  railway  "  ticket  "  business 
under  one  management;  five  years  later  every  one 
of  the  others  was  dead,  and  the  Travelers,  as  the 
sole  legatee,  turned  the  company  into  the  ticket  de- 
partment of  its  own  organization.  Its  superiority 
of  brains,  money,  and  incredibly  hard  work  and 
economjr,  had  enabled  it  to  remain  the  solitary  sur- 
vivor. Meanwhile,  in  1866,  it  had  added  a  reg- 
ular life-insurance  department,  which  in  the  last 
few  years  has  taken  sudden  and  enormous  strides 
that  have  placed  it  among  the  foremost  of  New 
England  companies. 

Mr.  Batterson  is  a  man  whom  a  robust  physical 
frame,  and  a  still  more  robust,  assimilative,  and 
flexible  intellect,  enable  to  accomplish  an  amount 
and  variety  of  work  which  fills  the  ordinary 
man  with  wonder  and  despair.  One  of  his  most 
valuable  intellectual  qualities  is  the  faculty  of  in- 
stant adjustment  to  any  new  piece  of  work  —  one 
of  the  rarest  and  most  precious  of  faculties;  to  him, 
five  minutes'  time  are  good  for  five  minutes'  ac- 
complishment whenever  taken.  He  is  a  formidable 
debater,  a  capable  actuary,  a  thorough  student  of 
economics,  and  even  a  poet. 


The  amount  of  solid  reading  he  does  would  alone 
tax  severely  the  energies  of  most  men;  he  keeps 
abreast  of  the  highest  thought  of  the  age,  and 
knows  what  its  leaders  are  thinking  and  saying  on 
every  subject.  He  has  a  large  library,  of  the  high- 
est quality  in  selection.  His  judgment  in  art  is 
delicate  and  just,  and  his  fine  collection  of  pictures 
covers  a  remarkable  range  of  schools  and  subjects. 
Altogether,  few  men  live  a  more  symmetrical  life 
of  business  and  thought,  assimilation  and  produc- 
tion; and  in  his  combination  of  vigor  and  delicacy 
of  mind,  of  solid  judgment  and  nice  taste  of  ap- 
preciation alike  of  the  profoundest  thought  and  the 
subtlest  graces  of  style,  he  has  few  equals. 

He  might  easily  have  attained  high  political 
honors,  but  he  has  never  coveted  them,  though  his 
help  and  advice  are  eagerly  sought  and  valued. 
He  is,  of  course,  an  influential  member  of  several 
societies  for  the  advancement  of  learning;  holds 
the  degree  of  M.A.  both  from  Yale  and  from 
Williams  Colleges  (the  former  given  at  the  sugges- 
tion of  the  late  Dr.  Bushnell);  and  the  educational 
interests  of  Hartford  (whose  noted  High  School  he 
built)  are  indebted  to  him  for  powerful  service  and 
ujjbuilding. 

JEREMIAH  M.  ALLEN,  Hartford  :  President 
Hartford  Steam  Boiler  Inspection  and  Insurance 
Company. 

Jeremiah  M.  Allen  was  born  in  the  town  of  En- 
field, May  iS,  1S33,  and  was  educated  at  the  West- 
field  Academy  in  Massachusetts,  preparing  him  for 
the   profession   of   a  me- 
chanical engineer.     After 
finishing  his   studies,    he 
devoted  himself  to  teach- 
ing for  four  years,  spend- 
ing   what    time    he    was 
able    t(j    win    from    that 
pursuit  in  special  lines  of 
research    and     investiga- 
tion.    In  1865,  when  only 
32   years   of   age,   he  be- 
came  the    general   agent 
and  adjuster  of  the  Mer- 
chants   Insurance     Com- 
pany of  Hartford.     Sub-  J"  ^'-  -^llex. 
sequently  he  was  appointed  to  a  similar  position  by 
the   Security   Fire   Insurance    Company    of    New 
York  and  engaged  in  the  business  with  characteris- 
tic  earnestness   and   energy.     But   the    insurance 
field  in  which  Mr.  Allen  was  to  become  a  pioneer 
and  the  most  successful  of  managers,  had  not  at 
that  time  commanded  more  than  a  cursory  exam- 
ination  from   American   underwriters.     The  work 
of  personal  preparation  in  his  case,  however,  had 
been  continued  with  the  utmost  fidelity,  and  when 
the  time  arrived  for  him  to  engage  in  the  enter- 


20 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


prise  that  has  occupied  his  maturest  thought  and 
energ}',  he  was  amply  fitted  for  the  task.  Mr. 
Allen  was  an  accomj^lished  scientist  when  he 
became  the  president  of  the  Hartford  Steam 
Boiler  Inspection  and  Insurance  Company  in  1S67. 
This  company,  which  has  become  one  of  the 
prominent  insurance  organizations  in  New  England, 
was  incorporated  June  30,  1S66,  the  cash  capital 
being  $100,000.  The  late  Enoch  C.  Roberts  of  this 
city  was  its  first  president,  and  retained  the  posi- 
tion until  the  beginning  of  1867,  when  Mr.  Allen 
was  elected  to  the  presidency,  and  the  company 
commenced  the  career  of  prosperity  that  has  won 
the  admiration  of  underwriters  everywhere.  When 
he  first  entered  the  field  there  might  have  been 
reasonable  doubts  concerning  the  success  of  the 
enterprise.  It  was  new  and  untried  in  this 
country.  The  ablest  talent  in  special  lines  was 
needed  for  the  inauguration  even  of  the  first 
business  of  the  company.  In  President  Allen 
the  man  needed  most  of  all  for  originality  and 
leadership  was  found,  and  the  work  of  his  life 
has  been  one  of  gratifying  success.  The  history  of 
the  great  organization  of  which  he  is  the  president 
is  the  history  of  his  own  business  career.  Mr. 
Allen  is  the  president  also  of  the  Hartford  Board 
of  Trade  —  an  organization  that  has  exercised  im- 
portant influence  in  business  and  manufacturing 
centers  in  the  capital  city.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
board  of  trustees  of  the  Society  for  Savings,  di- 
rector in  the  Security  Company,  the  Connecticut 
River  Banking  Company,  and  the  Orient  Insurance 
Company,  and  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Hartford 
Theological  Seminary.  He  is  also  associate  execu- 
tor and  trustee  of  the  large  estates  left  by  Messrs. 
John  S.  Welles  and  Newton  Case,  the  two  estates 
aggregating  upwards  of  $1,500,000.  These  facts 
indicate  more  successfully  than  columns  of  writing 
Avould  the  position  which  President  Allen  holds  in 
a  community  in  which  fiduciary  trusts  are  be- 
stowed only  upon  men  of  the  highest  personal  in- 
tegrity and  honor.  To  be  thus  honored  in  the  city 
of  Hartford  is  the  proudest  attainment  to  be  reached 
in  a  business  life.  President  Allen  was  one  of  the 
organizers  of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational 
Church,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Con- 
gregational Club.  In  personal  thought,  aim,  and 
life  he  is  one  of  the  most  admirable  exponents  of 
New  England  Congregationalism.  His  scientific 
attainments  have  been  already  indicated  in  this 
sketch.  The  concrete  proofs  of  his  scientific 
knowledge  will  appear  from  the  fact  that  he  has 
been  for  a  number  of  years  one  of  the  non-resident 
lecturers  at  Sibley  College,  Cornell  University, 
member  of  the  American  Association  of  Mechani- 
cal Engineers,  and  of  the  American  Association  for 
the  Advancement  of  Science.  He  is  also  a  mem- 
ber   of    the   American    Historical  Association    at 


Washington,  D.  C,  the  American  Academy  of  Po- 
litical and  Social  Science  at  Philadelphia,  and  a  life 
member  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society  at 
Hartford.  In  politics  President  Allen  is  a  Repub- 
lican. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  court  of 
common  council  in  Hartford,  and  of  the  board  of 
water  commissioners.  For  ten  years  he  was  ac- 
tively identified  with  the  management  of  the 
American  Asylum  for  the  Deaf  and  Dumb  in  this 
cit}',  and  is  a  gentleman  of  the  broadest  public 
spirit.  The  wife  of  President  Allen  was  Miss 
Griswold,  daughter  of  Hermon  C.  Griswold  of  El- 
lington, and  the  family  includes  two  children. 


JAMES    NICHOLS. 


HON.  JAMES  NICHOLS,  Hartford:  President 
National  Fire  Insurance  Company. 
President  James  Nichols  was  born  in  Newtown, 
Dec.  25,  1S30,  and  was  educated  for  the  bar.  In 
I S 54  he  commenced  the  practice  of  his  profession  in 
Thompsonville,  but  re- 
moved to  Hartford  with- 
in a  few  months,  and  was 
appointed  assistant  clerk 
of  the  Hartford  county 
superior  court.  In  1S61 
he  was  elected  judge  of 
probate  in  the  Hartford 
district,  which  embraced 
the  towns  of  Hartford, 
Wethersfield,  Rocky  Hill, 
West  Hartford,  Windsor 
Locks,  East  Hartford,  and 
Glastonbury.  The  oflfice 
was  one  of  great  im- 
portance and  required  exceptional  ability  for  the 
discharge  of  its  dtities.  Judge  Nichols  won  the 
admiration  of  all  parties  on  account  of  the  success- 
ful way  in  which  the  judicial  work  of  the  oiBce  was 
performed.  In  1867  he  became  the  adjuster  and 
special  agent  of  the  Merchants'  Insurance  Company 
of  Hartford,  and  was  rapidly  promoted  by  the 
board  of  directors.  From  the  outset  he  manifested 
especial  adaptability  for  the  insurance  business. 
At  the  time  of  the  great  Chicago  fire  in  1871  Judge 
Nichols  was  the  secretary  of  the  Merchants  and  a 
manager  of  recognized  standing  in  the  insiirance 
community.  The  Merchants  company  was  not  able 
to  recover  from  the  unprecedented  disaster  at  Chi- 
cago, and  surrendered  its  charter.  The  National 
Fire  Insurance  Compan3\  which  had  been  incorpo- 
rated in  May,  1S69,  organized  in  1871  Avith  the  late 
Mark  Howard  as  president  and  Judge  Nichols  as 
secretary.  When  President  Howard  died  four 
years  ago,  he  was  succeeded  by  the  Judge,  the  lat- 
ter's  ability  as  an  insurance  manager  entitling  him 
to  that  prornotion.     The  National  has  made  decided 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


21 


progress  under  President  Nichols,  and  is  one  of  the 
ablest  and  most  carefully  conducted  insurance  com- 
panies in  New  England.  President  Nichols  is  the 
vice-president  of  the  Charter  Oak  National  Bank,  a 
director  in  the  Phoenix  Life  Insurance  Company 
and  a  trustee  in  the  State  Savings  Bank.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  republican.  He  is  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Park  church  in  this  city.  The  wife  of  Judge 
Nichols,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Isabella  M. 
Starkweather,  daughter  of  Mr.  Nathan  Stark- 
weather of  this  city.  There  is  one  daughter,  Mrs. 
H.  A.  Smith  of  Rochester,  N.  Y.  The  life  of  Judge 
Nichols  has  been  one  of  thorough  success  and 
honor.  He  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem  in  the  city 
of  Hartford,  of  which  he  has  been  a  resident  since 
the  summer  of  1S54. 


HON.  WILLIAM  W.   BACKUS,  Norwich. 

William  W.  Backus,  the  son  of  James  and 
Dorothy  Church  Chandler  Backus  of  Woodstock, 
was  the  sixth  of  a  family  of  eight  children,  and  at 
the  time  of  his  father's 
death  was  but  thirteen 
years  of  age,  —  havnng 
been  born  October  22, 
1S03.  His  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  Charles 
Church  Chandler,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Windham  cotm- 
ty  bar,  and  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  at  the 
bar  of  the  state.  His 
whole  life  has  been  spent 
in  Norwich,  except  part 
of  the  year  1819  spent  in 
Marietta,    Ohio,     m     the 

mercantile  establishment  of  Dudley  Woodbridge, 
Jr.  Ill  health  necessitated  his  return  to  Norwich, 
where,  since  1S19,  he  has  resided  at  the  home  of  his 
ancestors,  completing  seven  generations.  His  time 
has  been  spent  mainly  in  farm  operations,  causing 
the  old  farm,  with  large  additions,  to  bud  and 
blossom,  raising  large  crops  of  corn,  rye,  potatoes, 
grass,  etc.;  keeping  a  large  amount  of  stock  — 
annually  fattening  one  hundred  head  and  buying 
and  selling  many  more.  His  losses  have  been 
many  and  his  gains  considerable  —  some  losses  and 
some  gains  all  the  time.  An  eager  student,  he 
worked  days  and  studied  nights  after  going  to  bed 
—  sometimes  into  the  small  hours.  His  genealogi- 
cal researches  have  been  tireless,  and  he  has 
recently  published  an  exhaustive  record  of  the 
Backus  family  in  a  book  of  about  400  pages,  includ- 
ing memoirs,  poems,  and  many  other  papers  of 
general  interest  beyond  the  limits  of  the  family  in- 
volved. Mr.  Backus  is  a  gentleman  of  large  means, 
and  his  private  charities  and  public  benefactions 


illustrate  his  wisely  philanthropic  disposition.  His 
recent  gift  of  $75,000  toward  the  founding  of  the 
W.  W.  Backus  hospital  in  Norwich  is  an  example 
of  his  practical  sympathy  for  the  unfortunate  and 
distressed.  He  is  now  living  quietly  at  his  home 
in  Norwich  in  fairly  comfortable  health,  though 
bent  under  the  burden  of  nearly  ninety  years. 


HENRY    C.     ROBIN.SON. 


HENRY    C.    ROBINSON,   Hartford:    Attorney 

at  Law. 

Among  the  members  of  the  legal  profession  in 
the  city  and  county  of  Hartford,  there  is,  perhaps, 
none  who  occupies  a  position  nearer  the  head  of 
the  list,  in  point  of  per- 
sonal attainment  or  the 
esteem  of  his  contempo- 
raries, than  Henry  C. 
Robinson,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  Mr.  Robin- 
son is  a  native  of  Hart- 
ford, born  August  2S, 
1832,  descended  on  the  pa- 
ternal side  from  Thomas 
Robinson,  who  emigrat- 
ed from  England  and  set- 
tled in  Guilford  in  1667, 
and  tracing  his  maternal 
ancestry  in  a  direct  line  to 
William  Brewster,  the  devout  elder  of  the  Pilgrim 
colony  which  landed  at  Plymouth  in  1620.  Mr. 
Robinson's  early  education  was  obtained  at  the 
Hartford  Grammar  School,  and  in  the  High  School 
after  its  union  with  the  Grammar  School.  From  the 
preparatory  course  here  he  entered  Yale  College  in 
I S49,  graduating  with  honors  in  the  distinguished 
class  of  1853.  He  at  once  commenced  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  his  brother,  Lucius  F.  Robin- 
son, with  whom,  after  his  admission  to  the  bar  in 
1S55,  he  became  associated  in  practice  and  main- 
tained the  relation  of  partner  until  the  death  of  L. 
F.  Robinson  in  1861.  From  that  time  he  practiced 
alone  until  recently,  though  taking  care  of  a  volume 
of  business  scarcely  exceeded  by  any  law  firm  in 
the  state,  and  maintaining  connections  as  leading 
counsel  for  corporations  with  such  vast  interests  as 
the  Connecticut  ^Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company, 
the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad 
Company,  and  others.  His  son  is  now  in  partner- 
ship with  him,  the  firm  being  H.  C.  &  L.  F.  Robin- 
son. He  has  also,  in  the  midst  of  his  exacting  pro- 
fessional duties,  found  time  to  serve  his  cit3^and  the 
state  in  various  capacities.  For  two  years,  1872-74, 
he  was  mayor  of  Hartford,  in  1S7S  he  represented 
the  town  of  Hartford  in  the  general  assembly, 
and  has  twice  been  the  candidate  of  the  republi- 
can party  for  gubernatorial  honors.     In  1S66  he  ac- 


22 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


cepted  from  Governor  Hawley  an  appointment  as 
fish  commissioner,  and  through  his  instrumental- 
ity laws  were  placed  on  the  statute  book  providing 
for  the  condemnation  of  the  pound  fishery  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  the  discontin- 
uance of  that  horrible  style  of  fishing.  Before 
these  wholesome  laws  could  become  fairly  opera- 
tive, under  partisan  influences  they  were  repealed 
and  others  substituted  which  were  of  no  practical 
use,  as  has  been  proved,  in  preventing  or  arresting 
the  destruction  of  the  shad  fishery  in  these  waters, 
in  spite  of  artificial  propagation.  The  first  artificial 
hatch  of  American  shad  was  made  under  Mr. 
Robinson's  direction  as  commissioner,  before  the 
Connecticut  Legislature,  and  in  presence  of  the 
late  Professor  Agassiz,  who  was  a  deeply  inter- 
ested spectator  in  the  experiments  and  in  the 
legislative  contest  upon  the  subject,  then  in  prog- 
ress. Mr.  Robinson  also  was  the  commissioner  for 
Connecticut  in  the  Constitutional  centennial  cele- 
bration at  Philadelphia  in  1889. 

Mr.  Robinson's  connections  with  the  various 
institutions  of  his  native  city  are  numerous  and 
honorable.  Beside  being  a  director  in  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  and 
the  Hartford  &  Connecticut  Valley  Railroad,  he 
sustains  the  same  relation  to  the  Pratt  &  Whitney 
Company,  the  Connecticut  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
panj^  and  the  Hartford  Steam  Boiler  Inspection 
and  Insurance  Company,  is  a  trustee  of  the  Con- 
necticut Trust  and  Safe  Deposit  Company,  and  of 
the  Wadsworth  Atheneum,  a  member  of  the  Hart- 
ford Tract  Society,  vice-president  of  the  Connecti- 
cut and  the  Hartford  County  Bar  Associations,  has 
been  president  of  the  Yale  Alumni  Association  of 
Hartford,  is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Board  of 
Trade,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  of  various 
social  organizations.  He  is  an  active  member  of 
the  Second  Congregational  Church  of  Hartford, 
and  an  officer  of  the  corporation.  He  is  esteemed 
an  important  factor  in  the  management  of  all  busi- 
ness, educational,  and  charitable  enterprises,  and 
his  counsel  is  widely  sought  in  affairs  thus  beyond 
the  range  of  professional  practice.  He  is  a  trustee 
of  the  Hartford  Public  High  School,  for  which  in- 
stitution he  feels  the  tender  regard  of  an  alumnus 
and  the  common  pride  shared  by  every  resident  of 
the  city. 

Mr.  Robinson  has  been  a  republican  since  the 
formation  of  that  party.  The  political  offices  which 
he  has  held  have  been  conferred  by  the  Repub- 
licans, though  his  support  has  always  come  in 
greater  or  less  degree  from  the  best  element  of  all 
political  parties.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Chicago 
convention  of  1880.  But  he  is  more  a  patriot  than 
a  politician;  and  his  eloquent  addresses,  whether 
in  the  heat  of  a  political  campaign  or  over  the 
graves  of  the  natifjn's  dead   at  the  celebration  of 


"  Memorial  Day,"  savor  most  of  loyalty  and  devo- 
tion to  country,  subordinating  always  persons  and 
parties  to  the  commonwealth,  and  the  eternal  prin- 
ciples on  which  the  Republic  was  founded.  His 
admirable  oration,  delivered  in  Brooklyn  on  the 
occasion  of  the  unveiling  of  the  Putnam  equestrian 
statue  in  1S87,  excited  universal  commendation  as 
worthy  to  be  classed  with  the  best  efforts  of  Stuart 
and  Deming.  Mr.  Robinson  is  an  accomplished 
orator  and  scholar,  and  worthily  bears  the  honors 
successively  conferred  uj^on  him  by  his  Alma 
Mater. 

In  1S62  he  married  Miss  Eliza  Niles  Trvimbull, 
daughter  of  John  F.  Trumbull  of  Stonington. 
They  have  five  children:  Lucius  F.,  the  oldest  son, 
and  now  his  professional  associate;  Lucy  T.  (Mrs. 
Sidne}-  Trowbridge  Miller  of  Detroit),  Henry  S., 
John  T.,  and  Mary  S.  It  may  be  mentioned  that 
no  less  than  three  matrimonial  alliances  have  con- 
nected the  Robinson  and  Trumbull  families;  H.  C. 
Robinson's  brother,  the  late  Lucius  F.,  having  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Governor  Joseph  Trumbull, 
while  Dr.  J.  Hammond  Trumbull's  wife  is  a  sister 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 


ISAAC    W.   BROOKS,  Torrington  :  Banker. 

Isaac  W.  Brooks  was  born  in  Goshen,  Litchfield 
County,   Nov.  8,    1S38,   and   was   educated   at   the 
Goshen  Academy  and  Brown  University.     He  was 
^  a  member  of  the  legisla- 

ture from  Torrington  in 
1884,  occupying  the  house 
chairmanship  of  the  com- 
mittee on  finance.  For 
ten  years  prior  to  his  re- 
moval from  Goshen  to 
Torrington  he  held  the 
town  clerkship  of  the  for- 
mer, being  regularly 
elected  by  the  republi- 
cans. He  has  been  the 
town  treasurer  of  Tor- 
rington, treasurer  of  the 
savings  bank  there,  and 
president  of  the  Torrmgton  Water  Company.  For 
the  past  nineteen  years  he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  banking  business,  being  at  the  head  of  the 
banking  firm  of  Brooks  Brothers.  He  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  receivers  of  the  Charter  Oak 
Life  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford,  by  Judge 
Pardee  of  the  supreme  court,  and  has  devoted  a 
large  amount  of  time  during  the  past  five  3'ears  to 
settling  the  affairs  of  that  institution.  Mr.  Brooks 
is  a  gentleman  of  superior  business  capacity  and 
has  been  eminently  successful  in  his  management 
of  financial  interests.     He  is  without  familv. 


I.    W.    I'.ROOKS. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


23 


J.    T.    WAIT. 


HON.  JOHN  TURNER  WAIT,  Norwich:  Advo- 
cate, Jurist,  Politician,  Statesman. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  presents  so  marked  a 
character  in  contemporary  state  biography,  that 
the  author  of  these  papers  is  rehictant  to  attempt 
to  give,  in  the  brief  space 
to  which  he  is  coniined, 
so  condensed  a  history  as 
these  hmits  require.  A 
full  half  century  in  the 
state's  service,  with  active 
intellect,  earnest  purpose, 
and  constant  application, 
has  accomplished  what 
can  be  scarcely  more  than  t 
hinted  at  in  this  brief 
resume.  We  must  be  con- 
tent, therefore,  to  refer 
chronologically  to  some 
of  the  important  events  in 
the  life  of  this  distinguished  son  of  Connecticut, 
and  leave  their  more  elaborate  record  to  the  future 
historian  of  the  commonwealth. 

John  Turner  Wait  was  born  at  New  London, 
Conn.,  August  27,  1811.  He  received  a  mercantile 
training  in  earl}^  life,  and,  leaving  that,  passed  a 
j-ear  at  Bacon  Academy,  Colchester,  and  two  years 
at  Washington,  now  Trinity,  College,  Hartford, 
pursuing  such  studies  as  would  benefit  him  in  the 
profession  he  proposed  to  enter.  He  studied  law 
with  Hon.  L.  F.  S.  Foster  and  Hon.  Jabez  W. 
Huntington,  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1836,  and 
commenced  to  practice  at  Norwich,  where  he  has 
since  remained.  He  was  states'  attorney  for  the 
county  of  New  London  in  1842-44  and  1846-54,  and 
has  been  president  of  the  Bar  Association  of  that 
county  from  its  organization  in  1874  to  the  present 
time.  He  was  candidate  on  the  democratic  ticket 
for  lieutenant-governor  in  1854,  1855,  1856,  and 
1 85 7,  and  with  his  associates  on  the  ticket  failed  of 
an  election.  He  was  the  first  elector-at-large  as  a 
Avar  democrat  in  1864,  on  the  Lincoln  and  Johnson 
ticket,  the  republican  state  convention  nominating 
him  for  that  position  by  acclamation.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  state  senate  in  1865  and  1866,  being 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  the  judiciary  both 
sessions,  also  serving  the  last  year  as  president 
p7'0  tempore.  He  was  a  member  of  the  state  house 
of  representatives  in  1867,  1S71,  and  1873,  serving 
as  speaker  the  first  year,  his  party  nominating  him 
for  the  place  by  acclamation,  and  subsequently 
declining  that  position,  but  acting  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  the  judiciary  on  the  part  of  the 
house,  and  serving  on  other  house  committees. 
He  was  candidate  for  lieutenant-governor  on  the 
republican  ticket  in  1874,  but  with  his  associates  on 
the  ticket  failed  of  an  election.  He  received  the 
degree  of  A.M.  from  Trinity  College  in  1S51   and 


from  Yale  in  1S71,  and  the  degree  of  LL.D.  from 
Howard  University  in  1883,  and  from  Trinitj- 
College  in  1886.  In  1876  he  was  elected  to  the 
forty-fourth  congress  (to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
the  death  of  the  Hon.  H.  H.  Starkweather),  and 
re-elected  to  the  forty-fifth,  forty  sixth,  forty- 
seventh,  forty-eighth,  and  forty-ninth  congresses. 
Subsequently  he  declined  a  further  renomination. 
While  a  member  of  congress  Mr.  Wait  served  on 
the  committee  on  commerce,  on  elections,  on 
foreign  affairs,  and  on  several  subordinate  commit- 
tees; and  was  also  one  of  the  three  members  of  the 
house  associated  with  three  members  of  the  senate, 
as  a  joint  commission  to  consider  the  existing 
organizations  of  the  signal  service,  geological  sur- 
vey, coast  and  geodeticsurvey,and  the  hydrographic 
office  of  the  navy  department,  with  a  view  to  secure 
greater  efficiency  in  those  bureaus. 

It  may  also  be  stated  here,  that  while  a  member 
of  the  house  of  representatives  in  1883  the  com- 
pliment was  bestowed  upon  him  of  an  appointment 
as  chairman  of  the  select  committee  of  the  house 
to  attend  the  unveiling  of  the  statue  of  Professor 
Joseph  Henry  at  Washington,  his  associates  on  that 
committee  being  among  the  most  distinguished  and 
prominent  members  of  the  congressional  body  thus 
represented. 

As  a  member  of  congress  Mr.  Wait  cared  for  the 
interests  of  his  constituents  with  untiring  vigilance 
and  zeal.  The  extensive  industries  Avhich  give  em- 
plojmient  to  thousand  of  citizens  in  the  two  eastern 
counties  of  the  state  had  in  him  an  intelligent  and 
watchful  guardian.  As  the  advocate  and  friend  of 
home  industries  he  steadily  opposed  in  Congress 
every  attempt  to  impair  or  weaken  the  laws  under 
which  Connecticut  manufacturing  and  mechanical 
interests  have  sprung  up  and  pro.spered,  and  gave 
his  support  to  every  measure  calculated  to  advance 
the  commercial  and  agricultural  prospects  of  the 
State. 

During  his  ten  j-ears  of  service  at  Washington  he 
was  invariably  attentive  to  the  demands  made  upon 
his  time  and  consideration  by  his  constituents  in 
matters  afi:ecting  their  private  interests.  Courteous 
and  frank  toward  all  who  approached  him,  he  allied 
men  to  him  by  the  strongest  personal  ties,  and  be- 
came universally  popular  as  a  consistent  represen- 
tative and  champion  of  his  district  and  state. 

The  speeches  as  well  as  deeds  which  marked  the 
congressional  career  of  Mr.  Wait,  were  admirable 
and  effective.  Among  those  best  remembered, 
perhaps,  have  been  his  very  elaborate  and  able 
tariff  speech  delivered  in  April,  1884,  his  speech  on 
the  Chinese  indemnity  fund  in  1885,  and  his  earlier 
effort  in  1882,  when  the  South  Carolina  contested 
election  case  of  Smalls  vs.  Tillman  was  under  con- 
sideration in  the  house;  also,  earlier  than  either  of 
the  preceding,  his  speech  m  the  election  case  from 


24 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Colorado  of  Patterson  and  Belford,  delivered  De- 
cember 12,  1877;  and  that  in  a  similar  case  from 
California,  of  Wigginton  and  Pacheco,  July  6,  1S7S 
—  three  clear  and  forcible  presentations  of  evidence ; 
and  his  effectual  effort  in  1S80  for  an  appropri- 
ation for  the  New  London  Navy  Yard,  finally 
carrying  a  bill  through  giving  $20,000  for  a  build- 
ing. His  address  of  welcome  delivered  at  Roseland 
Park  in  Woodstock  on  July  4,  1879,  has  been  charac- 
terized as  "a  gem  of  oratorical  expression  and 
patriotic  sentiment;"  and  his  published  eulogy  of 
the  late  Hon.  LaFayette  S.  Foster,  delivered  Sep- 
tember 28,  1880,  before  the  superior  court  at  New 
London  on  presenting  the  resolutions  adopted  by 
the  bar  of  New  London  county,  bears  testimony  to 
the  versatility  of  his  genius,  and  the  depth  and  sin- 
cerity of  his  friendships. 

Before  entering  upon  legislative  and  congres- 
sional duties,  in  the  interim  between  sessions,  and 
since  retiring  from  public  service,  ]\Ir.  Wait's  law 
practice  has  been  extensive  and  profitable,  his  com- 
manding influence  at  the  bar  insuring  him  all  the 
business  that  could  possibly  be  attended  to.  For 
fort}^  3'ears  he  was  engaged  in  nearly  all  the  im- 
portant cases,  civil  and  criminal,  that  have  come 
before  the  New  London  count}-  courts.  His  prac- 
tice has  included  scores  of  important  cases,  not 
only  in  his  own  county  and  the  state,  but  before 
the  United  States  courts,  all  of  which  he  con- 
ducted in  a  masterly  manner,  and  was  generally 
able  to  bring  to  a  successful  and  satisfactory  termi- 
nation for  his  clients.  He  is  still  in  active  prac- 
tice, in  his  eightieth  year,  at  his  office  every  day, 
enjoying  good  health,  with  faculties  practically 
unimpaired.  During  the  past  year  Mr.  Wait  has 
made  several  public  addresses,  all  of  which  were 
spoken  of  in  very  complimentary  terms  by  the  press 
of  Norwich.  It  is  believed  that  there  is,  at  the  time 
of  writing  this  sketch,  not  another  lawyer  in  this 
state  still  in  practice  who  was  contemporary  with 
him  in  admission  to  the  bar. 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  Mr.  Wait  is  one  of 
the  corporators  of  the  "  W.  W.  Backus  Hospital" 
of  Norwich,  incorporated  under  the  general  laws  of 
this  state,  and  organized  April  8,  1S91,  to  make 
available  the  munificent  gift  of  W.  W.  Backus  and 
W.  A.  Slater  for  the  charitable  purpose  indicated. 
He  is  also  president  of  "The  Ehza  Huntington 
Memorial  Home "  for  aged  and  infirm  ladies  in 
Norwich,  a  most  worthy  institution  which  was 
created  by  the  benefactions  of  the  late  Jedediah 
Huntington  and  wife  —  the  latter  having  been  a 
sister  of  Mr.  Wait.  By  his  will,  of  which  Mr.  Wait 
was  one  of  the  executors,  Mr.  Huntington  provided 
buildings  and  grounds  for  the  Home,  and  $35,000 
cash  to  insure  the  proper  maintenance  of  the 
charity.  Mr.  Wait  is  and  has  been  connected, 
officiallv  and   otherwise,  with   manv   financial   in- 


stitutions and  trusts  in  New  London  county,  to 
refer  in  detail  to  which  would  require  more  space 
than  can  be  given  here.  Among  these  may  be 
mentioned  his  connection,  as  trustee,  with  the  Nor- 
wich Savings  Society,  as  vice-president  with  the 
Chelsea  Savings  Bank,  and  his  directorship  of  the 
Uncas  National  Bank  of  that  cit3^ 

From  his  youth  up  Mr.  Wait  has  been  a  liberal 
contributor  to  the  public  press.  He  was  a  writer 
for  Greeley's  New  Yorker  in  1839,  and  when  in 
1840  C.  W.  Everest  (not  then  Rev.)  prepared  a  beau- 
tiful gift  volume  and  engaged  John  Williams  (not 
then  Bishop),  Mrs.  Sigourney,  Wm.  Jas.  Hamers- 
ley.  Park  Benjamin,  James  Dixon,  Willis  Gaylord 
Clark,  Robert  TumbuU,  Melzar  Gardner,  and 
others  of  the  brightest  writers  of  the  day  to  con- 
tribute to  it,  I\Ir.  Wait's  contribution  was  one  of  the 
best  of  the  collection.  And  now,  when  a  special 
historical  event  is  to  be  written  up  or  an  obituary 
notice  of  some  prominent  citizen  furnished,  his- 
ready  pen  is  the  first  one  thought  of  to  be  called 
into  service. 

Mr.  Wait  is  connected  by  blood  with  many  of  the 
oldest  and  leading  families  in  eastern  Connecticut. 
On  his  father's  side  he  is  associated  with  the  Gris- 
wolds  and  Marvins  of  Lyme,  while  on  his  mother's 
side  he  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  William  Hyde  and 
Thomas  Tracy,  two  of  the  thirty-five  colonists  who 
settled  at  Norwich  in  1659.  His  family  has  given 
many  prominent  members  to  the  legal  profession. 
His  father  was  long  one  of  the  leading  lawyers  at 
the  bar  of  New  London  county,  and  for  several 
years  a  judge  of  the  old  county  court.  He  was  a 
presidential  elector  in  1793,  and  cast  his  vote  for 
Washington.  He  represented  the  town  of  New 
London  for  nineteen  sessions  in  the  general  assem- 
bly of  Connecticut.  Before  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
Mr.  Wait  was  a  democrat.  The  outbreak  of  the 
war,  however,  found  him  a  strong  union  man,  and 
from  that  time  his  political  sympathies  and  efforts 
have  been  with  and  for  the  republican  party.  His 
son,  Heutenant  Marvin  Wait,  of  the  Eighth  Con- 
necticut Regiment,  served  with  distinguished  cour- 
age on  the  field,  and  in  the  gallant  charge  of  that 
command  at  Antietam  he  fell  mortally  wounded. 
Enlisting  as  a  private  soldier  when  but  eighteen, 
the  story  of  his  heroic  fortitude  amid  the  battle  will 
be  preserved  upon  Connecticut's  historic  page  along 
with  that  of  Nathan  Hale,  the  youthful  martyr  spy. 
Though  severely  wounded  in  his  right  arm  Lieu- 
tenant Wait  refused  to  go  to  the  rear,  and  seizing 
his  sword  with  his  left  hand,  encouraged  his  men 
to  press  on,  until  he  fell,  riddled  by  bullets. 

In  the  history  of  the  part  Connecticut  took  in  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  as  written  by  Rev.  John  ]\I. 
Morris  and  W.  A.  Crofut,  and  published  by  Led- 
yard  Bill,  a  very  high  compliment  was  paid  to  Mr. 
Wait  by  the  formal  dedication  of  the  work  to  him. 


BIOGRAPHY   (3F   CONNECTICUT. 


25 


This  history  contains  about  nine  hundred  pages, 
and  gives  a  record  of  the  splendid  services  of  our 
state  regiments,  and  the  leading  officers  in  the 
same,  with  portraits  of  a  large  number  of  the  offi- 
cers.    The  following  is  the  text  of  the  dedication: 

TO 

JOHN  TURNER  WAIT, 

LATE  SPEAKER 

OF   THE   CONNECTICUT  HOUSE   OF   REPRESENTATIVES: 

A   PATRIOT 

WHOSE  ONLY  SON   FELL  IN   DEFENCE   OF  HIS  COUNTRY, 

AND  WHOSE  MANY   ACTS  OF  KINDNESS  HAVE 

ENDEARED   HIM   TO  THE  SOLDIERS  OF  CONNECTICUT: 

THIS   VOLUME, 

THE   RECORD  OF  THEIR  SERVICES  AND  SUFFERINGS, 

IS  CORDIALLY   DEDICATED. 

Mr.  Wait  married,  in  1S42,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Harris, 
who  died  in  1868.  He  has  not  married  again. 
Two  daughters  are  now  living;  the  elder  the  wife 
of  Col.  H.  W.  R.  Hoyt  of  Greenwich,  the  younger 
the  wife  of  Mr.  James  H.  Welles.  Those  who 
have  known  Mr.  Wait  most  intimately  in  the  social 
relations  of  life,  bear  ready  testimony  to  his  excep- 
tional worth  as  a  neighbor  and  friend.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  the  old  school,  courteous,  hospitable, 
and  generous  to  a  fault.  It  is  the  sincere  hope  of 
his  fellow-citizens  that  he  may  yet  survive  many 
years  to  enjoy  the  honors  which  he  has  earned  and 
which  are  cheerfully  accorded  to  him  by  his  con- 
temporaries of  all  political  parties  throughout  his 
district  and  the  state. 


CHARLES  S.    LANDERS,   New  Britain  :    Cut- 
lery Manufacturer. 

Mr.  Landers  was  born  in  New  Britain  Jtme  S, 
1S46,  where  he  has  since  continuously  resided.  He 
graduated  from  the  New  Britain  High  School  in 
i860,  and  entered  Willis- 
ton  Seminary,  Easthamp- 
ton,  Mass.,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1S61,  preparatory  to 
a  college  course  at  Yale, 
but  left  in  1862  to  engage 
in  the  manufacturing  bus- 
iness. He  has  always 
taken  an  active  interest 
in  politics.  Being  the  son 
of  the  Hon.  George  M. 
Landers,  ex-member  of 
Congress  from  the  First 
district,  he  may  be  said 
to  have  been  reared  for  a 
democrat,  but  he  has  always  been  an  enthusiastic 
republican.  He  was  a  member  of  the  republican 
state  central  committee  for  the  campaign  of  1SS4, 
but  beyond  this  he  has  always  declined  to  accept 


any  public  office  whatsoever.  ^Ir.  Landers  is  at 
present  manager  of  the  extensive  cutlery  manufac- 
turing business  of  Landers,  Frary  &  Clark;  also  a 
director  in  the  New  Britain  National  Bank,  the 
Savings  Bank  of  New  Britain,  and  the  North  & 
Judd  Manufacturing  Company.  He  married  in 
1869  the  only  daughter  of  Mr.  Loren  F.  Judd  of 
New  Britain,  and  has  one  son,  who  was  a  member 
of  the  class  of  '91  at  Yale. 


H.    E.    RUSSECiUE. 


C.    S.    LANDERS. 


HENRY  ELMORE  RUSSEGUE,  M.D.,    Hart- 
ford: Physician. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Franklin, 
Norfolk  County,  Mass.,  August  11,  1850.  He 
passed  his  early  years  in  his  native  town,  attending 
the  common  schools  and 
afterward  Dean  Acade- 
my. In  1S67,  he  left 
Franklin  to  enter  mercan- 
tile pursuits  in  Boston, 
which  held  his  attention 
until  Boston's  "  big  fire," 
November  9,  1872,  when 
he  was  thrown  out  of  his 
business  situation.  A 
year  subseqvient  to  this, 
after  occupying  a  position 
in  a  wholesale  dry-goods 
house,  he  was  prevailed 
upon,  through  the  in- 
fluence of  zealous  medical  friends,  to  enter  the  pro- 
fession of  medicine.  March  4,  1874,  he  matricu- 
lated at  the  Boston  University  School  of  Medicine, 
where  he  took  a  full  graded  course  of  three  years' 
study.  At  the  end  of  the  three  years,  after  a  com- 
petitive examination,  he  was  appointed  to  the  posi- 
tion of  resident  physician  and  surgeon  in  the 
Massachusetts  Homoeopathic  Hospital,  receiving 
the  diploma  of  the  hospital  in  March,  187S,  and 
afterwards  the  diploma  of  M.D.  from  Boston  Uni- 
versity. He  married  Caroline,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Hon.  Jos.  S.  Wheelwright  of  Bangor, 
Maine,  and  in  November,  1878,  settled  in  South 
Framingham,  Mass.  During  his  residence  in  this 
place,  he  built  for  himself  a  large  practice,  remain- 
ing there  until  1S84,  when,  upon  the  death  of  the 
celebrated  JDr.  Taft,  he  removed  to  Hartford, 
where  he  has  since  practiced  his  profession  most 
successfully. 

Throughout  his  professional  career  Dr.  Russegue 
has  taken  a  high  rank,  both  with  his  fellow  physi- 
cians and  the  public,  filling  many  positions  of  trust 
and  responsibility.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity  and  has,  for  several  years,  held  the  posi- 
tion of  medical  examiner  for  numerous  beneficial 
insurance  associations,  among  which  are  the 
Kniofhts  of  Honor  and  the  Royal  Arcanvim. 


26 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


DICKINSON. 


LEONARD  A.  DICKINSON,  Hartford:  Insur- 
ance Agent. 

General  Dickinson,  as  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
is  familiarly  known,  was  Ijorn  in  New  Haven,  No- 
vember 5,  1S26.  Both  his  parents  died  when  he  was 
quite  young,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  earn  his  living 
from  the  early  age  of  nine 
years,  being  thus  de- 
prived of  the  means  of 
obtaining  a  more  liberal 
education  than  a  few 
months  each  year  as  the 
district  school  afforded. 
He  has  always  evinced  a 
great  fondness  for  mili- 
tary affairs,  and  for  fif- 
teen years  following  1S46 
he  was  a  member  or  offi- 
cer in  various  military  or- 
ganizations in  his  native  city,  and  in  Hartford  after 
taking  up  his  residence  here.  In  October,  1S61,  he 
enlisted  as  private  in  the  12th  regiment,  Connecti- 
cut Volunteers,  for  active  service  in  the  Avar  of 
the  rebellion.  He  was  commissioned  captain  of 
Company  C  November  20,  was  mustered  into  ser- 
vice the  first  of  the  following  January,  and  partici- 
pated in  all  the  engagements  in  which  his  regiment 
took  a  part.  In  1S64  he  was  assigned  to  duty  as 
assistant  acting  adjutant-general  of  the  second 
brigade,  first  division,  of  the  19th  army  corps,  and 
in  that  capacity  took  part  in  Sheridan's  Shenan- 
doah Valley  campaign,  until  mustered  out  of  ser- 
vice November  21,  1864.  He  was  then  commis- 
sioned as  major  of  the  Twelfth  regiment,  but  de- 
clined the  appointment.  Since  his  discharge  from 
service  in  the  army  he  has  made  Hartford  his  home, 
and  has  been  honored  with  many  positions  of  trust. 
He  was  quartermaster  three  years  on  Governor 
Jewell's  staff;  postmaster  of  Hartford  four  j'ears 
tinder  President  Garfield;  has  been  a  member  of 
the  Connecticut  Soldiers'  Hospital  Board  since  1SS6; 
and  is  a  trustee  of  "  Fitch's  Home  for  the  Soldier." 
He  has  held  the  local  agency  of  the  JEtna  Insurance 
Company  of  Hartford  since  1869,  in  discharge  of 
the  duties  of  which  position  he  is  now  principally 
engaged.  He  was  made  a  free  mason  in  New- 
Haven  in  1856.  His  affiliations  in  Hartford  are 
with  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  4,  in  which  he  has  held 
various  offices;  with  Pythagoras  Chapter,  No.  17, 
Royal  Arch  Masons,  of  which  he  was  for  five  years 
the  secretary;  with  Wolcott  Council,  No.  i.  Royal 
and  Select  Masters;  and  with  Washington  Com- 
mandery.  No.  i.  Knights  Templars.  He  has  re- 
ceived from  the  Grand  Lodge  the  appointments  of 
grand  junior  steward  and  grand  marshal,  and  the 
electoral  offices  of  grand  senior  deacon  and  grand 
junior  warden.     He    is   an  active   member  of  St. 


Thomas'  Episcopal  Church  of  Hartford,  and  for 
several  years  has  been  the  senior  warden  of  that 
parish. 

General  Dickinson  traces  his  genealogical  descent 
in  an  unbroken  line  from  the  time  of  Edward  the 
First  of  England,  in  1272,  and  in  America  from 
Josiah  Dickinson,  who  landed  in  Boston  in  1630. 
Several  of  his  later  ancestors  were  officers  in  the 
revolutionary  war,  it  thus  appearing  that  the  mili- 
tary tastes  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  are  clearly 
a  matter  of  inheritance.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  the 
highest  honor  and  probity,  a  firm  friend,  a  kind 
neighbor,  and  an  upright  and  ussful  citizen. 


J- 


HON.  JAMES  A.  HOVEY,  Norwich:  Ex-Judge 
Superior  Court. 

Ex-Judge  James  A.  Hovey  of  Norwich,  who  was 
on  the  superior  court  bench  in  this  state  from 
November  13,  1876,  until  April  29,  1885,  and  chair- 
man of  the  commission 
appointed  to  revise  the 
public  statutes  in  1885, 
holding  the  latter  position 
from  June  i,  1885,  until 
January,  1888,  is  one  of 
the  ablest  jurists  which 
Connecticut  has  had,  and. 
the  numerous  public  hon- 
crs  which  have  been  ex- 
tended to  him  have  been 
deserved  on  account  of 
the  character  of  his  pub- 
lic services.  The  work  of 
Judge  Hovey  on  the  re- 
vised statutes  of  1S87  was  invaluable.  His  was  the 
mature  mind  and  experience  of  the  commission  and 
his  advice  and  counsel  were  in  constant  demand 
while  the  revision  was  in  progress.  He  was 
assignee  in  bankruptcy  for  New  London  county 
under  the  act  of  1841,  executive  secretary  1S42  and 
1843  under  Governor  Chauncey  F.  Cleveland  of 
Hampton,  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen  in 
Norwich  from  1849  until  1S53,  judge  of  the  New 
London  county  court  from  1850  until  1854,  member 
of  the  general  assembly  in  1859  and  in  1886,  and 
mayor  of  Norwich  from  1870  until  1871.  His 
colleagues  in  the  house  in  1859  included  the  Hon. 
Augustus  Brandegee  of  New  London,  the  Hon. 
Jeremiah  Halsey  of  Norwich,  Colonel  W.  H.  H. 
Comstock  of  New  London,  the  late  Colonel  Henry 
C.  Deming  of  Hartford,  Judge  Edward  W.  Sey- 
mour, now  of  the  supreme  court,  the  late  O.  H. 
Perry  of  Fairfield,  speaker  of  the  house,  A.  H. 
Byington  of  Norwalk,  who  attained  high  distinction 
as  a  war  correspondent,  and  the  late  Daniel  Chad- 
wick  of  Lyme.  In  the  senate  were  the  Hons. 
Dwight  W.  Pardee  of  Hartford  and  James  Phelps 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


27 


of  Essex,  who  have  occupied  high  positions  on  the 
bench  and  in  pubUc  life.  Judge  Hovey  has  been  a 
democrat  from  the  outset  and  is  one  of  the  most 
honored  members  of  his  party  in  Connecticut.  He 
has  been  vice-president  and  trustee  of  the  Chelsea 
Savings  Bank,  and  trustee  of  the  Norwich  Savings 
Society.  He  was  president  of  the  Uncas  bank  and 
the  Uncas  National  Bank  of  Norwich  from  1S52 
until  1S72.  The  wife  of  Judge  Hovey,  who  was 
]\Iiss  Lavinia  J.  Barber,  is  dead  and  the  only  son  is 
also  dead.  The  judge  was  born  at  Hampton  April 
29,  181 5,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  and 
private  schools  of  his  time.  He  chose  the  law  as  a 
profession  and  has  met  with  eminent  success. 
From  1830  until  1842  he  was  connected  with  the 
state  militia.  His  life  has  been  spent  in  the  towns 
of  Hampton,  Windham,  and  Norwich. 


HON.  A.  P.  HYDE,  Hartford:  Attorney-at-Law. 
Hon.  Alvan  Pinney  Hyde  was  born  in  Stafford, 
March  10,  1825,  being  the  son  of  Alvan  and  Sarah 
Pinney  Hyde.  His  grandfather,  Nathaniel  Hyde, 
and  father,  were  success- 
ful iron  manufacturers  at 
Stafford.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  prepared 
for  college  at  Munson 
Academjr  and  graduated 
from  Yale  with  honor  in 
1845.  He  studied  law  in 
the  office  of  the  late  Hon. 
Loren  P.  Waldo  of  this 
city,  but  at  that  time  a 
distinguished  lawyer  in 
Tolland,  and  at  the  Yale 
Law    School,    being   ad- 

'  &  A.    p.    HYDE. 

nutted  to  the  bar  at  Tol- 
land in  1S47.  He  remained  in  Stafford  until  1849, 
when  he  married  Miss  Frances  Elizabeth  Waldo, 
daughter  of  Judge  Waldo,  with  whom  he  had 
studied  his  profession,  and  removed  to  Tolland. 
He  remained  there  until  1864,  being  associated  in 
practice  with  his  father-in-law,  who  was  one  of  the 
leading  lawyers  of  the  state.  Judge  Waldo  came 
to  this  city  with  Mr.  Hyde.  In  1867  the  firm  was 
changed,  becoming  Waldo,  Hubbard  &  Hyde,  the 
late  Governor  R.  D.  Hubbard  joining  as  a  mem- 
ber. Mr.  Charles  E.  Gross  was  admitted  to  the 
firm  in  1877.  Four  years  afterwards  Judge  Waldo 
died  here  and  the  firm  assumed  the  name  of  Hub- 
bard, Hyde  &  Gross.  WiUiam  Waldo  Hyde  and 
Frank  Eldridge  Hj^de,  sons  of  Mr.  Hyde,  were  ad- 
mitted to  the  copartnership.  Both  of  the  new 
partners  were  Yale  graduates.  In  fact  all  the 
members  of  the  firm  at  that  time  and  since  were 
distinguished  Yalensians.  In  1S84  the  death  of 
Gov.  Hubbard  involved  a  new  change  in  the  firm 


name  which  was  then  made  and  has  since  remained 
Hyde,  Gross  &  Hyde.  The  senior  member  is  one 
of  the  ablest  lawyers  in  Connecticut,  his  standing 
at  the  bar  being  one  of  marked  distinction  and 
honor.  His  forensic  ability  is  not  less  brilliant  than 
his  legal,  and  his  eloquence  is  universally  admired. 
Mr.  Hyde  was  a  member  of  the  general  assemblj' 
in  1854,  1858,  and  1862,  representing  the  town  of 
Tolland  in  the  house.  He  is  a  democrat  in 
politics  and  one  of  the  ablest  representatives  of  his 
party  in  the  state.  He  is  a  past  grand  master  of 
the  Connecticut  Grand  Lodge  of  Masons,  occupy- 
ing the  position  of  grand  master  for  two  terms 
from  May  15,  1862.  He  was  made  a  Mason  in 
1858,  becoming  a  member  of  Uriel  Lodge  No.  24, 
which  is  located  at  Merrow  Station  in  Tolland 
county.  His  administration  was  eminently  suc- 
cessful. Mr.  Hyde  is  one  of  the  most  prominent 
members  of  the  Yale  Alumni  Association  in  this 
cit)'.  He  has  traveled  extensivel}^  in  Europe  and 
has  visited  all  sections  of  the  United  States,  in- 
cluding a  trip  to  Alaska.  He  is  a  gentleman  of 
broad  culture  and  intelligence  and  one  of  the  most 
gifted  men  in  Connecticut.  His  home  is  on  Charter 
Oak  Place,  the  grounds  including  the  spot  where 
the  famous  Charter  Oak  stood  for  centuries.  The 
historic  associations  of  the  place  are  reverently  pre- 
served, Mr.  Hyde  being  one  of  the  mo.st  ardent  of 
patriots  as  well  as  the  most  fascinating  of  orators. 


B.     R.    ALLEN,    Hartford:     Insurance    Agent, 

Stock  and  Bond  Broker. 

Bennet  Rowland  Allen  was  born  in  Enfield,  ]May 
17,  1S38,  and  was  educated  at  E.  Hall's  classical 
school  in  Ellington,  Wm.  C.  Goldthwait's  in  Long- 
meadow,  Mass.,  and  at 
the  Connecticut  State 
Normal  School  in  New 
Britain.  He  became  a 
teacher  in  the  Ellington 
school,  which  was  one 
of  the  leading  classical 
schools  in  Hartford  coun- 
ty in  its  day.  Subsequenth' 
he  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing business  at  Wind- 
sor Locks, remaining  there 
from  1861  until  1868.  A 
portion  of  the  time  he  was 
the  manager  of  the  I\Ied- 
licott  mill,  which  was  occupied  through  the  war  in 
making  knit  goods  for  the  soldiers'  use.  Afterwards 
he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  C.  H.  Dexter 
&  Sons,  Mr.  Dexter,  the  founder  of  the  compau}-, 
being  Mr.  Allen's  father-in-law,  and  engaged  in  the 
mantffacture  of  manilla  papers.  In  1868  he  re- 
moved to  Hartford  and  became  the  local  manager 


B.   R.   ALLEN. 


28 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company,  the 
Royal  Insurance  Company  of  England,  and  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Insurance  Company  of  Philadelphia. 
In  addition  to  the  management  of  the  local  trans- 
actions of  these  companies,  Mr.  Allen  is  engaged 
in  the  business  of  a  stock  and  bond  broker.  He  is 
held  in  the  highest  esteem  in  business  centres  in 
this  city,  and  is  deserving  in  every  way  of  the  uni- 
versal confidence  felt  in  his  ability.  He  is  promi- 
nently associated  with  Masonic  interests,  being  a 
knight  templar;  is  a  member,  also,  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Society  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  Mr. 
Allen  is  a  republican,  politically,  but  has  paid  no 
attention  to  public  office,  having  resolutely  re- 
frained through  life  from  seeking  public  position. 
During  the  war  he  voluntarily  sent  a  substitute 
into  the  service,  and  was  thoroughly  interested  in 
the  success  of  the  Union  cause.  The  business  in 
which  he  was  engaged  at  the  time  as  manager  of 
the  Medlicott  company  made  it  of  great  importance 
that  his  services  should  be  retained  here.  Mr.  Allen 
is  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  Asj'lum 
Hill  Congregational  church.  His  family  consists  of 
a  wife  and  son.  The  former  was  Miss  Annie  Pier- 
son  Dexter  of  Windsor  Locks  prior  to  her  mai'riage. 
The  son  occupies  a  responsible  position  in  the  Soci- 
ety for  Savings  on  Pratt  street. 


HENRY  S.  MARLOR,  Brooklyn  :  Banker. 

Mr.  Marlor  was  born  in  England  in  1835,  and 
came  to  this  country  in  1S40  with  his  parents,  set- 
tling in  New  York  city.  After  spending  six  years 
in  attendance  at  public 
school  No.  II  in  that  city, 
at  the  age  of  eleven  years 
he  began  to  learn  the 
trade  of  gold  watch-case 
making  with  E.  L.  Pres- 
ton of  Brooklyn,  Conn. 
In  1S62  he  spent  three 
months  in  active  military 
service  as  a  member  of 
the  Twenty-second  New 
York  Regiment.  Later 
he  entered  the  Metropoli- 
tan National  Bank  of  New 
H.   s.  M.^KLUR.  York   city,   remaining   in 

that  institution  for  ten  years.  He  afterward  be- 
came a  member  of  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange, 
and  was  elected  its  vice-president.  He  retired  from 
active  business  in  1868,  but  has  retained  his  mem- 
bership in  the  Exchange.  Since  1869  he  has  re- 
sided chiefly  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  but  is  accus- 
tomed to  spend  his  winters,  with  his  family,  in 
New  York  city,  where  he  owns  and  maintains  a 
handsome  residence  on  Lenox  Hill,  at  No.  iS  East 
Seventy-eighth    Street.       He    is    a   gentleman   of 


means  and  culture,  who  from  humble  beginnings 
has  risen  by  the  force  of  his  own  exertions  to  a 
position  which  he  has  a  right  to  enjoy,  and  of  which 
he  ma}'-  well  be  proud. 

Mr.  Marlor  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  Church,  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the 
Republic,  and  of  the  Metropolitan  Museum  of  Art 
of  New  York.  His  wife's  maiden  name  was  Har- 
riet J.  Van  Brunt,  and  she  is  a  descendant  of  one 
of  the  old  Long  Island  families. 


F.    ST.    J.    LOCKWOOU. 


FREDERICK  ST.  JOHN  LOCKWOOD,  Nor- 
WALK :  President  Fairfield  County  National 
Bank. 

Frederick  St.  John  Lockwood  of  Norwalk  was 
born  in  that  city  Aug.  23,  1S25,  and  graduated  from 
Yale  College  in  1840,  his  classmates  including 
President  Timothy 
Dwight  of  the  university, 
ex-Congressman  Augus- 
tus Brandegee  of  New 
London,  and  ex-President 
W.  D.  Bishop  of  the  Con- 
solidated road.  During 
the  war  he  was  on  the 
staffs  of  Major-Generals 
King  and  Russell,  and 
discharged  his  fjfficial 
duties  with  marked  com- 
petency and  gallantry. 
At  the  close  of  the  war 
he  returned  to  Norwalk, 
and  represented  that  city  as  a  republican  in  the 
legislatures  of  1S65  and  1866.  In  1S72  he  was  also 
a  member  of  the  house,  the  legislature  of  that  year 
containing  many  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  state. 
Prominent  on  the  list  were  ex-Governor  James  E. 
EngHsh,  T.  :M.  Waller,  Judge  V.  B.  Chamberiain 
of  New  Britain,  ex-Speaker  William  C.  Case, 
Judges  Torrance  of  the  Supreme  and  John  M.  Hall 
of  the  Superior  Courts,  Colonel  John  A.  Tibbits, 
and  Railroad  Commissioner  George  M.  Woodruff. 
Mr.  Lockwood  acquitted  himself  with  decided 
credit  during  the  session.  From  1859  until  1S62  he 
was  bank  commissioner.  He  is  at  present  at  the 
head  of  the  Danbury  &  Norwalk  Railroad  Com- 
pany, and  is  also  engaged  in  banking  and  manu- 
facturing interests.  He  has  been  the  president  of 
the  Fairfield  County  National  Bank,  the  office  ex- 
tending from  1868  to  January,  1890.  He  has  been 
the  president  of  the  railroad  company  since  18S2. 
He  is  a  past  worshipful  master  of  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  6,  of  Norwalk,  and  is  a  member  of  the 
Norwalk  Club.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and 
three  children,  the  former  being  Miss  Carrie  Ayres 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage.  The  children  are  Eliz- 
abeth,   born   July  30,  1S6S  ;  Frederick  Ayres,  born 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


29 


November  iS,  1S70  ;  and  Julia  Belden,  born  June 
30,  iSSi.  Mr.  Lockwood  is  a  member  of  the  Con- 
gregational church,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  in 
the  city  of  Norwalk. 


A.   ANTHONY. 


PROF.  W.  A.  ANTHONY,  Manchester:  Electri- 
cian. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  November 
I7i  1835,  at  Coventry,  Rhode  Island.  He  attended 
the  village  school,  where  he  began  at  an  early  age 
the  study  of  algebra  and 
geometry.  He  also  read 
all  the  books  on  science  to 
be  found  in  the  school  li- 
brary, and  obtained  con- 
siderable experience  with 
machinerj'  and  tools  in  his 
father's  mill.  At  the  age 
of  15  he  went  to  the 
Friends'  Boarding  School 
in  Providence,  where  he 
pursued  his  favorite  stud- 
ies in  mathematics  and 
science,  and  for  a  time  as- 
sisted in  the  preparation 
of  experiments  for  the  lectures  on  chemistry  and 
physics.  Completing  his  preparations  for  college  at 
the  academy  at  East  Greenwich,  he  entered  Brown 
University  in  1S54,  but  under  the  compulsion  of  his 
deepening  interest  in  mathematical  and  scientific 
studies  he  left  Brown  to  enter  the  Scientific  School 
at  Yale,  where  he  graduated  in  1856. 

After  graduating.  Prof.  Anthony  became  the 
principal  of  a  graded  school.  He  then  taught  sci- 
ence in  an  academy,  then  physics  and  chemistry  at 
Antioch  College,  then  physics  at  the  Iowa  State 
Agricultural  College,  and  in  1872  he  was  called  to 
Cornell  University  to  take  charge  of  the  department 
of  physics.  He  remained  there  till  1887,  and  left 
behind  him  an  imprint  that  the  work  of  Cornell  in 
his  special  field  will  long  bear.  His  interest  was 
specially  strong  in  electricity  and  optics,  and  he  de- 
vised a  great  number  of  experiments  to  illustrate 
his  instruction.  Even  in  the  academy,  in  1863-66, 
his  students  in  physics  were  required  to  perform 
experiments  for  themselves.  This  was  the  begin- 
ning of  his  physical  laboratory  instruction,  which 
he  tried  to  improve  upon  and  extend^as  long  as  he 
had  to  do  with  students,  and  to  prepare  for  their 
careers  the  physicists  and  engineers  of  the  next 
generation. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  1S74,  after  trj-ing 
in  vain  to  procure  a  Gramme  machine  from  Europe, 
as  a  piece  of  laboratory  apparatus,  he  designed  and 
constructed  one  for  the  university  laboratory  him- 
self. This  machine  was  exhibited  at  the  Philadel- 
phia centennial  exhibition  in  1S76.     It  is  still  in  use 


and  doing  good  service  in  the  physical  laboratory 
at  Cornell. 

In  1881,  appreciating  with  clear  foresight  the  im- 
portant place  that  electrical  applications  were  to 
take  in  the  near  future.  Professor  Anthony  set  on 
foot  a  movement  looking  to  the  establishment  at 
Cornell  of  a  special  course  of  stud}-  for  the  training 
of  electrical  engineers.  This  plan  met  with  great 
opposition  at  first,  but  was  finally  successful,  and 
the  course  is  now  one  of  the  best  attended  in  the 
university. 

In  1887,  desiring  relief  in  a  change  of  occupation. 
Prof.  Anthony  resigned  the  appointment  he  had 
held  with  so  much  credit  to  himself  and  so  much 
honor  to  Cornell,  and  assumed  the  duties  of  electri- 
cian for  the  Mather  Electric  Company  of  Manches- 
ter, in  this  State,  in  which  capacity-  he  has  since 
continued,  devoting  himself  to  the  improvement  of 
the  apparatus  and  the  extension  of  the  afl:airs  of 
the  company. 

WILLIAM   EDGAR  SIMONDS,  Hartford:  At- 

torney-at-Law. 

William  Edgar  Simonds  was  born  at  CoUinsville, 
in  the  town  of  Canton,  Hartford  county,  Connecti- 
cut, November  24,  1842.  He  was  educated  at  the 
graded  and  high  schools 
in  CoUinsville,  graduated 
at  the  State  Normal 
School  in  New  Britain  in 
i860,  and  taught  school 
until  1862.  August  14, 
1S62,  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany A  of  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Connecticut  Volun- 
teers, as  a  private,  and 
was  soon  promoted  to  be 
sergeant-major.  At  the 
battle  of  Irish  Bend, 
Louisiana,  April  14,  1863, 
he  was  promoted  to  be 
lieutenant  of  Company  I  for  gallantr)'  in  the  field, 
and  was  discharged  from  the  service,  August  26, 
1863,  by  reason  of  the  expiration  of  his  term.  He 
then  entered  Yale  Law  School  and  there  graduated 
in  1865.  Since  that  date  he  has  practiced  law  in 
Hartford.  He  is  the  author  of  books  on  patent 
law  as  follows:  "  Design  Patents,"  "  Digest  of 
Patent  Office  Decisions,"  "  Summary  of  Patent 
Law,"  and  "  Digest  of  Patent  Cases."  Since  1S84 
he  has  filled  the  lectureship  on  patent  law  at  Yale 
Law  School.  In  1S90  Yale  L^niversity  gave  him 
the  honorary  degree  of  A.M.  Mr.  Simonds  was  a 
member  of  the  Connecticut  house  of  representa- 
tives in  1883  and  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
railroads.  He  was  speaker  of  the  Connecticut 
house  in  1885.  He  has  been  a  trustee  of  the  Storrs 
Agricultural  School  of  Connecticut  since  1886.     In 


30 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


1888  he  was  elected  to  congress  from  the  first  dis- 
trict of  Connecticut.  He  signaHzed  his  service  in 
the  fifty-first  congress  by  his  successful  efforts  in 
connection  with  international  copyright.  A  bill 
looking  to  that  end  had  been  decisively  defeated  in 
the  house  when  ]\Ir.  Simonds  drew  and  introduced 
another  bill  and  secured  for  it,  after  repeated  con- 
tests, a  victory  quite  as  decisive  as  its  former  de- 
feat, which  bill  subsequently  became  a  law,  it 
being  the  first  international  copyright  act  of  the 
United  States,  a  measure  which  had  been  con- 
tended for  ever  since  Henry  Clay  began  the  agita- 
tion of  the  subject  a  half  century  before. 

His  record  in  congress  has  been  one  of  great 
activity  and  intense  loyalty  to  the  interests  of  his 
constituents  and  the  state.  The  services  which  he 
has  been  able  to  render  will  be  borne  in  mind  b}^ 
his  party,  who,  no  less  than  the  entire  district,  have 
been  placed  under  lasting  obligation  to  him  for  the 
conscientious  and  honorable  work  he  has  per- 
formed while  an  incumbent  of  this  important  office. 


HON.  DAVID  GREENSLIT,  Hampton. 

David  Greenslit  was  born  at  Hampton,  June  2, 
I  Si  7.  After  graduating  from  the  public  schools  of 
his  native  town,  he  spent  a  year  or  two  in  teaching 
and  in  mercantile  business 
in  the  city  of  Norwich,  af- 
ter which  he  paid  his 
attention  exclusively  to 
farming  until  1844,  since 
Avhich  date  his  time  has 
been  occupied  almost  con- 
tinuously in  official  duties. 
j\Iay  26,  1S40,  he  was 
united  in  marriage  to 
Miss  Elizabeth  Searls, 
daughter  of  John  Searls 
of  Brooklyn,  settling  in 
Hampton,  where  he  has 
since  principally  resided. 
He  held  the  offices  of  sheriff  and  deputy  sheriff  for 
Windham  county  for  sixteen  years.  In  1866  he  was 
elected  state  senator,  serving  as  chairman  of  the 
State  Prison  committee.  During  his  term  in  the 
senate  he  lost  his  only  child,  a  beautiful  young 
lady  of  twenty- two  years,  by  which  sad  blow  he 
was  almost  completely  prostrated.  In  1878  he  rep- 
resented Hampton  in  the  lower  house,  where  he 
was  again  appointed  chairman  of  the  State  Prison 
committee.  Mr.  Greenslit  has  held  the  office  of 
president  of  the  Windham  County  Mutual  Fire  In- 
surance Company  for  about  twelve  years,  and  is 
the  adjuster  of  all  the  company's  losses.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Windham  County  National  Bank, 
also  in  the  Dime  Savings  Bank  of  Willimantic.     He 


DAVID    GREENSLIT. 


has  held  various  town  offices,  having  been  acting 
school  visitor,  agent  of  the  town  deposit  fund,  and 
first  selectman,  for  terms  varying  from  ten  to  forty 
j'ears.  He  was  in  the  provost-marshal's  office  in 
Norwich  during  two  years  of  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion, and  acted  for  the  government  as  general  re- 
cruiting officer  for  AVindham  county.  During  the 
last  thirty  years  he  has  been  extensively  engaged 
in  the  settlement  of  estates,  many  of  which  have 
involved  large  responsibilities  and  required  the  ex- 
ercise of  soundest  judgment.  Air.  Greenslit  has 
given  much  attention  to  the  law,  not  professionally, 
but  in  order  to  prepare  himself  for  the  requirements- 
of  his  duties  and  to  enable  him  to  act  promptly'  and 
intelligently  on  the  many  occasions  when  legal 
counsel  might  not  be  at  ready  command.  His  ad- 
vice in  business  is  thus  often  sought  and  highly 
valued.  Politically  Mr.  Greenslit  is  an  ardent  re- 
publican, and  has  been  more  or  less  active  in  state 
and  local  politics  ever  since  the  formation  of  that 
party.  He  served  on  the  state  central  committee 
for  a  long  succession  of  years.  Whatever  the  wel- 
fare of  his  town  or  the  state  has  called  for,  politi- 
cally, socially,  educationally,  or  morally,  he  has 
heartil}^  and  earnestly  undertaken  ;  and  very  rarely 
has  he  enlisted  in  an  undertaking  which  was  not 
carried  to  a  triumphant  success.  Mr.  Greenslit's 
life  has  been  one  of  great  activity  and  usefulness, 
and  his  circle  of  intimate  acquaintances  and  friends 
extends  to  all  borders  of  the  state. 


REV.   LEWELLYN    PRATT,    D.D.,   Norwich: 
Pastor  Broadway  Congregational  Church. 
The  stibject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Saybrook 
(now  Essex),  in  this  state,  August  8,  1832.     In  his 
youth  he  was  a  pupil  at  Essex  and  Durham  Acade- 
mies, and  was  afterward 
graduated     at     Williams 
College.  He  was  ordained 
to   the    ministry    by    the 
Philadelphia     Presbytery 
in  1S64.    For  several  years 
he   was   professor  in  the 
National  Deaf-Mute  Col- 
lege of  Washington,  D.C. , 
and     of     Knox     College, 
Galesburg,  111. ,  preaching 
more  or   less  while  serv- 
ing     as      professor ;     for 
some   time    at    the    New 
York    Avenue    Presbyte- 
rian Church   of   Washington,    and   for   two   years 
at  the  second  Presbyterian  Church  of  Galesburg. 
In  1S70  the  Congregational  Church  of  North  Adams 
called  him  to  its  pastorate,  where  he  labored  with 
marked  success,  until  Williams  College,  his  abna 


LEWELLYN    I'KATT. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   COXXECTICUT. 


31 


mater,  invited  liim  to  the  professorship  of  rhetoric. 
Thence,  in  1S80,  he  was  called  to  the  chair  of  prac- 
tical theology  in  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary, 
where  he  remained  until  the  spring  of  1S88,  resign- 
ing to  accept  the  pastorate  of  the  Broadway  Con- 
gregational Chm-ch  of  Norwich,  Conn.,  where  he 
continues  to  labor  with  great  acceptance.  Not 
inappropriately  he  might  still  carry  the  title  of 
"  Professor  of  Practical  Theology,"  for  in  all  de- 
partments of  church  work  he  is  eminently  practical, 
not  only  finding  time  to  attend  to  the  many  duties 
of  his  own  church  and  various  calls  for  occasional 
sermons  and  addresses,  but  also  co-operates,  or 
rather  leads,  in  many  movements  of  reform,  being 
identified  with  the  charities  and  reforms  of  his  own 
city  and  state,  rendering  valuable  service  by  his 
wisdom  and  tact,  and  exercising  in  them  all  a 
thorough  catholicity  of  spirit.  The  church  over 
which  he  is  pastor,  through  its  commanding  in- 
fluence, contributes  to  his  strength;  it  being  not 
only  the  largest  Protestant  church  of  Norwich,  but 
in  a  sense  the  representative  church  of  that  half  of 
Connecticut  lying  east  of  the  river. 

The  secret  of  Professor  Pratt's  success  as  an  edu- 
cator and  preacher  lies  not  in  the  predominance  of 
one  talent,  but  rather  in  a  rare  and  happy  combi- 
nation of  gifts.  A  commanding  presence,  genial 
disposition,  thoroughness  and  tact,  yet  withal  a  be- 
coming modesty,  unite  to  form  in  him  a  well- 
rounded  man.  As  an  educator,  his  broad  and 
accurate  knowledge  led  the  students  to  have  confi- 
dence in  him,  while  his  genial  bearing  gave  them 
confidence  in  themselves.  If  possible,  he  was  even 
more  to  the  students  outside  than  within  the  class- 
room, a  friend  and  counsellor  to  whom  they 
naturally  came  with  their  troubles.  Not  unnatu- 
rally many  of  these  former  pupils  continue  to  turn 
to  him  for  counsel,  while  the  institutions  with  which 
he  has  been  connected  have  shown  their  apprecia- 
tion of  his  talents  —  Williams  College,  by  conferring 
upon  him  the  degree  of  D.D.  in  1877,  and  later  by 
electing  him  a  trustee;  and  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary,  by  electing  him  to  the  same  office.  The 
latter  of  these  he  continues  to  fill.  As  a  preacher, 
he  masters  his  subject,  covers  thoroughly  all  the 
ground,  gets  at  and  gives  the  kernel.  The  analysis 
is  correct,  delivery  easy  and  forceful,  the  voice 
clear  and  resonant,  and  the  manner  full  of  earnest- 
ness. His  delightful  social  accomplishments,  too, 
are  an  important  auxiliary  to  his  professional  suc- 
cess; as  the  influences  which  attend  companionship 
with  the  cultured  and  refined  are  conceded  to  be 
among  the  most  fascinating  and  powerful  that  can 
be  exerted. 

Professor  Pratt  was  married  early  in  life  to  Miss 
Sarah  Putnam  Gulliver.  They  have  one  son, 
Waldo  S.  Pratt,  A.M.,  professor  of  music  and 
hymnology  in  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary. 


ELLSWORTH. 


DR.   P.  W.  ELLSWORTH,  Hartford. 

Dr.  Pinckney  Webster  Ellsworth  was  born  in 
that  city,  December  5,  18 14,  being  the  grandson  of 
Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth  of  the  United  States 
Supreme  Court  and  the 
son  of  Governor  W.  W. 
Ellsworth  of  Connecticut. 
His  mother,  Emily  Web- 
ster Ellsworth,  was  the 
eldest  daughter  of  Noah 
Webster,  the  noted  lexi- 
cographer. He  is  a  de- 
scendant of  Governor 
Bradford  of  the  May- 
fltnvei-,  and  also  of  John 
Webster,  one  of  the  first 
governors  of  the  Connec- 
ticut colony.  Governor 
Webster  was  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the  First  Church  of  Christ,  now 
known  as  the  Center  Church,  in  Hartford,  but  ow- 
ing to  differences  of  opinion  concerning  baptism  he 
removed  to  Massachusetts,  establishing  his  home  in 
Haverhill.  This  Governor  Webster  was  one  of 
Noah  Webster's  ancestors,  and  it  is  supposed  that 
the  text  of  the  original  Unabridged  Webster  was 
prepared  in  the  old  Massachusetts  home  of  the 
governor.  John  Steele,  who  came  to  Hartford 
about  six  months  prior  to  Thomas  Hooker's  arrival 
here  was  also  an  ancestor  of  Dr.  Ellsworth.  Chief 
Justice  Ellsworth,  who  represented  Connecticut  in 
the  national  constitutional  convention  in  Philadel- 
phia, was  the  originator  of  the  plan  giving  each  of 
the  states  two  senators  in  the  national  congress. 
Dr.  Ellsworth  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  the 
class  of  1S36  and  pursued  the  most  exacting  medi- 
cal course  then  required  in  the  noted  medical  schools- 
in  Philadelphia  and  New  York,  graduating  from 
the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons  in  the  latter 
city  in  1839.  His  medical  studies  were  afterwards 
continued  in  Paris,  London,  and  Dublin.  He  set- 
tled in  Hartford  as  a  practitioner  in  1S43  and  in  a 
few  years  became  one  of  the  foremost  surgeons  in 
the  state.  He  was  the  partner  of  Amariah  Brig- 
ham,  who  became,  subsequently,  the  superintendent 
of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane  in  this  ^AXx.  From 
this  city  Dr.  Brigham  removed  to  Utica  and  became 
the  superintendent  of  the  Insane  Asylum  there. 
Dr.  Ellsworth,  in  conjunction  with  his  father,  Gov- 
ernor Ellsworth,  was  mainly  instrumental  in  pro- 
curing these  promotions  for  Dr.  Brigham.  Dr. 
Ellsworth  was  himself  one  of  the  visiting  physicians 
for  a  considerable  period  at  the  Reti-eat.  He  was 
one  of  the  organizers  of  the  City  Medical  Society, 
and  is  among  the  leading  members  of  the  Hartford 
county  and  the  state  medical  societies,  and  honorary 
member  of  the  New  York  State  Medical  Society. 
During  the  war  his  distinction  as  a  surgeon  led  to- 


32 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


his  appointment  to  abrigade-surgeonship,  receiving 
his  commission  from  Governor  Buckingham.  He 
served  on  the  staff  of  General  Isaac  T.  Stevens 
of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  who  was  shot  and 
killed  at  the  head  of  his  command  in  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run.  General  Stevens  was  the 
governor  of  California  and  one  of  the  bravest  men 
in  the  field.  Dr.  Ellsworth  was  an  examiner  of 
recruits  for  the  service  and  probably  made  the 
personal  examination  of  9,000  men  for  the  service. 
He  has  also  held  the  office  of  pension  examiner  in 
this  state  for  nine  years,  serving  in  that  capacity 
under  Presidents  Johnson,  Grant,  and  Cleveland. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Center  Church,  where  he 
was  baptised  in  infancy  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Strong, 
one  of  the  most  noted  divines  of  his  day.  He  be- 
came a  member  of  the  church  soon  after  his  gradua- 
tion. His  father,  Governor  Ellsworth,  was  a  dea- 
con in  the  Center  Church  for  fifty  years.  The  only 
brother  of  Dr.  Ellsworth,  Oliver  Ellsworth,  was  in- 
terested for  several  years  with  John  F.  Trumbull  of 
Stonington  in  the  manufacture  of  cotton  gins. 
Afterwards  he  became  a  successful  publisher  of 
school  books  in  Boston.  Losing  his  fortune  in  the 
end,  he  went  to  Montana  and  died  there  some 
years  ago.  There  were  four  sisters  in  the  family, 
only  one  of  whom  is  now  living.  One  died  in  in- 
fancy; one  was  the  wife  of  President  Jackson  of 
Trinity  College;  and  one  the  wife  of  Russell  S. 
Cook,  who  was  secretary  of  the  American  Tract 
Societ}-.  The  j'oungest  sister,  Elizabeth  Ellsworth, 
married  the  late  Waldo  Hutchins  of  New  York,  a 
distinguished  lawyer  and  member  of  congress  from 
the  metropolis.  She  is  still  living.  Dr.  Ellsworth 
has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Julia 
M.  Sterling,  daughter  of  Jesse  Sterling  of  Bridge- 
port, who  was  one  of  the  first  treasurers  of  the 
Housatonic  Railroad  Company.  She  died  at  the 
age  of  twenty-nine  years.  The  second  wife,  who 
is  now  living,  was  Julia  Townsend  Dow,  daughter 
of  Lucius  K.  Dow  of  New  Haven.  There  are  six 
children  by  this  marriage  now  living.  The  three 
elder  are  Mrs.  Augustus  Julian  Lyman  of  Ashe- 
ville,  N.  C,  son  of  Bishop  Lyman  of  North  Caro- 
lina; Wolcott  Webster  Ellsworth,  who  is  now  pur- 
suing a  post-graduate  course  at  Yale  Universitv,  a 
brilliant  linguist  and  a  student  of  great  promise; 
and  Emily  Webster  Ellsworth.  The  three  remain- 
ing children  of  the  family  are  under  age.  'i  he  son 
of  Dr.  Ellsworth  by  his  first  marriage  died  in  the  old 
home  on  Main  street  near  St.  John's  Church,  when 
only  two  and  a  half  years  old.  From  that  day  until 
now  it  has  been  impossible  for  Dr.  Ellsworth  to 
speak  of  the  loss  without  the  deepest  emotion.  The 
busiest  part  of  the  doctor's  life  was  spent  in  the 
home  which  he  occupied  for  j^ears,  where  the 
Phoenix  Insurance  Company's  office  now  stands  on 
Pearl  street.     Dr.  Ellsworth  is  an  independent  in 


politics  and  has  invariably  abstained  from  public 
office.  Even  in  the  church,  where  his  father  was  a 
deacon  for  half  a  century,  he  has  maintained  the 
same  position  with  regard  to  the  holding  of  office. 
Dr.  Ellsworth  has  long  been  a  thorough  and  con- 
scientious student  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Greek  Tes- 
tament especially  attracting  his  attention  and  inter- 
est. He  is  the  author  of  a  number  of  valuable 
contributions  to  the  science  of  theology,  including 
a  work  of  more  than  ordinar}'  research  entitled 
"  Immanuel,  God  with  us.'"  His  life  has  been  a 
notable  one  in  this  city. 


C.  -W.  HUNTINGTON. 


C.  W.  HUNTINGTON,   Hartford  :  Professor  of 
Music. 

Prof.  Charles  Wesley  Huntington  was  born  in 
New  London,  March  13,  1S29,  and  received  a  com- 
mon school  education.  He  adopted  the  profession 
of  music  and  was  organist 
and  teacher  from  i  S46  un- 
til 1SS6.  He  located  in 
Hartford  in  1S56  and  oc- 
cupied for  years  the  pro- 
fessorship of  music  in  the 
State  Normal  School  in 
New  Britain,  and  in  the 
Hartford  High  School, 
and  Hartford  Female 
Seminary.  Prof.  Hunt- 
ington was  the  first  to 
discover  the  merits  of  the 
great  singer,  Sign  or  Foli, 
and  introduced  him  to 
the  brilliant  experience  he  has  had  in  Europe  and 
the  L^nited  States.  When  the  Professor  first  ob- 
served the  talents  of  the  distinguished  vocalist,  he 
was  a  carpenter  in  this  city.  The  first  sj-stematic 
musical  training  which  he  received  was  from  Prof. 
Huntington.  As  a  musician,  the  Professor  has 
attained  an  enviable  reputation,  and  his  efforts  in 
behalf  of  the  higher  musical  instruction  and  train- 
ing have  placed  the  public  under  permanent  ob- 
ligations to  him. 

It  should  be  stated  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
is  of  the  eighth  generation  from  Christopher  Hunt- 
ington, Avho  as  a  child  sailed  from  England  with  his 
father  (Simon)  and  mother  in  1633,  the  father  dying 
on  shipboard  and  being  buried  at  sea.  Christo- 
pher and  his  mother  settled  in  Windsor,  Conn., 
after  their  arrival  in  America,  and  since  that  gen- 
eration all  the  American  ancestors  of  C.  W.  Hunt- 
ington have  been  natives  of  Connecticut. 

There  are  many  pleasant  memories  of  Mr.  Hunt- 
ington's early  professional  career.  Away  back  in 
1852  he  organized  the  "  Continental  Vocalists,"  and 
with  them  made  a  complete  and  most  successful 
tour  of  the  United  States.  After  four  j-ears  thus 
occupied  he  came  to  Hartford  just  before  the  open- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


33 


ing  of  the  presidential  campaign  of  1S56.  During 
this  year  the  repubhcan  party  in  Hartford  effected 
its  original  organization,  and  Mr.  Huntington  en- 
tered ardently  into  the  work.  He  formed  a  pat- 
riotic glee-club  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
members,  whose  singing  he  personally  conducted, 
which  became  one  of  the  most  effective  features  of 
the  public  demonstrations  of  that  enthusiastic  cam- 
paign. Later  he  organized  the  old  "  South  Church 
quartette,"  by  means  of  which  the  devotional  exer- 
cises at  that  church  acquired  new  interest  and 
effectiveness.  The  musical  accomplishments  of 
this  quartette  and  its  leader  made  for  them  a  repu- 
tation beyond  the  limits  of  the  city,  and  they  were 
induced  to  make  frequent  excursions  into  neighbor- 
ing towns  and  cities,  giving  popular  concerts  and 
receiving  a  most  royal  welcome.  All  the  members 
of  the  old  quartette  are  still  living.  Since  1SS6  Mr. 
Huntington  has  discontinued  active  professional 
work,  and  devoted  his  time  to  various  business 
enterprises.  He  is  connected  with  the  masonic 
fraternity,  being  one  of  the  charter  members  of 
LaFayette  Lodge,  No.  100,  of  Hartford.  His  wife 
was  Miss  Martha  Eddy  of  New  Britain  before  her 
marriage.  She  has  been  for  years  one  of  Hart- 
ford's most  noted  singers.  Professor  and  Mrs. 
Huntington  have  but  one  child,  who  is  the  wife  of 
Mr.  Charles  E.  Newton  of  this  citv. 


SHERMAN  WOLCOTT  ADAMS,  LL.B.,  Hart- 
ford: Attorney-at-Law;  President  Board  of  Park 
Commissioners . 

Sherman  W.  Adams  was  born  in  Wethersfield, 
Conn.,  May  6,  1S36,  and  is  a  son  of  the  late  Welles 
Adams  of  that  place.  The  latter  was  descended 
from  Benjamin  Adams, 
an  early,  but  not  one  of 
the  earliest,  settlers  of  the 
township.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  also  de- 
scended from  Ens.  Wil- 
liam Goodrich,  Ens.  John 
Nott,  John  Robbins, 
"  Gentleman,"  Michael 
Griswold,  Gov.  Thomas 
Welles,  and  other  pioneer 
settlers  of  Wethersfield; 
and  from  Henry  Wolcott, 
the  Windsor  settler.  His 
education  was  obtained 
in  a  common  school  (in  the  section  now  known  as 
South  Wethersfield),  in  the  academy  of  the  town, 
and  in  a  select  school  or  "institute"  at  Cornwall, 
Conn.  His  early  life  was  parti}-  spent  upon  his 
father's  farm,  and  partly  in  a  general  "store"  in 
Wethersfield  belonging  to  his  father.  It  was  while 
in  the  latter  occupation  that  he  turned  his  attention 


W.    An.A.MS. 


to  the  study  of  law.  His  legal  studies  were  pur- 
sued in  the  offices  of  the  late  Thomas  C.  Perkins 
and  Heman  H.  Barbour;  after  which  he  studied  at, 
and  was  graduated  from,  the  Law  School  of  Har- 
vard L^ni versify,  taking  the  degree  of  LL.B.  in  the 
class  of  1S61.  In  March,  1S62,  he  received  from 
Secretary  Welles  a  commission  as  acting  assistant 
paymaster  in  the  Navy;  reported  at  once  to  Com. 
Hiram  Paulding  at  the  navy  yard,  Brooklyn,  for 
duty  on  board  the  gunboat  Somerset.  The  vessel 
proceeded  to  the  gulf  and  was  attached  to  the 
eastern  gulf  squadron.  Here  Paymaster  Adams 
remained  until  June,  1864,  on  the  same  gunboat. 
At  that  date,  being  much  worn  down,  he  was  re- 
lieved, and  came  north  to  settle  accounts,  and  also 
to  regain  his  impaired  health.  In  October,  1864, 
he  called  upon  Secretary  AVelles  and  tendered  his 
resignation,  which  was  accepted. 

Returning  to  his  profession  in  1S65,  Mr.  Adams 
has  continued  in  practice  ever  since  in  Hartford, 
with  the  exception  of  one  year,  1868-9,  spent  in 
Europe.  While  there,  he  devoted  special  attention 
to  the  study  of  the  French  and  German  languages, 
and  translated  and  published  Eugene  Tenot's  nar- 
rative of  the  coup  d'etat  of  1S51.  He  has  also 
made  occasional  translations  from  the  German, 
Spanish,  and  ItaHan  languages,  and  has  paid  some 
attention  to  the  Dutch,  Portuguese,  and  Danish. 
He  is  also  fond  of  studying  the  natural  sciences, 
more  especially  botan}-. 

Mr.  Adams  has  been  much  of  a  delver  in  matters 
of  local  history,  having  written  many  articles  in 
that  line.  He  is  the  author  of  several  chapters  in 
the  Memorial  History  of  Hartford  County.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  National  Historical  Association, 
and  of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society,  having 
been  one  of  the  officers  of  the  latter  institution  for 
some  j'ears,  and  compiled  the  pamphlet  recently 
issued  by  its  authority. 

While  republican  in  politics,  Mr.  Adams  has 
never  been  an  active  politician.  Nevertheless,  he 
represented  his  native  town  in  the  legislature  of 
1866,  when  he  introduced  a  proposed  constitutional 
amendment,  providing  for  a  sole  capitol  for  this 
state.  It  passed,  but  barely  failed  to  receive  the 
requisite  two-thirds  majority  in  the  following  year. 
He  is  the  author  of  some  of  the  laws  of  this  state, 
of  which,  perhaps,  the  most  important  is  the  "  judg- 
ment-lien "  law.  He  is  also  author  of  the  resolution 
providing  for  a  topographical  survey  of  the  state, 
passed  in  1889.  Beginning  in  1877,  he  was  for  six 
years  associate  judge  of  the  Hartford  police  court. 
Since  1884  he  has  been  president  of  Hartford's 
park  commissioners,  and  was  the  active  member  of 
the  commission  for  the  erection  of  the  Memorial 
Arch.  While  not  robust  in  health,  he  has  never 
ceased  to  be  active  in  some  useful  labor.  He  is 
unmarried. 


34 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


F.  A.   PRATT. 


FRAXCLS  A.  PRATT,  Hartford  :  President  the 
Pratt  8z  Whitney  Company,  Manufacturers  of 
Machine  Tools,  Gun  Machinery,  etc. 
The  name  of  Pratt  occurs  among  the  earhest  of 
Enghsh  sirnames,  and  the  family,  in  many  of  its 
branches,  held  stations  of  influence  and  power  in 
the  British  Empire.  The 
first  American  ancestor 
of  Francis  A.  Pratt  was 
John  Pratt,  who  came  to 
America  from  the  south- 
ern part  of  England,  and 
settled  in  Dorchester, 
Mass. ,  where  he  was  made 
a  freeman  May  4,  1632. 
His  grandson,  John  Pratt, 
3d,  and  subsequent  de- 
scendants for  several  gen- 
erations, were  natives  or 
citizens  of  Reading, 
Mass.,  from  which  place 
the  family  ultimately  removed  to  Reading,  Vt. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  of  the  nmth  genera- 
tion from  the  original  John  Pratt  above  men- 
tioned. The  later  ancestors  of  Francis  A.  Pratt, 
for  several  generations,  have  been  natives  and 
residents  of  Vermont,  in  which  state,  in  the  town 
of  Woodstock,  he  was  born  Feb.  15,  1S27.  His 
father,  Nathaniel  M.  Pratt,  a  leather  merchant,  and 
a  noted  temperance  agitator,  was  a  native  of  Read- 
ing, Vt.,  where  he  was  born  in  the  year  1800.  His 
grandfather,  Charles  Pratt,  also  a  native  of  Read- 
ing, died  at  the  advanced  age  of  ninety-four,  in 
^lichigan ,  to  which  'state  he  removed  from  Read- 
ing in  1S34.  They  were  both  men  of  great  mental 
and  physical  strength,  of  the  true  New  England 
tj^ae  of  that  period. 

From  his  childhood  Francis  A.  Pratt  possessed 
mechanical  inclinations  which  indicated-  genius. 
W^hether  inherited  or  not,  they  were  manifested  at 
a  very  early  age,  when  the  boy  was  found  repeat- 
edly stealing  away  from  his  companions  to  con- 
struct and  put  in  operation  a  water-wheel,  or  a 
turning  lathe,  or  a  steam  engine.  The  time  after 
school  or  on  holidays,  which  other  lads  devoted  to 
play,  he  employed  with  his  jackknife  and  such 
rude  tools  as  he  could  command,  in  giving  shape 
and  form  to  mechanical  designs  which  had  been 
evolved  from  his  busy  brain  during  school  hours  or 
while  lying  awake  in  bed  at  night;  mechanical 
schemes  even  then,  as  later  in  life,  often  effectually 
banishing  sleep.  It  is  related  of  him  that  Avhen  he 
was  ten  or  twelve  years  old  he  would  set  up  a  train 
of  simple  machinery,  including  perhaps  a  wood 
lathe,  to  be  driven  by  a  belt  from  the  grindstone  ; 
and  by  some  inducement  would  tempt  his  younger 
brother  Rufus  to  turn  the  grindstone  while  he 
fashioned  a  top  or  a  ball-club  with  his  rude  turn- 


ing-lathe, keeping  poor  Rufus  at  the  fountain  of 
power  till  his  back  seemed  breaking,  by  his  special 
pleading  or  by  the  tender  of  some  favorite  toy. 

Mr.  Pratt's  parents  moved  from  Woodstock  to 
Lowell,  ]\Iass.,  when  he  was  but  eight  years  old. 
His  schooling,  begun  in  his  native  town,  was  con- 
tinued in  Lowell,  and  here  at  an  early  age  he  was 
apprenticed  to  the  machinist  trade  with  Warren 
Aldrich,  a  machinist  of  good  reputation  at  that 
time  as  to  his  products,  and  a  kind  master,  who  is 
now  living  at  an  advanced  age.  The  indifiEerent 
facilities  which  the  machine-shops  of  that  day  were 
supplied  with,  furnished  just  the  incentive  which  the 
mind  of  this  young  apprentice  needed  to  bring  into 
exercise  his  expanding  inventive  genius  ;  and  the 
lack  of  an  appropriate  tool  was  often  the  father  (as 
necessity  is  said  to  be  the  mother)  in  his  case  of  an 
invention  which  eventually  supplied  it.  In  1S4S, 
when  twenty  years  of  age,  he  went  to  Gloucester, 
N.  J.,  where  he  was  employed  in  the  Gloucester 
^lachine  Works,  first  as  a  journeyman  and  after- 
wards as  a  contractor.  The  leading  partners  in 
the  concern,  Messrs.  Melchor  and  Ranlett,  were 
both  New  England  men.  Associated  with  him  in 
his  contract  work  for  the  Gloucester  concern,  was 
a  Mr.  Samuel  Batchelder,  who,  leaving  New  Jer- 
sey soon  afterwards  and  coming  to  Hartford, 
Conn.,  became  connected  with  the  pistol  factory  of 
Samuel  Colt.  Through  his  influence,  in  1852,  Mr. 
Pratt  followed  him  to  Hartford  and  took  a  position 
in  the  same  establishment,  where  he  found  and  be- 
came acquainted  with  Amos  Whitney.  While  he 
was  there  an  application  came  from  Lincoln's  Phoe- 
nix Iron  Works  for  a  good  foreman,  and  Mr.  Pratt 
was  selected  and  recommended  for  the  position. 
He  accepted  the  situation,  and  afterwards  became 
superintendent  of  the  works.  Later  on,  when  an- 
other important  opening  was  to  be  filled  under  his 
direction,  he  selected  Mr.  Whitney  for  the  place, 
and  the  two  worked  together  in  this  establishment 
until  1 86 1.  The  year  before  closing  their  connec- 
tion with  the  Phoenix  Iron  Works,  the  young  men 
resolved  to  unite  their  fortunes  and  open  a  shop 
of  their  own,  and  accordingh'  hired  a  room  on 
Potter  street,  doing  some  of  their  first  work  for  the 
Willimantic  Linen  Company.  The  next  February 
their  shop  was  destroyed  by  fire,  but  a  month  later 
they  were  settled  in  new  quarters,  where  they  con- 
tinued to  grow  until  all  the  available  space  in  the 
building  was  occupied  by  them.  In  1862,  Pratt  & 
Whitney  took  into  the  partnership  Monroe  Stan- 
nard  of  New  Britain,  each  contributing  $1,200.  In 
1865,  the  firm  erected  the  first  of  the  present  group 
of  buildings,  and  from  time  to  time  others  have 
been  added  till  the  plant  now  occupies  about  four 
acres.  In  1869,  under  a  charter  from  the  state, 
the  Pratt  &  Whitney  Company  was  incorporated 
with  a   capital  of   $350,000,    afterwards   increased 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


35 


from  earnings  to  $500,000.  The  story  of  the  finan- 
cial and  other  struggles  of  the  early  partners, 
Messrs.  Pratt  and  Whitney,  in  lapng  the 
foundations  of  the  present  great  corporation,  sounds 
almost  like  a  romance.  Nobody  but  the  parties 
themselves  can  ever  understand  or  appreciate  the 
nature  or  the  magnitude  of  the  obstacles  they  en- 
countered, the  sacrifices  involved,  and  the  unceas- 
ing and  gigantic  efforts  employed,  in  surmounting 
them  one  after  another  as  they  presented  them- 
selves. The  end  sought,  and  finally  obtained, 
would  never  have  been  successfully  pursued  if  the 
two  young  men  had  not  possessed  a  reserve-fund 
of  determination,  pluck,  and  endurance,  which 
gave  them  a  sublime  faith  in  themselves  and  a  con- 
fidence which  cannot  suffer  defeat. 

Of  the  present  company  F.  A.  Pratt  is  president, 
and  has  been  from  the  outset  the  leading  spirit. 
He  has  made  no  less  than  eight  trips  to  Europe, 
principally  in  the  interests  of  the  company,  travel- 
ing- in  England,  Germany,  France,  Austria,  and 
Italy,  and  has  first  and  last  secured  foreign  busi- 
ness for  the  company  amounting  to  between  two 
and  three  millions  of  dollars.  The  European  fea- 
tures of  the  company's  business  is  entirely  the  re- 
sult of  Mr.  Pratt's  suggestion  and  efforts  ;  and  the 
value  of  the  connection  thus  formed,  and  of  the 
reputation  thus  made  for  the  Pratt  &  Whitney 
company  all  over  the  civilized  world  is  beyond 
computation  in  dollars  and  cents.  Mr.  Pratt  enter- 
tains a  broad  and  comprehensive  view  of  business, 
believing  that  for  his  company  the  world  is  the 
field,  and  that  it  is  only  necessary  to  seek  business 
in  a  liberal  and  intelligent  way  to  command  it  in 
the  open  market  every  time. 

Mr.  Pratt  has  been  a  prominent  and  leading  rep- 
resentative of  the  industrial  enterprises  of  Hart- 
ford for  thirty  years.  He  has  also  acquired  a  high 
reputation  among  scientific  men  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  is  regarded  as  an  expert  in  pretty 
much  all  branches  of  mechanical  art.  He  has  re- 
cently been  appointed  by  the  secretary  of  the 
treasury  of  the  United  States  as  one  of  the  board 
of  commissioners  for  the  expert  examination  of  the 
treasury  vaults  ;  the  other  members  of  the  com- 
mission being  Theodore  N.  Ely,  superintendent  of 
motive  power  of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  and 
Professor  R.  H.  Thurston  of  Cornell  University. 
He  has  served  the  city  of  Hartford  four  years  as 
member  of  the  board  of  water  commissioners,  and 
four  years  as  alderman.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
Hartford  board  of  trade,  the  Pratt  &  Cady  Com- 
pany, president  and  director  of  the  Electric  Genera- 
tor Company,  and  is  officially  connected  with  various 
industrial  corporations.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  and 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity  a  master  mason  and 
member  of  St.  John's  Lodge  of  Hartford. 


Mr.  Pratt  was  married,  Oct.  31,  1850,  to  Miss 
Harriet  E.  Cole  of  Lowell,  ex-Alderman  Asa  S. 
Cook  of  Hartford  marrv-ing  an  older  sister  at  the 
same  time  and  place.  There  have  been  eight 
children,  five  of  whom  died  in  infancj^  ;  and  one 
son,  Alelvin  D.,  dying  in  1S83,  at  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-six years.  Of  the  two  surviving  children,  the 
elder,  Carrie  Louise,  was  married,  in  1SS5,  to  J.  E. 
Spalding  of  Hartford,  and  they  have  one  son. 
The  younger,  Francis  C.  Pratt,  recently  graduated 
from  the  Sheffield  Scientific  School  of  Yale  Univer- 
sitv,  is  in  business  with  his  father. 


W.    D  L.    LOVE,  JR. 


REV.  WILLIAM  DeLOSS  LOVE,  Jr.,  H.\rt- 
FORD  :  Pastor  of  the  Pearl  Street  Congregational 
Church. 

Rev.  William  DeLoss  Love,  Jr.,  was  born  in 
New  Haven,  Nov.  29,  1851,  being  the  second  son 
of  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  DeLoss  Love.  He  was  prepared 
for  college  in  the  Milwau- 
kee Academy  at  Milwau- 
kee, Wis.,  and  graduated 
from  Hamilton  College  at 
Clinton,  N.  Y.,  in  the 
class  of  1S73.  His  theo- 
logical studies  were  pur- 
sued at  Andover  Semina- 
ry, his  graduation  from 
that  institution  occurring 
in  1S7S.  He  was  ordained 
at  Lancaster,  Mass.,  Sept. 
iS,  1S7S,  and  remained 
there  for  three  years.  He 
then  spent  one  year  in 
foreign  travel,  visiting  important  centers  of  inter- 
est in  the  East.  After  returning  home  he  resided 
at  Keene,  N.  H.,  for  two  years,  occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  private  secretary  to  Gov.  S.  W.  Hale  dur- 
ing his  administration.  In  1SS4,  on  account  of 
an  obstinate  throat  trouble,  he  engaged  in  com- 
mercial enterprises.  On  the  first  of  January, 
1 88 5,  he  resumed  the  work  of  the  pastorate  and 
was  settled  over  the  Pearl  Street  church,  May  6,  in 
that  year.  Mr.  Love  has  been  married  twice.  His 
first  wife  was  Miss  Ada  M.  Warren  of  Leicester, 
Mass.,  the  marriage  taking  place  July  6,  1878. 
Her  death  occurred  May  31,  1881.  His  present 
wife  was  Miss  Mary  Louise  Hale,  daughter  of  ex- 
Gov.  Hale  of  Keene,  N.  H.,  the  marriage  with 
her  occurring  Oct.  30,  18S4.  There  are  two  daugh- 
ters by  this  marriage.  Mr.  Love  is  the  chaplain  of 
the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Ameri- 
can Revolution,  and  an  interested  member  of  the 
Connecticut  Historical  Society.  His  preaching 
and  pastoral  work  in  Hartford  have  been  emi- 
nently successful,  and  the  church,  under  his  leader- 
ship, has  made  decided  progress.     Mr.  Love  is  a 


36 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


man  of  superior  culture  and  training,  and  his  pul- 
pit ministrations  have  entitled  him  to  much  recog- 
nition in  Connecticut. 


FRANKLIN  CHAMBERLIN. 


HON.   FRANKLIN  CHAMBERLIN,  H.^rtford: 
Attorney-at-Law. 

Franklin  Chamberlin  was  born  in  the  town  of  Dal- 
ton,  Mass.,  April  14,  1S21,  and  was  educated  in  the 
best  public  schools  in  Berkshire  county  and  at  the 
Harvard  Law  School  in 
Cambridge,  being  a  mem- 
ber of  the  class  of  1S44 
in  that  institution.  His 
classmates  in  the  Harv- 
ard Law  School  included 
Anson  Burlingame,  sub-: 
sequenth'  the  champion 
of  Charles  Sumner  in 
congress  and  Minister  to 
China  under  the  adminis- 
tration of  President  Lin- 
coln. Henry  Stevens,  the 
celebrated  antiquarian, 
was  also  a  member  of 
the  class  of  '44.  Mr.  Chamberlin  has  spent  a  por- 
tion of  his  life  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  in  New 
York  city.  He  removed  to  Hartford  prior  to  the 
war  and  immediately  established  himself  in  a  large 
and  prosperous  legal  business.  For  years  the  late 
Ezra  Hall  was  associated  in  the  partnership,  which 
became  one  of  the  best  known  in  this  community, 
its  standing  in  legal  circles  being  of  the  highest 
character.  In  1865  Mr.  Chamberlin  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  from  this 
city,  his  colleagues  on  the  floor  including  Governor 
Henry  B.  Harrison  and  the  late  E.  K.  Foster  of 
New  Haven,  speaker  of  the  house  that  year,  the 
Hon.  Frederick  J.  Kingsburj^  of  Waterburj',  ex- 
State  Treasurer  V.  B.  Chamberlain  of  New  Britain, 
the  late  David  Gallup  of  Plainfield  and  David  P. 
Nichols  of  Danbury,  the  former  subsequently  lieu- 
tenant-governor and  the  latter  state  treasurer,  Rail- 
road Commissioner  George  M.  Woodruff  of  Litch- 
field, ex-Bank  Commissioner  A.  B.  Mj'gatt  of  New 
Milford,  P.  T.  Barnum  of  Bridgeport,  Judge 
Henry  S.  Barbour  of  this  city,  then  a  member  of 
the  house  from  Torrington,  the  late  Edward  L. 
Cundall  of  Brooklyn,  Edwin  A.  Buck  of  Ashford, 
the  late  John  W.  Thayer  of  Ellington,  and  John  M. 
Douglas  of  Middleto^^'n.  Mr.  Chamberlin  was  one 
of  the  ablest  representatives  that  Hartford  has  had 
in  the  general  assembly  during  the  past  thirtj^  years 
and  his  work  as  a  legislator  was  recognized  as 
being  of  a  high  order.  His  legal  attainment  and 
standing  placed  him  among  the  most  prominent 
representatives  in  the  house.  Mr.  Chamberlin 
was  a   member   of   the  state  capitol    commission. 


succeeding  Commissioner  Barber  of  this  city,  whose 
death  occurred  while  the  erection  of  the  capitol  was 
in  progress.  He  brought  to  the  commission  the 
taste  and  culture  of  a  man  who  had  devoted  his 
life  to  intellectual  pursuits,  and  became  one  of  its 
most  valued  members.  Mr.  Chamberlin  is  one  of 
the  most  honored  citizens  of  Hartford.  He  is  at 
the  head  of  the  law  firm  of  Chamberlin,  White  & 
Mills,  and  is  connected  with  the  Pai'k  Congrega- 
tional church.  His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Mary  W. 
Porter  prior  to  her  marriage,  is  still  living.  The 
home  occupied  by  them  is  one  of  the  most  charm- 
ing and  cultivated  centers  in  the  city. 


jir 


-\ 


A.    H.     ROBERTSON. 


and  in   1SS2  the  senior, 


HON.    A.    HEATON    ROBERTSON,   New    Ha- 
ven :  Judge  of  Probate. 

Judge  Robertson  comes  of  one  of  the  old  fami- 
lies of  New  Haven,  where  he  was  born  September 
25,  1S50.  He  prepared  for  college  at  the  Hopkins 
Grammar  School,  •grad- 
uated from  Yale  College 
in  I  S  7  2  ,  and  in  1874 
from  the  Columbia  Law 
School.  He  was  an  aide 
upon  Governor  Ingersoll's 
staff  with  rank  of  colonel 
in  1873,  '74,  '75,  and  '76. 
From  1 8 77  to  1881  he  was 
an  alderman  from  the 
Sixth  Ward  of  New  Ha- 
ven. For  a  time  he  was 
at  the  head  of  the  im- 
portant lamp  department. 
In  iSSohe  was  the  junior, 
representative  from  New 
Haven  in  the  legislature.  In  iSSo  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  committee  on  railroads  and  on  contested 
elections,  and  in  18S2  of  the  committee  on  the  judici- 
ary and  the  Governor  Buckingham  statue.  Fle  was 
senator  from  the  Eighth  District  in  18S5  and  1SS6, 
serving  both  years  on  the  committees  on  roads  and 
bridges  and  contingent  expenses.  He  was  elected 
judge  of  probate  of  the  NeAv  Haven  district  in 
1SS6,  re-elected  in  1SS8,  and  again  in  1S90  —  the 
last  time  receiving  the  nomination  from  both  the 
great  political  parties.  His  business  connections 
are  as  director  with  the  New  Haven  &  Northamp- 
ton Railroad  Company,  Southern  New  England 
Telephone  Company,  Co-operative  Loan  and  Trust 
Association,  and  Young  Men's  Institute.  He  is  a 
member  and  vestryman  of  Trinity  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  of  New  Haven;  a  democrat; 
and  belongs  to  the  Knights  of  Honor. 

Judge  Robertson  is  the  eldest  son  of  Hon.  John 
B.  Robertson,  ex-mayor  of  New  Haven,  who  is 
the  grandson  of  Alexander  Robertson,  an  officer  of 
Marion's    Brigade   of   South   Carolina.       He    is    a 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


37 


gi-andson  of  Abram  Heaton  of  New  Haven  on  his 
mother's  side,  who  was  a  descendant  of  a  brother 
of  Theophilus  Eaton.  Judge  Robertson  married 
Miss  Graziella  Ridgeway  of  Philadelphia,  Penn., 
and  they  have  two  children:  Heaton  Ridgeway 
and  ]\Iabel  Harriet  Joy  Robertson. 

Judge  Robertson  has  been  constant  and  success- 
ful in  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  has  a  high 
standing  before  the  bar  of  New  Haven  county  and 
the  state. 


C.    J.    FOX. 


DR.   CHARLES    J.   FOX,    Willimantic  :    Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon. 

Ex-Surgeon-General  Charles  James  Fox  was 
born  in  Wethersfield,  Dec.  21,  1854,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Hartford  High  school  and  the  New 
York  University  of  Phy- 
sicians and  Surgeons.  In 
April,  1S77,  he  became  a 
resident  of  Willimantic, 
where  he  is  engaged  in 
the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion. Governor  Louns- 
bury  appointed  him  sur- 
geon-general on  his  staff, 
and  he  is  known  through- 
out the  National  Guard 
as  a  popular  and  efficient 
officer.  Since  1883  he  has 
held  the  place  of  United 
States  examining  sur- 
geon for  pensions,  and  is  one  of  the  medical  exam- 
iners for  Windham  county.  Dr.  Fox  is  ex-presi- 
dent of  the  Windham  County  Medical  society, 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  matters  of  profes- 
sional interest  in  the  Connecticut  State  Medical 
societ}',  member  from  Windham  County  of  the 
centennial  committee  for  1892,  for  the  coming  cen- 
tennial of  the  State  Medical  Society  at  New  Haven, 
a  frequent  contributor  to  state,  national,  and  inter- 
national medical  journals,  and  was  elected  in  1S81 
and  1882  to  represent  the  American  Medical  Asso- 
ciation before  the  medical  organization  in  Em-ope. 
In  December,  1890,  he  was  appointed  on  a  com- 
mittee of  fifteen  to  draft  Willimantic's  city  charter 
and  present  it  to  the  General  Assembly  of  1891. 

Dr.  Fox  is  a  member  of  the  Putnam  Phalanx  of 
Hartford;  an  officer  of  Eastern  Star  Lodge,  F.  and 
A.  ]\I.,  of  Willimantic;  member  of  the  Knights 
Templar  Commandery  ;  Grand  Junior  Warden 
of  the  Grand  Commandery  Knights  Templars 
of  the  state  of  Connecticut ;  charter  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  Lodge  in  Willimantic;  and  charter 
member  of  the  Willimantic  board  of  trade.  He 
is  a  republican  in  politics.  Dr.  Fox  is  a  widower 
without  children,  and  a  member  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  extensive  and 
influential  acquaintance  throughout  the  state. 


r  \\  "v^ 


J.    R.    HAWLEY. 


HON.  JOSEPH  R.  HAWLEY,  Hartford:  United 

States  Senator ;    Associate  Publisher    Hartford 

Coitra7it. 

Joseph  Russell^  Hawley  was  the  son  of  a  Congre- 
gationalist  minister  who  in  1826,  being  engaged  in 
some  missionary  work  in  North  Carolina,  was  tem- 
porarily residing  there 
with  his  family.  J.  R. 
Hawley  was  born  on  the 
31st  of  October  of  that 
year,  and  is  thus  a  native 
of  North  Carolina,  from 
which  state,  however,  his 
father  shortly  removed 
his  family,  to  settle  at 
Peterboro  in  central  New 
York.  Here  the  lad  grew 
up,  gaining  his  education 
at  the  public  schools  of 
the  district,  and  closing  it 
at  Hamilton  College,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1S47.  In  1850,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  his  LTncle  David,  who  was  the  well- 
known  city  missionary  of  Hartford,  he  removed  to 
this  city  and  began  the  practice  of  law,  having  pre- 
vioiisly  spent  three  years  in  preparation  therefor. 
He  prospered  in  his  profession,  and  in  five  years 
after  his  settlement  in  Hartford  he  married  Miss 
Harriet  Foote,  daughter  of  General  Foote  of  Guil- 
ford, on  Christmas  day,  1855. 

Gen.  Hawley  early  distinguished  himself  as  one 
of  the  leaders  of  the  Free  Soil  party,  became  active 
in  politics,  and  soon  decided  to  abandon  the  law 
and  devote  himself  to  journalism.  He  was  con- 
nected and  thoroughly  identified  first  with  the 
Hartford  Evening  Press,  and  subsequently  with 
the  Hartford  Morning  Coiirant,  of  which  latter 
journal  he  is  still  the  leading  proprietor.  At  the 
breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  Hawley  was  one  of 
the  very  first  to  enlist  for  active  service,  and  was 
made  first  lieutenant  of  Company  A,  First  Regi- 
ment, which  was  mustered  into  service  for  three 
months  on  the  22d  of  April,  1861.  He  served  until 
his  term  of  service  expired,  again  enlisted,  and  was 
in  active  service  entirely  through  the  war,  being 
honorably  mustered  out  on  the  15th  of  January, 
1866.  He  enlisted  as  a  private,  was  advanced 
through  all  the  grades  of  promotion,  and  when 
finally  discharged  held  the  rank  of  major-general  of 
volunteers.  Returning  home  he  was  nominated  by 
the  republican  party  as  its  candidate  for  governor, 
to  which  office  he  was  enthusiastically  elected.  In 
1872  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  United  States 
Centennial  Commission.  The  same  year  he  was 
elected  to  the  forty-second  congress  to  fill  the  va- 
cancy occasioned  by  the  death  of  Congressman 
Julius  L,  vStrong,  and  was  re-elected  for  the  full 
term  in  April,  1873.     He  was  defeated  in  1S75  and 


38 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


1876,  but  elected  to  the  forty-sixth  congress  in  187S, 
taking  his  seat  March  4,  1S79.  Thence,  March  4, 
1881,  he  was  transferred  to  the  senate,  and  was  re- 
elected for  a  second  term  in  1SS7.  His  record  in 
congress  is  one  of  loyalty  to  his  state,  of  fidelity  to 
his  party,  and  of  patriotic  devotion  to  the  welfare 
of  the  republic. 

General  Hawley  is  a  vigorous  campaign  speaker, 
and  is  always  in  demand  when  important  elections 
are  pending.  He  rarely  prepares  his  speeches  in 
detail,  but  relies  upon  the  inspiration  of  the 
moment,  and  in  purely  extemporaneous  effort  has 
few  superiors.  He  has  strong  and  earnest  convic- 
tions, and  possesses  the  courage  to  avow  them  on 
all  proper  occasions. 


ALEXANDER    WARNER. 


HON.    ALEXANDER  WARNER,  Woodstock: 
Ex-Treasurer  of  Connecticut. 
Colonel  Alexander  Warner  was  born  January  10, 
1827,  at  Smithville,  R.  L     In  1834  the  family  moved 
to  Woodstock,  Conn.,  where  the  son  received  an 
academical  education. 
After  leaving    school    he 
engaged  in  btisiness.  The 
year  1861  found  him  part 
owner  and  manager  of  a 
prosperous    twine    manu- 
factory in  Woodstock.   An 
aptitude  for  military  mat- 
ters   had   already   drawn 
him  into  the  state  militia, 
and   he   was   then   lieut.- 
colonel    of     the    Seventh 
Regiment. 

A  spirit  like  his  could 
not  move  on  in  the  routine 
of  ordinarj'  life,  however  attractive  the  surround- 
ings, when  a  great  crisis  was  calling  the  brave  to 
arms.  Among  the  earliest  to  enlist,  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  Governor  Buckingham  major  of  the 
Third  regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and  took 
part  in  the  battle  of  Bull  Run.  After  the  disband- 
ment  of  the  three  months'  troops  he  was  made 
lieut. -colonel  of  the  I3tli  Connecticut  regiment, 
and  served  in  that  capacity  till  near  the  close  of 
1S63,  when  a  severe  attack  of  sickness  compelled 
him  to  withdraw  from  active  service. 

In  the  autumn  of  1865,  Colonel  Warner  purchased 
one  of  the  finest  plantations  in  Mississippi,  located 
in  Madison  county,  near  the  center  of  the  state. 
Withoi:t  preconcert  about  twenty  families  from  the 
north  simultaneously  bought  homes  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  They  brought  with  them  wealth 
and  intelligence.  Curiously  enough  the  new  comers 
made  the  acquaintance  of  each  other  in  an  attempt 
to  recover  a  large  number  of  horses  and  mules 
which  had  been  stolen  from  them  with  absolute  im- 


partiality by  a  gang  of  desperate  villains.  In  the 
pursuit,  which  was  swift  and  successful,  the  bril- 
liant talents  of  Colonel  Warner  gave  him  at  once 
the  position  of  leadership,  which  thenceforth  con- 
tinued undisputed. 

Colonel  Warner  pursued  the  most  exact  and  scru- 
pulous methods  in  dealing  with  the  large  number 
of  freedmen  whom  he  employed.  This  kind  of  ed- 
ucation aroused  the  somewhat  dormant  minds  of 
other  freedmen  to  a  perception  of  the  injustice  they 
were  in  many  cases  suffering  at  the  hands  of  their 
old  masters.  Among  the  whites  the  new  and  exact 
way  of  treating  the  negro  provoked  deep  resent- 
ment. A  little  later,  as  agent  of  the  freedmen's 
bureau,  he  stirred  up  more  violent  antagonisms  by 
compelling  the  planters  to  fulfill  their  contracts 
with  emancipated  slaves.  During  this  period  his 
life  was  in  constant  danger,  but  he  never  faltered 
in  throwing  around  the  blacks  the  full  protection  of 
the  law. 

The  home  of  Colonel  Warner  was  a  center  of  pro- 
fuse and  elegant  hospitality.  He  was  unavoidably 
drawn  into  politics  and  played  a  stirring  part  in  the 
stormy  drama  of  reconstruction.  He  was  secretary 
of  state,  trustee  and  treasurer  of  the  state  univer- 
sity, six  years  a  member  of  the  state  senate,  four 
j-ears  chairman  of  the  republican  state  committee, 
and  a  delegate  to  three  national  conventions. 

Long  before  leaving  Mississippi  Colonel  Warner 
had  taught  the  old  regime  to  respect  and  admire 
him.  In  fact  he  was  importuned  to  enter  into  the 
closest  business  relations  by  several  prominent  na- 
tive capitalists.  He  decided,  however,  to  return  to 
Connecticut,  and  in  1877  purchased  a  farm  in  Pom- 
fret.  In  the  fall  of  1886  he  was  elected  state  treas- 
urer, and  his  administration  of  the  office  marked  an 
epoch  in  its  history,  as  by  modernizing  the  methods 
of  conducting  the  business  he  brought  it  into  har- 
mony with  present  requirements. 

While  still  a  resident  of  Pomfret,  Colonel  Warner 
has  extensive  interests  in  Baxter  Springs,  Kansas, 
being  president  of  the  Baxter  Bank,  the  local  Light 
and  Power  Company,  the  Baxter  Springs  Milling 
Company,  and  the  Baxter  Springs  Manufacturing 
Company.  His  son,  Benj.  S.  Warner,  now  a  per- 
manent resident  of  Baxter  Springs,  is  associated 
with  him  in  these  various  enterprises. 

Colonel  Warner  married,  Sept.  27,  1855,  Mary 
Trumbull  Mathewson,  a  woman  of  great  sweetness 
and  force  of  character,  whose  ancestors  in  different 
lines  have  been  among  the  foremost  people  of  New 
England.  Her  great-grandfather,  General  Samuel 
McClellan,  of  Woodstock,  married,  2d,  March  5, 
1766,  Rachel  Abbe  of  Windham,  one  of  the  social 
queens  of  the  period.  Their  eldest  child,  John  Mc- 
Clellan, married,  Nov.  22,  1796,  Faith  WiUiams, 
daughter  of  Wm.  Williams,  a  signer  of  the  Decla- 
ration of  Independence,  and  granddaughter  of  Gov- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


39 


ernor  Jonathan  Trumbull.  The  wife  of  Governor 
Trumbull  was  a  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Robinson 
of  Duxbury,  Mass.,  and  a  direct  descendant  of  John 
Alden  and  Priscilla  Mollines  of  the  Mayfltnuer. 


-^--re'-;' 


C.   M.  JOSLYN. 


CHARLES  M.  JOSLYN,  Hartford  :    Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Mr.  Joslyn  was  born  in  Tolland,  Conn.,   March 
26,  1S49,  his  ancestors  being  prominent  citizens  of 
that  town.     He  was  educated  at  the  Tolland  High 
School    and    at    Monson 
Academy,  at  which  insti- 
tutions  he    took   a    high 
rank  as  writer  and  speak- 
er.    He  fitted  for  and  ex- 
pected to  enter  Yale  Col- 
lege, but  entered  the  Law 
ofhce  of  Waldo,  Hubbard 
&  Hyde  instead.     He  was 
admitted   to    the    bar  in 
May,   1873,   and  for  two    , 
years  was  associated  pro- 
fessionally with  Hon.  Wm. 
Hamersley      and      Hon. 
George  G.  Sumner.     On 

the  first  of  April,  1875,  with  E.  H.  Hyde,  Jr.,  he 
formed  the  law  firm  of  Hyde  &  Joslyn,  which  has 
ever  since  continued.  The  firm  has  steadily  won 
its  way  to  the  confidence  of  the  public,  and  stands 
second  to  none  in  the  State  for  ability  and  integ- 
rity and  in  the  volume  and  character  of  the  busi- 
ness entrusted  to  its  care. 

Mr.  Joslyn  has  always  been  a  democrat  in  poli- 
tics, beheving  in  cleanliness  and  good  morals  there- 
in, and  of  much  influence  in   the  councils  of  his 
party.     By  reason  of  his  ability  as  a  parliamenta- 
rian and  speaker  he  has  frequently  been  called  to 
preside   over  its   state   conventions.      In    1874,  he 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  his  native 
town,  receiving  the  unanimous  vote  of  both  par- 
ties.    In  1877-8,  he  was  on  Gov.  Hubbard's  staft". 
In   1 88 5,  he   was   the   senior    representative   from 
Hartford,  and  the  candidate  of  his  party  for  speak- 
er.     He   was   also   the   democratic   candidate   for 
mayor   of   Hartford,  but  was  defeated.      He   has 
been  chairman  of  the  Hartford  High  School  com- 
mittee for  the  past  eight  years  ;  is  president  of  the 
Hartford  Library  Association,  vice-president  of  the 
Hartford  Trust  Company,  and  a  director  in  vari- 
ous  other  corporations.     Has  always  been  in  de- 
mand as  a  speaker  on  pubhc  occasions,  and  some  of 
his  addresses  have  been  models  worthy  of  study 
and  imitation.     Among  his   best   known   orations 
may  be  mentioned  his  address  on  the  life  and  char- 
acter of  Nathan  Hale  at  South  Coventry  in  1878, 
his  Memorial  Day  address  at  Hartford  in  1884,  his 
address  at  Storrs  Agricultural  School  in  1S88,  and 


his  oration  at  the  dedication  of  the  statue  of  Gov- 
ernor Hubbard  in  1890.  He  has  been  president 
of  the  Hubbard  Escort  since  its  organization  in 
1880,  when  it  participated  in  the  Hancock  cam- 
paign. 

Mr.  Joslyn  was  married,  in  1878,  to  Miss  Minnie 
L.  Brown,  of  Providence,  R.  I.  They  have  one 
child.  His  religious  connections  are  with  the  South 
Congregational  church  of  Hartford,  of  which  Rev. 
Dr.-  Parker  is  the  pastor. 


T.    S.    GOLD. 


THEODORE  SEDGWICK  GOLD,  West  Corn- 
wall :  Secretary  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Madison, 
N.  Y.,  March  2,  1818,   and  is  a  son  of  Dr.  Samuel 
Wadsworth  and  Phebe  (Cleveland)  Gold.     During 
that  year  his   father   re- 
turned      to        Cornwall, 
Conn.,  which  was  his  na- 
tive  place.      In    1824   he 
removed       to       Goshen, 
where  he  remained  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession 
fifteen   3-ears.      He   then 
returned   to   Cornwall  to 
till    his    ancestral    acres. 
Theodore  S.  Gold  gradu- 
ated at  Yale  in  183S.    He 
spent    three    years   after 
graduation  as  teacher  of 
Goshen    and  Waterbury 
academies,  and  as  a  student  of  medicine,  botany, 
and  mineralogy  at  New  Haven.     In  1842  he  began 
farming  with  "his  father  on  Cream  Hill,  Cornwall, 
with  no  resources  but  their  much-neglected  farm. 
In  1845  they  estabhshed  on  their  farm  the  Cream 
Hill  Agricultural  School,  which  was   successfully 
conducted  till  1869.     The  advancement  of  the  gen- 
eral agricultural  interests  of  the  state  has  been  his 
favorite  work.      He  originated   the   movement  in 
1850  which  resulted  in  the  formation  in  1852  of  the 
Connecticut  State  Agricultural  Society,  and  from 
the  beginning  has  held  some  official  position  in  its 
control.     In  1866,  at  the  establishment  of  the  Con- 
necticut Board  of  Agriculture,  he  was  chosen  its 
secretary,  which  office  he  still  holds.     In  1864,  he, 
with  the  aid  of  the  names  of  the  other  corporators, 
obtained  from  the  general  assembly  a  charter  for 
the  "  Connecticut  Soldiers'  Orphans'  Home."    This 
was  located  at  Mansfield,  and  during  its  mainte- 
nance, or  until  1874,  he  was  secretary  of  the  corpo- 
ration.    He  was  one  of  the  editors  of   The  Home- 
stead, an  agricultural  paper  published  in  Hartford 
from  1856  to  1861;  and  in  1S78  published  a  history 
of  Cornwall,  Conn.     He  is  a  member  of  the  board 
of  control  of  the  Connecticut  Agricultural  Experi- 


40 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


ment  Station,  and  one  of  the  trustees  and  secretary 
of  the  Storrs  Agricultural  School  at  ]\Iansfield. 

He  was  twice  married:  first,  at  Bridgeport,  Sep- 
tember 13,  1S43,  to  Caroline  E.,  daughter  of  Charles 
and  Eunice  Lockwood,  who  died  April  25,  1857;  and 
second,  on  the  4th  of  April,  1S59,  to  Mrs.  Emma 
(Tracy)  Baldwin,  daughter  of  A.  W.  Tracy  of 
Rockville.  He  has  had  nine  children,  of  whom  six 
are  living.  The  oldest  son,  Charles  Lockwood,  a 
graduate  of  the  Sheffield  School  at  Yale  in  1S83,  is 
a  farmer  on  Cream  Hill ;  the  youngest,  James 
Douglas,  a  graduate  of  the  same  institution  in 
iSSS,  is  a  student  of  medicine. 


PROF.   J.   M.    HOPPIN,  New  Haven  :   Art  Pro- 
fessor Yale  LTniversity. 

Professor   James    Mason   Hoppin    was   born   in 
Providence,   R.    L,    Jan.   17,   1S20,  and  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  the  class  of  1S40.     This  class 
contained       some       able 
thinkers   and    leaders    of 
the    present    generation, 
including    the    Rev.    Dr. 
John  P.  Gulliver,  who  oc- 
cupied the  presidency  of 
Knox   College,   at   Gales- 
burg,  111.,    for  a  number 
of   years,    ex-Governor 
Charles  R.  Ingersoll,  the 
,    late  Rev.  Drs.  Henry  M. 
Dexter     of   Boston,     and 
Lavalette   Perrin   of   this 
city,  and  the  Connecticut 
historian,  the  late  Gideon 
Hollister  of  Litchfield.     Professor  Hoppin  pur- 


J- 


H 


sued  a  thorough  course  of  theology  and  was  settled 
as  a  minister  in  Salem,  Mass.,  for  nine  years.  He 
was  appointed  to  a  professorship  in  the  Yale  Theo- 
logical Seminary  thirty-two  years  ago,  and  was  an 
instructor  in  that  institution  until  1S79.  For  the 
past  twelve  years  he  has  been  connected  with  the 
Yale  School  of  Fine  Arts  as  professor  of  the  history 
of  art.  He  has  studied  in  Germany,  and  has 
traveled  extensively  through  Europe,  being  one  of 
the  most  scholarly  and  polished  representatives  of 
the  university.  In  1870,  the  degrefe  of  S.T.D.  was 
conferred  upon  him  by  Knox  College  on  account 
of  his  exceptional  attainments  as  a  theological 
writer.  He  has  written  several  books,  among  them 
being  "Old  England,  its  Art,  Scenery,  and  Peo- 
ple," which  passed  through  eleven  editions,  "  Hom- 
iletics,"  "  Pastoral  Theology,"  and  "  Sermons  upon 
Faith,  Hope,  and  Love."  He  is  also  the  author  of 
the  "  Life  of  Rear-Admiral  Andrew  Hull  Foote," 
one  of  Connecticut's  naval  heroes  during  the  war. 
This  varied  list  was  dealt  with  in  the  ablest  and 
most  attractive   manner,  the   theological   writings 


being  not  less  enjoyable  than  the  volumes  of 
biography  and  travel  from  his  pen.  He  is  also 
a  magazine  writer  of  noted  ability.  Professor 
Hoppin  is  a  good  preacher,  and  his  pulpit  minis- 
trations during  the  time  that  he  occupied  one  of 
the  most  important  professorships  in  the  Yale 
Theological  Seminary  were  of  an  exceptional  order 
of  merit.  His  sermons  as  well  as  his  writings 
are  models  of  English.  The  treatise  on  "  Pas- 
toral Theology "  is  one  of  the  ablest  produc- 
tions of  New  England  scholarship,  and  will  ensure 
Professor  Hoppin  permanent  renown  as  a  theologi- 
cal thinker  and  scholar.  He  has  the  entree  to  the 
most  distinguished  literary  societies  throughout  the 
country,  while  his  career  as  the  professor  of  the 
history  of  art  in  the  great  university  at  New 
Haven  has  made  him  an  authority  in  that  field. 
During  his  early  years  the  professor  was  in  the 
military  service  of  Rhode  Island  for  six  weeks 
on  the  side  of 'the  state  in  the  Dorr  insurrection. 
His  wife,  who  is  living,  was  j\Iiss  Mary  Deming 
Perkins  prior  to  her  marriage.  There  are  two 
sons,  one  of  whom,  Benjamin  Hoppin,  graduated 
from  Yale  in  1S72  and  afterwards  became  an  in- 
structor in  the  university.  Professor  Hoppin  is  a 
member  of  the  Yale  College  church.  In  politics  he 
is  a  republican,  with  a  leaning  towards  the  inde- 
pendent party. 


GEORGE    LEWIS    CHASE,    Hartford:    Presi- 
dent of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company. 
George  L.  Chase  was  born  in  Millbury,  Worcester 
County,  Mass.,  January  13,  1S2S,  and  was  educated 
at  Millbur}'  Academy,  receiving  a  thorough  Eng- 
lish course  of  studies.     At 
the  age  of  nineteen  years 
he  engaged  in  the  insur- 
ance business  as  the  agent 
of   the   Farmers'   Mutual 
Fire  Insurance  Company 
of     Georgetown,     Mass., 
and     was     subsequently 
elected  a  member  of  the 
board   of   directors.      He 
became  an  efficient  can- 
vasser, operating  at  first 
through  southern  Massa- 
chusetts and  eastern  Con- 
necticut,   and     within    a 
short  time   his   agency   included   four   companies, 
transacting  business  on  the  mutual  plan.     One  of 
the  number,  the  Hoi  yoke  Mutual  of  Salem,  is  still 
engaged   in   successful   operations.      In    1848   Mr. 
Chase  was  appointed  traveling  agent  for  the  Peo- 
ple's Insurance  Company  of  Worcester  and  retained 
the   position   until   1852,  when   he   was   appointed 
assistant  superintendent  of  the  Central  Ohio  Rail- 


G.    L.    CHASE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


41 


road  Company  and  removed  to  Ohio.  Soon  after- 
wards he  was  advanced  to  the  office  of  general 
superintendent  of  the  road.  He  was  one  of  the 
first  representatives  who  organized  the  first  asso- 
ciation of  railroad  superintendents  in  the  United 
States,  the  meeting  for  the  purpose  being  held  at 
Columbus,  Ohio,  in  1S53.  President  Chase  re- 
.stimed  the  fire  insurance  business  in  1S60,  acceiDting 
the  western  general  agency  of  the  New  England 
Fire  Insurance  Company  of  this  city.  This  position 
was  held  until  1S63,  when  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment of  assistant  western  general  agent  of  the 
Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company.  In  this  posi- 
tion, as  in  all  others  which  he  had  occupied,  Mr. 
Chase  displayed  ability  of  the  highest  order,  attract- 
iog  from  the  outset  the  attention  and  approval  of 
the  board  of  directors.  In  1S67  the  presidency  of 
the  company  was  placed  at  his  acceptance.  After 
thorough  deliberation  Mr.  Chase  consented  to 
assume  the  duties  and  responsibilities  of  the  posi- 
tion, and  in  June  of  that  year  he  succeeded  Timothy 
C.  Allyn  as  president.  From  that  time  until  now 
he  has  been  at  the  head  of  the  Hartford  Fire,  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most  successful  insurance  institu- 
tions in  the  United  States.  His  management  of 
the  company's  business  and  interests  has  been 
matchless  in  character,  placing  him  in  the  foremost 
rank  of  fire  insurance  representatives. 

The  standing  of  President  Chase  as  an  instirance 
manager  was  recognized  from  the  outset  by  his 
associates  and  competitors  in  the  business.  In  1S76 
he  was  elected  president  of  the  National  Board  of 
Fire  Underwriters  and  is  at  present  the  board 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  legislation  and  taxa- 
tion, in  all  respects  the  most  important  committee- 
ship in  the  organization.  President  Chase's  con- 
nection with  the  national  board  has  been  one  of 
commanding  influence  and  leadership.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Society  for 
Savings  in  this  city,  which  is  the  largest  savings 
bank  in  Connecticut,  and  is  also  a  trustee  of  the 
Connecticut  Trust  and  Safe  Deposit  Company  and 
a  director  in  the  American  National  Bank.  He  is 
a  leading  member  of  the  Hartford  Board  of  Trade 
and  is  thoroughly  interested  in  the  industrial 
development  and  prosperity  of  the  city  of  which  he 
is  so  prominent  and  influential  a  citizen.  President 
Chase  is  a  member  of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congrega- 
tional Church  in  Hartford,  and  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  the  Connecticut  Congregational  Club  for 
the  fourth  annual  term  in  ]\Iarch.  This  club  is  the 
most  important  lay  organization  connected  with  the 
congregational  churches  in  the  state  and  wields  the 
most  extended  influence.  The  late  United  States 
Senator  Lafayette  S.  Foster  of  Norwich  was  its 
first  president.  The  wife  of  President  Chase,  who 
was  Miss  Calista  M.  Taft  prior  to  her  marriage,  is 
still  living.     There  are  two  children,  one  son  and 


A.    ENSIGN. 


one  daughter.  The  former,  ^Ir.  Charles  E.  Chase, 
is  assistant  secretary  in  the  company  of  which  his 
father  has  been  the  president  for  so  many  j'ears. 
The  most  of  President  Chase's  life  has  been  passed 
in  this  city.  He  has  also  resided  in  Chicago,  111., 
and  Dubuque,  la. 

WOOSTER  A.   ENSIGN,  New  Haven  :  Iron  and 

Steel  Merchant. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  New 
Haven,  June  14,  1S23,  being  the  son  of  Thomas 
and  Esther  Ensign,  and  of  a  family  which  is  identi- 
fied with  the  early  history 
of  his  native  city  and  of 
the  commercial  industry 
there  which  he  now  rep- 
resents. He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common 
schools  and  at  the  famous 
Lancasterian  school  then 
under  the  charge  of  John 
E.  Lovell  of  educational 
fame.  At  the  age  of  fif- 
teen he  left  school  and  en- 
gaged in  business  as  a 
clerk  in  the  employ  of 
English    &   Mix,  then   in 

the  hardware  trade.  At  the  end  of  an  engagement 
with  this  firm  covering  nine  years,  he  began  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account  as  a  dealer  in  iron  and 
steel  goods,  which  business  has  prospered  and  in- 
creased, requiring  in  1S76  the  erection  of  the 
spacious  store  which  is  now  occupied  by  himself 
and  his  eldest  son,  who  constitute  the  enterprising 
and  solid  firm  of  Wooster  A.  Ensign  &  Son.  Mr. 
Ensign  was  married  June  24,  1846,  to  Miss  Char- 
lotte A.  Prescott,  daughter  of  Roger  Sherman 
Prescott  of  New  Haven.  They  have  three  children. 
He  holds  or  has  held  many  important  connections 
with  the  financial  institution's  of  New  Haven,  hav- 
ing been  for  twenty-five  years  a  director  in  the  City 
Bank,  vice-president  and  director  in  the  New  Haven 
Watch  company  until  the  removal  of  their  factory 
to  New  Jersey,  and  a  director  in  the  Maryland 
steamboat  company  of  Baltimore,  Md.  He  has 
been  prominent  among  the  business  men  and  inter- 
ests of  New  Haven  for  nearly  half  a  century,  out- 
living many  of  his  early  contemporaries.  From 
small  beginnings  he  passed  uninterruptedly  through 
the  various  grades  of  success  to  the  honorable 
position  which  he  occupies  to-daj^  among  the  most 
prosperous  and  wealthy  establishments  in  his  line 
in  New  England.  Mr.  Ensign  is  a  member  of  St. 
Paul  Episcopal  church  of  New  Haven,  and  is  still 
active  in  religious  work  as  he  is  in  the  secular  duties 
of  life.  In  politics  he  is  connected  with  the  demo- 
cratic party,  in  whose  honors  he  has  repeatedly 
been  called  to  share. 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


HON.  DANIEL  NASH  MORGAN,  Bridgeport: 
Banker. 

Daniel  N.  Morgan,  one  of  the  most  widely-known 
citizens  of  Fairfield  county,  was  born  in  Newtown, 
August  iS,  1S44,  and  educated  at  the  Newtown 
Academy,  Bethel  Insti- 
tute, and  in  the  common 
schools.  He  was  thor- 
oughly educated  to  the 
mercantile  pursuit,  during 
the  last  five  3-ears  of  his 
minority  in  his  father's 
store,  when  he  succeeded 
to  the  control  of  the  busi- 
ness for  one  year;  subse- 
quently for  three  years  he 
was  of  the  flourishing  firm 
of  Morgan  &  Booth,  retir- 
L).  N.  MORGAX.  iug  in  I S69,  and  removing 

to  Bridgeport,  where  for 
more  than  ten  years  he  was  of  the  firm  of  Birdsey 
&  Morgan,  transacting  a  large  and  profitable  busi- 
ness in  dry  goods  and  carpets,  having  also  during 
that  period  probablj'  the  largest  dressmaking  es- 
tablishment in  the  state,  enjoying  a  choice  southern 
trade.  During  the  j-ear  1877  he  was  connected 
with  the  firm  of  Morgan,  Hopson  &  Co.,  wholesale 
grocers.  He  was  a  member  of  the  common  council 
of  Bridgeport  in  1S73-4;  mayor  of  Bridgeport  in  18S0 
and  1SS4;  on  the  board  of  education  in  the  same  town 
in  1S77-7S,  and  for  many  years  parish  clerk,  and 
is  senior  warden  of  Trinity  Church.  He  is  vice- 
president  and  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of 
the  Bridgeport  Hospital;  vice-president  of  the  Con- 
solidated Rolling  Stock  Company;  sinking  fund 
commissioner  of  the  city;  vice-president  of  the  state 
democratic  club ;  president  of  the  City  National  Bank 
since  1879, —  during  which  time  $125,000  has  been 
added  to  its  surplus;  president  of  the  Mechanics'  and 
Farmers'  Savings  Bank, —  whose  deposits  have  in- 
increased  half  a  million  during  the  past  five 
years,  with  assets  now  of  $1,100,000.  Mr.  Mor- 
gan was  state  senator  from  the  fourteenth  dis- 
trict in  1 88  5  and  1S86,  having  been  previ- 
ously, in  1S83,  elected  to  the  lower  house  by  a 
majority  of  940  —  the  largest  ever  given  a  member 
since  the  organization  of  the  town.  For  two  years 
he  was  Worshipful  Master  of  Corinthian  Lodge, 
No.  104,  F.  and  A.  M.  He  is  now  a  member  of 
Hamilton  Commandery,  No.  5,  K.  T.,  and  also  of 
Pequonock  Lodge,  No.  4, 1.  O.  O.  F.  He  married,  in 
1 868,  Medora  H.  Judson,  daughter  of  the  late  Hon. 
Wm.  A.  Judson,  formerly  of  Huntington,  a  lifelong 
democrat,  and  senator  from  the  tenth  district  in 
1852,  and  a  member  of  the  house  in  1844,  184S,  1850, 
and  1854.  Mr.  Morgan's  maternal  grandfather  was 
Daniel  Nash,  late  of  Westport,  who  was  well-known 
locally  as  an  eminent  financier,  living  into  his  96th 


year.  Mr.  Morgan's  father,  Ezra  Morgan,  repre- 
sented Newtown  in  the  legislature  in  1842,  1862, 
and  1868.  He  was  of  one  of  the  oldest  families  of 
the  state;  was  for  many  j-ears  a  merchant,  and  for 
a  long  time  president  of  the  Hatter's  National 
Bank  of  Bethel. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  two  children,  a 
son  and  a  daughter. 


p.    S.    BARBER. 


PELEG  S.  BARBER,  Stonington  :  President 
People's  Savings  Bank  of  Pawcatuck. 
Mr.  Barber  was  born  in  North  Kingston,  R.  I., 
April  29,  1823.  He  received  the  advantages  of  a 
good  common  school  education,  and  has  been 
largeh'  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile and  manufacturing 
business,  though  at  pres- 
ent confining  his  attention 
chiefl)'  to  transactions  in 
real  estate.  He  was  for 
sixteen  years  in  cotton 
manufacturing,  and  from 
1850  to  1853  was  in  the 
gold  mines  of  California. 
He  married,  earlj'  in  life. 
Miss  Sarah  Gardner,  who 
is  still  living.  Mr.  Bar- 
ber is  largely  interested 
in  the  Pawcatuck  Nation- 
al Bank,  of  which  he  is,  and  for  sixteen  years  has 
been,  a  director.  He  is  president  of  the  People's 
Savings  Bank  of  Pawcatuck;  also  treasurer  of  the 
Pawcatuck  Fire  District  since  its  organization  in 
18S7,  for  sixteen  years  treasurer  of  his  school  dis- 
trict, fifteen  j-ears  a  member  of  the  town  board  of 
relief,  and  a  notary  public.  He  was  on  the  board 
of  assessors  for  several  years,  and  has  held  various 
other  local  offices  in  the  town  in  which  he  resides, 
where  he  has  led  an  active  and  useful  life  for  thirty- 
four  years,  and  is  highly  respected  and  esteemed 
b}^  all  his  townsmen.  Mr.  Barber  comes  from  an 
ancestry  which  have  been  prominently  identified 
with  the  whig  and  republican  parties  ever  since 
their  formation.  In  the  fall  of  1884  he  became  the 
candidate  of  the  republicans  for  representative 
from  Stonington  in  the  general  assembly,  to  which 
position  he  was  elected  by  a  large  majority.  He 
served  in  the  house  on  the  committee  on  appropria- 
tions. As  an  ardent  supporter  of  republican  princi- 
ples and  a  consistent  advocate  of  temperance,  he 
did  good  work  for  his  constituency  and  the  state 
during  the  session  of  18S5,  and  made  an  honorable 
i^ecord  as  a  legislator.  Mr.  Barber  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  church  and  takes  an  active  interest  in 
all  moral  and  religious  enterprises  in  the  town, 
which  he  is  always  ready  to  aid  whenever  called 
upon  to  do  so. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


43 


J- 


JOHN    A.    CONx\NT,    Willimantic  :    President 

New  England  Christian  Association. 

John  A.  Conant  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh 
generation  from  Roger  Conant,  who  came  from 
England  in  1623,  and  finally  settled  in  what  is  now 
Salem,  Mass.  He  was 
born  at  Mansfield,  Conn., 
August  16,  1829,  being 
the  oldest  son  of  Lucius 
and  Marietta  (Eaton) 
Conant,  who  were  unable 
to  give  him  anything 
more  than  a  common 
school  education.  At  ten 
years  of  age  he  went  to 
live  on  a  farm  with  his 
mother's  brother,  George 
Eaton,  and  remained 
there  until  nearly  fifteen, 
when  he  returned  home, 
and  soon  after  went  to  work  in  a  silk  mill  of  which 
the  Hon.  Augustus  Storrs  was  agent.  In  1S49, 
because  of  the  depressed  condition  of  the  silk  man- 
ufacturing business,  he  was  thrown  out  of  work, 
but  secui-ed  employment  at  the  American  mills  in 
Rockville,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  Miss 
Caroline  A.  Chapman  of  Ellington,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  1852.  In  1854  he  engaged  with  Messrs. 
Cheney  Brothers  to  take  charge  of  the  winding  de- 
partment of  their  mills  in  Hartford.  There  he  re- 
mained two  years,  during  which  time  he  took  a 
letter  from  the  Wesleyan  Methodist  Church  of 
Tolland,  and,  with  his  wife,  united  with  the  Fourth 
Congregational  Church  of  that  city,  Rev.  William 
W.  Patton  pastor.  In  1856,  being  weary  of  mill 
life,  he  bought  a  small  farm  in  West  Hartford,  but 
only  a  year  elapsed  before  he  yielded  to  the  earnest 
solicitations  of  the  Water  town  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany to  superintend  their  silk  mill  at  Watertown, 
in  this  state.  Having  lost  the  companion  of  his 
j^outh,  who  died  in  1863,  leaving  one  son,  he  was 
married  the  following  year  to  his  second  wife,  Mrs. 
Marietta  (French)  Brown  of  Mansfield,  by  whom 
he  had  two  sons,  but  only  one  is  now  living.  In 
1S66  he  engaged  with  Messrs.  J.  H.  &  G.  Holland 
to  superintend  the  throwing  department  of  their 
silk  works  in  Willimantic,  where  he  still  resides. 

When  Mr.  Conant  became  an  elector  he  com- 
menced voting  with  the  free  soil  part}-,  with  which 
he  acted  until  it  was  merged  into  the  newly-organ- 
ized republican  party,  in  which  he  was  a  zealous 
worker  until  after  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  when, 
seeing  the  successful  influence  of  the  liquor  traffic 
over  its  leading  men,  he  left  it  in  1872  to  act  with 
the  prohibitionists.  Meanwhile  the  anti-secret  re- 
form began  to  engage  his  attention.  Mr.  Conant 
has  been  a  member  of  three  secret  societies,  two  of 
which  are  now  extinct,  and  the  other  he  abandoned 


many  j-ears  since  because  of  the  clannish  spirit  and 
idolatrous  tendency  he  discovered  in  such  societies. 
He  has  come  to  look  upon  all  secret  organizations 
as  dangerous  to  the  state,  and  a  hindrance  to  the 
work  of  the  Christian  church;  and  he  now  holds  the 
position  of  president  of  the  New  England  Christian 
Association,  formed  for  the  purpose  of  opposing 
and  exposing  the  evils  of  the  lodge  system.  In 
1 884  he  was  nominated  on  the  anti-secret  ticket  by 
the  American  party  for  vice-president,  but  with  the 
other  candidate.  Dr.  J.  Blanchard,  withdrew  in 
favor  of  St.  John  and  Daniel;  since  which  time  he 
has  generally  acted  with  the  prohibitionists,  except 
when  such  action  would  conflict  with  his  anti-secret 
principles. 

IRVING    EMERSON,    Haktkord  :    Professor    of 

ilusic. 

Professor  Irving  Emerson  is  one  of  the  most 
widelv-known  and  successful  musical  directors  in 
the  state  and  the  author  of  leading  musical  pubh- 
cations  and  works  now 
used  in  the  public  schools. 
These  works  include 
"Song  Land,"  "Song 
Tablet",  "Morning  Hour," 
"Public  School  Hymnal," 
' '  First  Steps  in  Song  Read- 
ing, "and  ' '  Song  Readers , " 
Nos.  I  &  2,  and  also  a  large 
number  of  compositions  for 
church  choirs.  He  organ- 
ized and  directed  for  four 
3"ears  a  large  choral  so- 
ciety in  Hartford  called 
"  The  Emerson  Chorus," 
of  two  hundred  voices,  giving  three  or  more  con- 
certs each  season,  with  Theodore  Thomas'  and  the 
Germania  orchestras  and  celebrated  vocal  soloists, 
and  presenting  at  each  entertainment  some  new 
work.  Afterwards  he  formed  the  Hartford  Opera 
Company,  driUing  and  directing  the  performances 
of  "  Patience,"  "  Piratesof  Penzance,""  lolanthe," 
"  Maritana,"  "  Pinafore,"  "  Chimes  of  Normandy," 
"Betsy  Baker,"  "  The  Sleeping  Queen,"  and  "  Pris- 
cilla,"  not  only  here,  but  in  the  neighboring  cities  of 
Springfield, NewBritain,  Middletown,and  Rockville. 
He  also  directed  several  pubUc  school  festivals, where 
over  a  thousand  children  took  part.  He  has  been 
busy  in  the  same  kind  of  work  all  through  this  part 
of  the  state.  Professor  Emerson  became  a  resi- 
dent of  Hartford  in  1S69  and  has  been  the  director 
of  music  and  organist  in  the  leading  churches  in 
this  city,  including  the  South  Congregational,  the 
Asylum  Hill  and  Pearl  Street  churches,  Christ 
church  and  the  First  Methodist,  this  service  cover- 
ing a  period  of  twenty-two  years.  But  his  most 
important  work  has  been  accomplished  in  the  pub- 


IRVINi;    EMERSON. 


44 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


lie  schools  of  the  city,  in  which  he  has  been  the 
musical  instructor  for  years.  Prior  to  his  removal 
to  Hartford  he  resided  in  Boston,  Belfast,  Me.,  and 
Montpelier,  Vt.  During  the  war  he  served  in  the 
forty-third  ^Massachusetts  ;  he  is  now  a  member  of 
the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut.  He  is  a 
32^  Mason  and  occupies  official  positions  in  Wolcott 
Council  and  Pythagoras  Chapter  in  this  city.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Improved  Order  of  Red 
Men.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican  and  in  re- 
ligious belief  a  Unitarian.  His  wife  was  a  Miss 
Mary  E.  Yoi:ng,  a  prominent  teacher  in  the 
pubHc  schools  here  prior  to  her  marriage,  and  the 
family  consists  of  two  sons.  Professor  Emerson 
and  wife  were  married  in  June,  1888. 


He  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church.     His  wife, 
who  was  Elizabeth  B.  Moses  prior  to  marriage,  is 

still  living,  but  there  are  no  children  in  the  family. 


N.  W.  HOLCOMBE. 


DR.  N.  W.  HOLCOMBE,  West  Simsburv  ;    Post- 
master. 

Dr.  Noah  Webster  Holcombe  was  born  in  Gran- 
In*  in  I  S3 1,  and  was  educated  in  the  University 
Medical  College  of  New  York  city.  He  has  de- 
voted his  life  to  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine.  He  has 
served  in  both  branches 
of  the  general  assembly, 
being  a  member  of  the 
senate  in  1S69,  and  of  the 
house  in  1876.  Prior  to 
the  war,  he  was  connect- 
ed with  the  democratic 
party,  but  for  the  last 
thirty  years  he  has  been 
a  republican.  He  was  in 
the  service  as  a  volunteer 
surgeon  during  the  rebel- 
lion. He  has  held  numer- 
ous offices  of  trust  and  responsibilit}'  in  the  town 
where  he  resides,  serving  on  the  board  of  selectmen 
and  as  postmaster  at  West  Simsbury.  The  latter 
is  one  of  the  positions  that  he  still  retains.  He  is 
also  post  surgeon  at  Simsbury.  Dr.  Holcombe  is  a 
member  of  Hartford  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  Wash- 
ington Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  surgeon  of 
the  Putnam  Phalanx,  and  is  connected  with  Trum- 
bull Council  of  the  National  Providence  L^nion,  and 
the  Order  of  Red  Men.  He  is  president  of  the 
Simsbury  Agricultural  Society,  president  of  the 
Tunxis  Rogue  Detective  Society,  president  of  the 
Connecticut  Detective  Association,  and  also  presi- 
dent of  the  Simsbury  Creamery  Company.  He  is 
a  director  in  the  National  Life  Association  of  this 
city,  and  vice-president  and  treasurer  of  the  Con- 
necticut Association  for  the  protection  of  game  and 
fish.  Dr.  Holcombe  is  one  of  the  busiest  of  men,  but 
always  has  time  to  be  the  most  companionable  of 
gentlemen.  He  has  been  a  resident  of  Connecti- 
cut during  the  whole  of  his  active  life  with  the  ex- 
ception of   three  years  spent  in  Wilmington,  Del. 


■'V^ 


E.    .M.    HUNTSINGER. 


E.     M.     HUNTSINGER,     Hartford:     Principal 
Huntsinger's  Busmess  College. 
Mr.  Huntsinger  is  what  the  world  calls  a  self- 
made  man.    Most  men  are  self-made,  and  especially 
those   who  are   well-made.      The   subject   of   this 
sketch  is  worthy  of  men- 
tion,   not    only    for    his 
natural  gifts  but  for  the 
quality  which  New  Eng- 
landers     appreciate,     en- 
ergy,    persistence,    and 
directness.     He  is  a  posi- 
tive man  both  in  his  con- 
victions and  in  his  actions. 
Whatever  he  conceives  to 
be   right,   that    he    does, 
even  if  it  should  require 
him  to  do  differently  when 
guided   by   a    different 
light. 

He  was  lorn  at  Valley  View,  Pa.,  February, 
1S55.  His  early  educational  advantages  were  good, 
and  he  improved  them,  finishing  his  school  educa- 
tion in  the  English  course  of  the  State  Normal 
School  at  Shippensburg,  Pa.  In  accomplishing 
this  he  did  as  so  many  brave  and  self-respecting 
American  boys  have  been  proud  to  do  —  defrayed 
his  own  expenses  through  his  own  labor.  He 
taught  in  the  public  schools  for  three  years,  and 
then,  with  the  view  of  entering  upon  a  business 
life,  he  took  a  course  of  training  in  bookkeeping 
and  penmanship  under  Mr.  A.  H.  Hinman  at  Potts- 
ville.  He  soon  showed  such  a  liking  for  commer- 
cial studies  and  such  aptness  in  receiving  and  im- 
parting instruction  therein,  that  he  was  induced  to 
enter  the  business  college  field.  In  pursuance  of 
this  purpose  he  began  his  professional  work  at  the 
Bryant  &  Stratton  College  of  Providence,  R.  I., 
where  he  taught  from  1S77  to  1884;  following  this 
with  four  years  of  instruction  in  the  Packard  Busi- 
ness College  of  New  York.  In  iSSS  he  opened 
Huntsinger's  Business  College  in  Hartford,  which 
proved  a  success  at  the  start,  and  which  is  now  in 
the  full  tide  of  prosperity  and  usefulness.  Mr. 
Huntsinger  is  a  progressive  man  in  all  good  direc- 
tions. He  has  an  assured  standing  among  the 
teachers  in  his  line,  and  is  everywhere  known  as  a 
conscientious,  thorough  worker.  He  is  a  zealous 
upholder  of  organized  religious  work,  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  church  and  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  He 
is,  besides,  a  thirty-second  degree  Mason,  and  an 
influential  member  of  that  mystic  body.  He  is  a 
natural    "boomer,"  and    to    whatever    he    deems 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


45 


worthy  of  his  attention  he  gives  his  whole  heart, 
soul,  might,  mind,  and  strength.  In  his  college 
■work  he  has  the  valuable  assistance  of  his  wife, 
who  is  a  lady  of  rare  intellectual  attainments,  and 
an  excellent  equipoise  to  his  ardent  outreachings. 
Together,  they  make  an  uncommonly  strong  educa- 
tional combination,  the  results  of  which  the  city  of 
Hartford  and  the  state  of  Connecticut  will  feel  in 
the  coming  years.  S.    S.  Packard. 


STILES  JUDSON,  JR.,  Stratford:  Attorney-at- 

Law. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Stratford, 
Fairfield  county.  Conn.,  February  13,  1862.  He 
received  his  early  education  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  town  and  at  the  Strat- 
ford Academy.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he 
entered  the  Law  School 
of  Yale  University  where 
he  was  graduated  in 
June,  1S85,  with  the  de- 
gree of  LL.B.,  and  was 
awarded  the  prize  for 
the  best  examination 
in  his  studies.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Connecticut  the  same 
year,    and     entered     the 

™  J.    ^,  ,,  ,  STILES     JLTDSON,    JR. 

omce  ot   the   well-known 

law  firm  of  Townsend  &  Watrous  in  New  Haven, 
where  he  remained  until  September,  1S86.  He 
then  removed  to  Bridgeport,  where  he  has  since 
continued  the  practice  of  his  profession,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  law  firm  of  Canfield  &  Judson.  He 
is  an  active  practitioner  in  the  courts,  and  has  been 
identified  with  some  of  the  most  important  cases 
that  have  arisen  in  Fairfield  count}'.  He  is  of  good 
presence  before  a  jury,  a  fluent  and  earnest 
pleader,  quick  to  grasp  the  important  points  in  a 
case,  and  has  been  remarkably  successful  in  his 
practice. 

Mr.  Judson  has  been  connected  with  the  Con- 
necticut National  Guard  for  ten  years,  and  is  now 
captain  of  Company  K,  Fourth  Regiment,  located 
at  Stratford.  He  makes  a  popular  and  efficient 
officer.  He  was  married  in  18S9  to  Miss  Minnie  L. 
Miles  of  Milford,  and  has  since  made  Stratford  his 
residence,  where  he  has  always  taken  an  active 
part  in  town  affairs,  and  has  acceptably  filled  vari- 
ous offices  in  the  town.  He  is  at  present  chairman 
of  the  republican  town  committee  and  an  active 
party  worker.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of 
1888  Mr.  Judson  went  upon  the  stump  and  won  a 
reputation  as  an  eloquent  and  convincing  speaker 
upon  public  issues.  He  is  a  member  of  St.  John's 
Lodge  of  MasoTis  in  Stratford.     At  the  celebration 


of  the  250th  anniversary  of  the  settlement  of  the 
town  of  Stratford  he  was  chosen  as  the  president  of 
the  da}^  and  was  at  the  time  the  youngest 
male  representative  of  the  oldest  family  in  the 
town.  Mr.  Judson  was  elected  to  the  legislature 
from  Stratford  in  the  fall  of  1890,  and  was  at  once 
recognized  as  one  of  the  leaders  on  the  republican 
side  of  the  house  in  the  memorable  gubernatorial 
contest  in  the  winter  of  1891.  He  was  also  ap- 
pointed to  the  important  position  of  chairman  of 
the  judiciary  committee  of  the  house,  a  position  for 
which  his  talents  peculiarly  fitted  him.  The  posi- 
tion he  has  attained  in  the  professions  of  law  and 
politics  gives  promise  of  a  very  successful  future 
career. 

FRANCIS  H.  RICHARDS,   Hartkord  :  Mechan- 
ical Engineer. 

One  of  the  early  settlers  of  Hartford  was  Wil- 
liam Whiting,  a  merchant,  whose  name  is  men- 
tioned in  the  histories  of  this  country  as  earlv  as 
1632.  He  was  chosen 
treasurer  of  the  colony  of 
Connecticut  in  1641 ,  which 
office  he  retained  until  his 
death.  His  son,  Joseph 
Whiting,  was  elected  to 
the  same  office,  holding  it 
thirty-nine  years  iintil  his 
death,  when  Joseph's  son, 
John  Whiting,  succeeded 
to  the  treasuryship  and 
continued  in  the  office  for 
thirtj'-two  years.  Thro' 
this  line,  in  the  sixth  gen- 
eration from  William, 
came  Maria  S.  Whiting,  who  married  Henry  Rich- 
ards and  became  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  Francis  H.  Richards'  paternal  ancestor  in 
America  was  Thomas  Richards,  who  came  to  Con- 
necticut in  1637,  and  settled  in  Hartford,  in  which 
vicinity  his  immediate  decendants  were  prominent 
in  planting  of  new  settlements,  one  of  them  be- 
ing of  the  party  which  settled  at  Waterbur}-. 
Those  in  the  direct  line  of  the  present  sub- 
ject lived  in  Hartford  for  nearlj^  a  centurj-  af- 
ter its  first  settlement.  F.  H.  Richards  was 
born  at  New  Hartford,  Litchfield  county,  October 
20,  1850,  and  in  his  early  years  lived  a  part  of  the 
time  at  the  home  of  his  grandfather.  Marquis  Rich- 
ards, on  the  ancestral  estate  which  was  founded  bj- 
his  great-grandfather,  Aaron  Richards,  during  the 
war  of  the  revolution,  and  is  in  part  still  held  in 
the  family.  His  school  life  began  at  New  Haven, 
whither  his  father,  Henry  Richards,  removed  with 
his  family  in  1S56,  where  he  attended  the  then 
celebrated  "Eaton"  graded  school.  The  years 
from  1857  to  1S65  were  spent  on  his  father's  farm, 


F.  H.   RICHARDS. 


46 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


near  Bakersville,  in  New  Hartford,  working  sum- 
mers at  farming,  and  during  the  winter  months 
attending  first  the  village  school  and  later  the  acad- 
emj',  Avhich  ordinary  advantages  were  supplement- 
ed by  private  instructors.  In  1S65,  the  family  re- 
moved to  New  Britain,  where  for  a  few  months  he 
attended  the  high  school.  The  following  year,  be- 
ing offered  the  alternative  of  attending  a  technical 
college  or  of  learning  the  machinist's  trade,  he 
chose  the  shop  and  began  his  mechanical  and  in- 
ventive career  in  the  factories  of  the  Stanley  Rule 
and  Level  Company,  under  the  supervision  of  his 
father,  an  ingenious  mechanic  and  inventor,  in 
charge  of  the  machinery  department  of  this  exten- 
sive estabHshment.  Here,  by  persistent  work  and 
systematic  study  extending  over  a  period  of  eight 
years,  he  acquired  both  a  practical  and  theoretical 
knowledge  of  the  machine-building  trades,  includ- 
ing, besides  the  trade  of  machinist,  the  arts  of 
wood-working,  forging,  and  the  allied  branches. 
During  this  time,  he  made  frequent  tours  for  the 
critical  observation  of  machinery  and  manufac- 
tures, began  the  study  of  patent  law,  and  made 
numerous  inventions  of  labor-saving  machines, 
several  of  which  are  still  in  successful  operation. 

Mr.  Richards'  business  connections  have  been  in 
Hartford  since  1882  ;  principally  with  the  Pratt  & 
Whitney  Company  from  18S3  to  1S86,  at  which  lat- 
ter date  he  established  his  office  in  that  city.  In 
October,  1887,  he  was  married  to  ilrs.  Clara  V. 
Dole  {ne^  Blasdale)  of  Springfield,  Mass.,  who  is  of 
English  birth,  her  father  having  been  a  prominent 
expert  and  designer  in  the  lace  manufacture  until 
his  emigration  to  this  country  about  1S52.  Since 
his  marriage,  he  has  resided  in  Hartford.  In 
1889,  in  company  with  his  wife  he  visited 
Paris  as  a  member  of  a  touring  party  of  Amer- 
ican engineers,  including  scientific  gentlemen 
representing  all  the  leading  industries  of  Amer- 
ica. Mr.  Richards  is  a  member  of  the  Amer- 
ican Societ)'^  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  a  national 
organization  with  headquarters  at  New  York  ; 
of  the  Civil  Engineers'  Club  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio;  and  of  the  New  York  Engineers'  Club.  In 
the  Masonic  fraternity  he  is  identified  with  Wash- 
ington Commandery,  No.  i.  Knights  Templar  ; 
also  with  the  several  Scottish  Rite  bodies,  up  to 
the  32d  degree.  His  religious  associations  are 
•mth  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer  (Universahst), 
of  Hartford  ;  his  political  affiliations  with  the  re- 
publican party. 

Mr.  Richards  is  the  author  of  many  important 
inventions,  among  which  is  the  "Richards  Envel- 
ope Machine,"  patented  in  the  United  States  and 
foreign  countries  —  the  American  patents  being 
now  owned  and  controlled  by  the  White,  Corbin  & 
Co.,  of  Rockville.  This  machine  prints,  folds, 
gums,    counts,    and   bands,    automatically,    80,000 


letter  envelopes  per  day,  greatly  exceeding  any 
other  envelope  machine  in  its  capacity  and  in  its 
econom}'-  in  the  consumption  of  paper.  He  is  also 
the  inventor  and  patentee  of  the  fundamental  fea-  ^ 
tures  of  the  "  Norton  Door  Check,"  a  device  for 
automatically  closing  light  or  heavy  doors  by  an 
air-cushion  arrangement,  which  is  now  in  quite 
general  use.  He  has  taken  out,  first  and  last,  225 
United  States  patents,  a  larger  number,  probably, 
than  any  other  person  in  western  Connecticut.  Mr. 
Richards  has  practically  elevated  the  matter  of  in- 
venting machinery  to  an  art.  Whatever  is  sought 
to  be  done  through  the  medium  of  mechanical  ap- 
pHances,  he  simply  finds  a  wa}'  and  invents  a  ma- 
chine to  do  it. 


WILLIAM     IIAMERSLEV. 


WILLIA:\I  HAMERSLEY,  Hartkord:  Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Mr.  Hamersley  was  born  in  Hartford,  September 
9,  1838,  being  a  son  of  the  late  Hon.  William  James 
Hamerslev,  who  was  for  man}'  years  a  distinguished 
resident  of  the  city.  He 
was  a  scholar  at  the 
old  Hartford  grammar 
school,  afterwards  at  the 
High  school,  and  entered 
Trinity  college  in  1S54, 
but  left  during  his  senior 
year,  beginning  his  legal 
studies  in  the  office  of 
Welch  &  Shipman.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1S59,  in  1863  was 
elected  a  member  of  the 
court  of  common  council, 
later  was  vice-president 
of  the  board,  and  president  during  1867  and  1868. 
He  also  held  the  position  of  city  attorney,  resigning 
in  the  end  to  accept  the  appointment  of  state's 
attorney  for  Hartford  county  in  186S,  a  position 
which  he  held  for  twenty  years.  He  represented 
Hartford  in  the  legislature  of  1886,  serving  on  the 
judiciary  and  federal  relations  committees.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Connecticut  State 
Bar  Association,  and,  with  Richard  D.  Hubbard 
and  Simeon  E.  Baldwin,  constituted  the  committee 
of  that  association,  through  whose  initiatory  efforts 
the  American  Bar  Association  was  founded.  He 
was  one  of  the  original  promoters  of  the  civil  pro- 
cedure reform,  and  a  member  of  the  commission 
that  drafted  the  practice  act,  and  the  rules  and 
forms  of  procedure  adopted  by  the  court  for  giving 
due  effect  to  the  provisions  of  that  act;  he  was  also 
an  early  and  active  promoter  of  the  reform  in  the 
jury  system  in  Connecticut.  His  time  has  been 
mainly  given  to  the  practice  of  his  profession  and 
to  work  relating  to  law  reform. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


47 


JOHN  H.  LEEDS,  New  Haven  :  Superintendent 
of  the  Stamford  Manufacturing  Company. 
The  Leeds  ancestry  is  identified  in  history  with 

the  city  of  Leeds,  England,  in  which  the  family, 

centuries   since,  was   an   important   one.     In   i6So 

three     brothers,     Leeds, 

emigrated  to   New  Eng- 
land, one  of  whom  settled 

in  Stamford,  in  this  state. 

A  descendant  of  the  last 

was  Joseph  H.   Leeds,  a 

farmer,   resident    at    the 


J.    H.    LEEDS. 


Leeds'  place  in  Darien, 
where  his  son,  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  John 
Harris  Leeds,  was  born 
March  4,  1S36.  It  was 
not,  as  is  said  of  man}', 
an  accident  that  deter- 
mined the  course  of  his 
life,  but  the  preyention  of  an  accident.  The 
New  York  &  New  Haven  Railroad  had  been 
opened  but  a  few  months,  and  had  but  a  sin- 
gle track.  Just  at  dusk,  June  24,  1S49,  John 
H.  Leeds,  then  thirteen  years  of  age,  chanced 
to  be  on  its  line  at  a  crossroad  halfway  be- 
tween Darien  and  Stamford,  when  he  heard  a 
train  coming  from  the  east.  He  knew  there  was 
also  a  train  coming  from  the  west,  although  it  was 
hidden  from  sight  by  a  deep  cut  and  a  sharp  curve. 
All  the  horrors  of  a  collision  were  inevitable  unless 
he  could  prevent  it.  He  would  try.  In  an  instant 
he  sprang  on  to  the  track,  and,  facing  the  New 
York  bound  train,  waved  his  hat  to  attract  the  at- 
tention of  the  engineer,  and  then  bounded  to  one 
side,  barely  escaping  being  crushed  as  it  went  thun- 
dering by.  As  it  passed  him  in  its  lightning  speed 
he  pointed  to  the  west,  and  shouted  to  the  engi- 
neer, "Another  train  is  coming  this  way."  The 
engineer  at  once  reversed  his  engine,  and  whistled 
"down  brakes,"  and  then  blew  a  long  and  loud 
alarm.  The  other  train  was  still  unseen,  but  its 
engineer  was  on  the  alert,  and,  hearing  the  signal, 
in  turn  reversed  his  engine  and  whistled  the  same 
signal.  But  such  was  the  speed  of  both  trains  and 
the  feebleness  of  the  brakes  then  in  use  that  when 
the  trains  stopped  they  were  only  an  engine's 
length  apart.  When  the  boy  gave  the  warning 
they  were  rushing  for  each  other  at  full  speed.  On 
board  the  two  trains  w^ere  five  hundred  people, — 
men,  women,  and  children.  It  is  fearful  to  con- 
template the  horrors  that  were  inevitable  had  not 
the  lad  been  at  the  crossroad  and  done  exactly  the 
right  thing.  He  certainly  had  not  been  born  in 
vain,  and  the  passengers  thought  so  as  they  shud- 
dered at  their  narrow  escape.  The  railroad  com- 
pany, acting  upon  their  sense  of  obhgation,  gave 
him  a  free  pass  over  their  road,  good  for  life,  and 


also  presented  him  witli  an  elegant  silver  goblet, 
with  this  inscription: 

PRESENTED   BY   THE    PRESIDENT  AND   DIRECTORS 
of 

The   New  York   &  New  Haven  Railroad  Company 

to 

JOHN    H.    LEEDS. 

"Just  as  the  twig  is  bent  the  tree's  inclined." 

Annexed  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  from  the  com- 
pany   accompanying    the  present,    together    with 

j'oung  Leeds'  reply: 

Stamford,  August  15,  1849. 
J/v  Dear  Young  Prieiid  : 

The  president  and  directors  of  the  New  York  &  New 
Haven  Railroad  Company,  by  a  unanimous  resolution, 
have  assigned  to  me  the  pleasing  task  of  presenting  to  you 
the  accompanying  cup,  as  a  slight  testimonial  of  their  ap- 
probation of  your  manly  conduct  in  preventing  a  collision 
of  their  trains. 

May  the  impulse  which  prompted  you  then  continue  to 
animate  you,  cheered  with  the  pleasant  recollection  of 
having  done  unto  others  as  you  would  they  should  do  unto 
vou.  Your  Friend, 

H.  J.  SANFORD,    Director. 
To  Master  John  H.  Leeds. 

[reply.] 

Darien,  August  17,  1840. 
Mr.  H.J.  Sanford: 

Sir,  —  I  acknowledge  with  feelings  of  gratitude  and 
pleasure  the  receipt  of  the  very  handsome  present  from  the 
New  York  &  New  Haven  Railroad  Company  through  your 
hands,  but  beg  to  disclaim  any  merit  for  an  act  which  the 
impulse  of  the  moment  prompted  and  duty  urged  me  to  do. 

Probably  the  lives  of  some  of  my  fellow  creatures  were' 
saved  through  my  humble  endeavors,  and  the  conscious- 
ness of  that  is  sufficient  reward. 
Yours  very  respectfully, 

JOHN   HARRIS    LEEDS. 

The  railroad  company  did  not  lose  .sight  of  the 
lad,  for  three  years  after  he  removed  to  New  Haven 
and  went  into  their  service  to  learn  to  be  a  mechan- 
ical and  constructing  engineer,  beginning  as  an  ap- 
prentice and  going  up  through  all  departments. 
At  one  period  he  ran  an  engine  on  the  road.  He 
remained  in  their  employ  until  1S60.  At  that  date 
he  engaged  with  the  Stamford  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany as  their  superintendent  and  consulting  engi- 
neer, taking  charge  of  the  mineral  branch  of  their 
business,  they  being  the  oldest  and  largest  manu- 
facturers of  chemical  and  dyeing '  extracts  in  the 
United  States.  He  has  continued  with  them  to  the 
present  time. 

Mr.  Leeds  ever  has  been,  and  now  is,  an  exceed- 
ingly busy  man.  He  has  largely  served  the  public 
in  many  and  varied  capacities,  and  how  worthily  is 
shown  b}'  the  testimonials  bestowed  upon  him  by 
his  associates.  The  positions  he  has  held  have 
been  such  that,  while  of  invaluable  service  to  the 
community,  they  have  been  generally  with  no 
recompense  save  in  the  consciousness  of  well-doing. 
He  was  alderman  in  1S63-64,  and  was  assistant 
judge  of  the  city  court  for  two  years,  this  office 
being  then  selected  by  law  from  the  board  of  al- 
dermen.    During   the   construction   of   the   Derby 


48 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


railroad,  which  occupied  two  years,  he  was  its  city 
director.  He  was  for  many  years  a  member  of  the 
volunteer  fire  department.  In  1862,  when  the  de- 
partment was  reorganized,  he  was  one  of  the  first 
fire  commissioners  under  the  new  regime,  and  was 
president  of  that  board  for  about  fifteen  years. 
Steam  fire-engines,  fire-alarm  telegraphs,  and  paid 
firemen  were  introduced  under  his  presidency. 
One  of  the  new  steam  fire-engines,  by  order  of  the 
board,  was  named  in  his  honor  "  John  H.  Leeds." 
When  the  imposing  firemen's  monument  in  Ever- 
green cemetery  was  dedicated  he  was  appointed 
orator  of  the  day.  He  was  for  several  years  presi- 
dent of  the  board  of  steam  engines  and  boilers; 
chairman  of  the  fire  and  water  departments  of  the 
city  for  two  years;  and  represented  the  city  in 
making  contracts  for  water  supply.  In  1875,  owing 
to  increased  business  duties  and  the  claims  of  the 
Stamford  Manufacturing  Company  which  required 
his  services  abroad,  he  withdrew  from  all  public 
offices.  LTpon  this  the  city  passed  and  presented 
highly  complimentary  resolutions  signifying  their 
sense  of  his  eminent  services.  These  were  ordered 
to  be  engrossed  and  presented  in  a  permanent 
framed  memorial.  The  fire  department  also  pre- 
sented a  magnificent  and  costly  badge,  a  miniature 
steam  fire-engine,  and  fire  apparatus,  with  the  city 
coat-of-arms  highly  embellished  with  diamonds  and 
rubies.  Rarely  has  any  citizen  on  his  withdrawal 
from  public  service  been  so  honored.  In  1879-S0 
he  was  sent  to  the  legislature  as  the  city's  first  rep- 
resentative. His  colleague.  Colonel  Dexter  R. 
AVright,  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  house.  It  was 
the  first  legislature  that  met  in  the  new  state 
house.  He  was  one  of  the  committee  on  railroads, 
and  one  of  the  peculiarly  important  committee  on 
the  construction  of  the  dome  of  the  state  house. 
Mr.  Leeds  was  state  director  of  the  Wethersfield 
penitentiary  for  six  years,  from  1879  to  18S5.  He 
is  now  a  director  of  the  Yale  National  Bank,  the 
New  Haven  Savings  Bank,  the  New  Haven  Water 
Company,  and  a  managing  director  of  the  Stamford 
jManufacturing  Company,  in  whose  business  he  has 
passed  most  of  his  time  for  5'ears  in  Europe  and 
the  Orient.  Mr.  Leeds'  first  trip  to  Europe  was  in 
1876,  when  he  opened  a  barytes  mine  on  the  south 
coast  of  Ireland.  Since  then  his  time  has  been 
mostly  spent  in  matters  of  a  commercial  and  pro- 
ductive nature  that  are  found  onl}^  in  the  Orient, 
where  he  obtained  many  of  the  supplies  of  crude 
materials,  such  as  dyes,  drugs,  and  chemicals  that 
are  used  by  the  Stamford  Manufacturing  Company. 
He  is  a  most  extensive  traveler,  the  nature  of  his 
business  requiring  him  to  goto  rarely  visited  places 
and  among  half -civilized  and  rude  people.  Besides 
every  cotmtry  of  Europe,  he  has  visited  Asia 
Minor,  Syria,  Northern  Egypt,  nearly  ever)"  island 
of  the  Grecian  Archipelago,  all  the  cities  of   the 


seven  churches  of  Asia,  as  well  as  Tarsus,  Antioch, 
Aleppo,  and  the  whole  of  Palestine.  In  the  two 
years,  18S4-85,  he  traveled  over  80,000  miles  by 
steamship,  railway,  horse,  canal,  and  on  foot.  His 
business  transactions  have  been  with  all  the  tribes 
of  the  Orient,  Turks,  Greeks,  Armenians,  Bul- 
garians, Koords,  Bedouins,  Arabs,  and  Egyptians. 
His  experiences  have  impressed  him  with  the  con- 
viction that,  as  a  body,  they  are  commercially  and 
politically  dishonest,  and  morally  corrupt;  while  re- 
ligious fanaticism  is  the  controlling  element  of 
their  lives.  Mr.  Leeds  was  married  January  27, 
1S5S,  to  Miss  Frances  A.  Hine  of  Milford. 

Physically,  he  is  one  of  the  largest  and  most 
powerful  of  men.  He  stands  6  ft.  1%  in.,  has 
heavy  broad  shoulders,  a  chest  measurement  of  46 
inches,  and  weighs  250  pounds,  but  not  accom- 
panied with  extraneous  flesh.  His  health  is  vigor- 
ous, and  his  constittition  is  one  capable  of  long-sus- 
tained and  continuous  labor.  He  is  of  a  serious 
turn  of  mind,  and,  being  full  of  business,  has  little 
time  for  the  lighter  conversation  and  frivolities  of 
life.  This  record  shows  that  he  has  had  a  wide  ac- 
quaintance with  men,  and  a  useful  and  honorable 
career,  working  with  and  upon  those  material 
forces  that  move  civilization  on  its  ascending  path- 
wa}'. 

S.  T.  HOLBROOK,  Norwich;  Judge  of  Probate. 
Judge  Supply  T.  Holbrook  of  the  probate  court, 
Norwich  district,  is  a  gentleman  of  superior  legal 
attainments  and  has  held  numerous  offices  of  trust 
and  responsibility.  He 
has  been  the  judge  of  the 
court  of  common  pleas, 
and  is  regarded  with 
marked  esteem  by  the 
New  London  county  bar. 
In  politics  Judge  Hol- 
brook is  a  republican. 
He  is  connected  with  the 
Second  Congregational 
church  at  Norwich  and  is 
thoroughly  interested  in 
the  religious  and  educa- 
tional standing  of  the 
community.  Judge  Hol- 
brook has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was 
Sarah  E.  Shepard.  The  surviving  one  was  Miss 
Carrie  Stark  before  marriage.  There  are  five 
children  in  the  family,  two  sons  and  three  daugh- 
ters. The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Rox- 
bury,  Mas 5.,  Sept.  7,  1822,  and  received  a  common 
school  education  in  that  state.  His  classical  train- 
ing was  from  private  tutors.  His  life  has  been 
spent  in  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  In  this 
state  he  has  resided  in  Hartford,  New  London,  and 
Norwich.     He  was  formerly  a  professor  of  music. 


HOLBROOK. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


49 


p.    C.    I.OUNSBURV. 


HON.  PHINEAS  C.  LOUNSBURY,  Ridgefield 
Ex-Governor  of  Connecticut ;  President  Mer- 
chants' Exchange  National  Bank  of  New  York 
city. 

P.  C.  Lounsburyis  a  native  of  the  town  where  he 
still  resides;  he  was  born  in  1840.  His  father  was 
a  farmer,  and  like  most  farmers'  sons  he  worked  on 
the  farm  during  the  years 
of  boyhood  and  early 
manhood.  He  found 
time,  however,  to  acquire 
a  thorough  academic  edu- 
cation in  the  schools  of 
learning  in  his  native 
state.  He  then  went  to 
New  York  cit}'  where  he 
secured  a  position  as 
clerk  in  a  shoe  store,  and 
in  time  familiarized  him- 
self with  all  departments 
of  the  business.  Having 
laid  the  foundations  for  a 

successful  commercial  career  he  began,  tipon  at- 
taining his  rnajority,  the  manufacture  of  shoes  with 
his  brother  in  New  Haven  under  the  firm  name  of 
Lounsbury  Brothers.  The  business  was  afterward 
removed  to  South  Norwalk,  and  carried  on  under 
the  firm  name  of  Lounsbury,  Matthewson  &  Co. 
When  the  civil  war  broke  out  he  enlisted  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Seventeenth  Connecticut  Regiment,  but 
after  four  months'  active  service  was  compelled  by 
severe  sickness  to  return,  being  honorably  dis- 
charged and  recommended  for  a  pension,  which  he 
would  not  accept. 

Mr.  Lounsbury  represented  Ridgefield  in  the 
Connecticut  house  of  representatives  in  1874,  and 
occupied  a  leading  position  throughout  the  session. 
He  was  a  prominent  factor  in  state  politics  for  the 
succeeding  decade,  and  his  name  was  before  the 
republican  state  convention  in  1884,  unsuccess- 
fully, however,  as  a  candidate  for  the  chief  execu- 
tive office.  In  1886  he  was  the  only  prominent 
candidate  for  that  position  before  the  convention, 
and  received  the  nomination  for  governor  by  an 
overwhelming  majority  on  the  first  ballot.  His  in- 
cumbency of  the  office  of  chief  magistrate  during 
the  succeeding  two  years  gave  signal  satisfaction 
to  his  constituents  and  the  state.  He  maintained 
the  position  with  becoming  dignity,  performed  its 
duties  ably  and  well,  and  achieved  distinction 
among  the  many  conspicuous  citizens  who  have  ad- 
ministered the  affairs  of  the  commonwealth. 

Ex-Governor  Lounsbury  is  a  life-long  and  con- 
sistent member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church, 
in  which  his  liberal  views  and  enlightened  senti- 
ments have  always  been  duly  recognized;  and  he 
now  occupies  an  honored  relation  to  her  foremost 
schools, —  notabl}-  to  Wesleyan  University  at  Mid- 


O.   H.   PL  ATT. 


dletown  in  this  state,  of  which  institution  he  has 
long  been  a  trustee.  His  business  connections  are 
largely  in  New  York,  and  he  has  for  some  years 
been  president  of  the  Merchants  Exchange  Na- 
tional Bank  of  that  city,  which  under  his  control 
has  become  one  of  the  most  solid  and  prosperous  of 
the  banking  houses  of  the  metropohs. 


HON.  ORYILLE  H.  PLATT,  Meriden  :  United 

States  Senator. 

Orville  H.  Piatt  was  born  in  the  town  of  Wash- 
ington, Litchfield  county,  in  this  state,  on  July  19, 
1827.  He  was  a  son  of  Daniel  G.  Piatt,  a  farmer, 
and  worked  upon  his  fath- 
er's farm  until  he  was 
twenty  years  of  age.  His 
education  was  received  in 
the  common  schools  and 
in  the  academy  of  Frede- 
rick W.  Gunn,  of  vnde 
reputation  in  later  years 
as  the  principal  of  ' '  The 
Gunnery,"  so  called,  in 
the  town  of  Washington, 
an  institution  of  learning 
which  became  justly  cel- 
ebrated. Mr.  Piatt  stud- 
ied law  in  the  office  of 
Hon.  Gideon  H.  Hollister,  Litchfield,  the  well 
known  historian  of  Connecticut,  now  deceased, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Litchfield  in  1849. 
Subsequently  he  secured  admission  to  the  Pennsyl- 
vania bar  in  Towando,  Bradford  county,  and  spent 
six  months  in  the  office  of  Hon.  Ulysses  Mercur, 
now  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  returned  to  Connecticut  in  1S51,  and  located  in 
Meriden  as  a  practitioner  of  law,  and  has  since 
made  that  city  his  home.  In  1855-6,  he  was  clerk 
of  the  Connecticut  senate  and  was  elected  secre- 
tary of  state  in  1857.  In  1861-2,  he  was  a  member 
of  the  senate,  and  in  1S64  and  1S69  was  elected  to 
the  house, —  the  last  year  serving  as  its  speaker. 
In  all  these  positions  he  displayed  exceptional 
qualifications  and  showed  a  special  aptitude  for 
legislative  business.  In  1877,  he  was  chosen  state 
attorney  for  New  Haven  county,  and  held  that 
place  till  elected  in  1879  to  the  United  States  sen- 
ate to  succeed  Hon.  William  IJ.  Barnum.  He 
was  unanimously  re-elected  at  the  expiration  of 
his  first  term,  in  1SS5,  and  again  at  the  close  of  his 
second  term  in  1891. 

Senator  Piatt  is  a  pleasant  speaker  and  a  good 
debater  —  alwaj-s  clear  and  concise,  wasting  verj' 
few  words  for  the  sake  of  oratorical  effect.  As  a 
lawyer  he  has  had  for  many  years  a  high  standing 
at  the  bar,  and  has  made  a  specialty  of  patent 
cases,   though  doing  a  general  law  practice.     All 


50 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


his  life  he  has  been  a  promoter  of  Christian  and 
philanthropic  enterprises,  actively  working  for  the 
best  good  of  society  through  the  organized  chan- 
nels of  religion  and  temperance,  while  by  his  own 
example  assisting  every  good  cause.  His  career 
has  been  in  all  respects  useful  and  honorable. 


C.   GOODM.'\N. 


AARON  C.  GOODMAN,  H.^rtford. 

Mr.  Goodman  is  a  native  of  West  Hartford, 
where  he  was  bom  April  23,  1S22.  After  the  usual 
custom  of  New  England  village  boys,  he  had  his 
experience  of  wrestling 
with  the  district  school, 
and  at  the  age  of  thirteen 
years  left  that  institution 
to  try  his  hand  at  clerk- 
ing in  a  Hartford  book- 
store. After  some  3'ears 
of  such  employment  he 
went  to  Philadelphia,  in 
1 841,  to  enter  the  service 
of  A.  S.  Barnes  &  Co., 
the  noted  publishers,  — 
who  had  established  them- 
selves in  the  Quaker  City, 
under  the  impression  that 
Philadelphia,  and  not  New  York,  was  destined  to 
become  the  mercantile  metropolis  of  this  country. 
Mr.  Goodman  engaged  with  this  firm  for  two 
years  ;  but  before  the  expiration  of  the  first  year, 
he  received  an  advantageous  proposal  from  his  for- 
mer employer  in  Hartford  to  return  and  become 
associated  with  him  in  the  capacity  of  partner. 
Looking  upon  the  proposition  with  favor,  he  ob- 
tained a  release  from  Messrs.  Barnes  &  Co. ,  at  the 
expiration  of  his  first  year,  and  on  the  first  of 
April,  1842,  he  came  back  to  Hartford  and  com- 
pleted the  proposed  connection  with  his  old  em- 
ployer, taking  an  equal  interest  with  him  in  the 
business,  which  was  thereafter  conducted  under  the 
firm  name  of  Sumner  &  Goodman.  After  being 
together  six  years,  Mr.  Goodman  bought  his  part- 
ner's interest  in  the  store,  which  he  continued  to 
manage  alone  until  1852,  when  he  in  turn  sold  out 
and  went  to  New  York  to  engage  in  the  paper 
trade.  He  was  in  business  in  New  York  twenty- 
one  years.  At  the  organization  of  the  Phoenix 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  in  Hartford,  in 
1851,  Mr.  Goodman  became  a  stockholder,  and 
subsequently  a  director  in  the  company.  He 
closed  his  business  in  New  York  and  returned  per- 
manently to  Hartford  in  1873.  Two  j^ears  later, 
m  June,  1875,  he  was  made  president  of  the  Phoe- 
nix Life,  succeeding  in  that  office  the  Hon.  Edson 
Fessenden.  He  held  the  presidency  of  this  com- 
pany a  little  more  than  fourteen  years,  resign- 
ing in  1889.     Since  retiring   from   his  official  con- 


nection with  the  Phcenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance 
Compan}',  Mr.  Goodman  has  embarked  in  no  other 
active  enterprises,  feeling  that  his  health  had  been 
somewhat  impaired  by  long  and  close  application 
to  business,  and  that  he  needed  rest.  He  is  not 
inclined  to  make  any  changes  which  will  increase 
his  business  cares  or  anxieties,  and  feels  that  he 
has  probably  performed  his  full  share  of  the  active 
duties  of  an  ordinary  lifetime. 

Mr.  Goodman  is  a  member  of  Trinitj-  church, 
Hartford,  and  has  long  been  connected  with  the 
masonic  fraternitv. 


G.    W.     DAINS. 


the  close  of  the  war. 


GEORGE  W.   DAINS,   East  Litchfield:    Paper 
Manufacturer. 

Mr.  Dains  was  born  in  Litchfield,  February  11, 
1844.  He  attended  the  common  schools  of  the 
town,  and  in  1S61,  at  age  of  seventeen,  enlisted  in 
the  New  York  Fourth 
Cavalry  regiment,  from 
which  he  was  discharged 
in  the  spring  of  1862  on 
account  of  disability  from 
sickness.  In  the  fall  of 
1862  he  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany K,  Twenty- Third 
regiment,  Connecticut 
Volunteers,  and  served 
until  the  expiration  of  his 
term  of  enlistment;  after- 
wards enlisting  in  the 
Third  Connecticut  Light 
Battery,  and  serving  until 
He  worked  at  farming  two 
years  or  more,  then  entered  and  graduated  from 
Eastman's  National  Business  College  at  Poughkeep- 
sie,  N.  Y.,  after  which  he  was  cashier  for  the  mer- 
cantile house  of  Benedict,  Merriman  &  Co.  of 
Waterbury,  during  which  time  he  was  married  to 
Miss  i\Iary  A.  Page,  daughter  of  John  D.  Page,  of 
the  firm  of  Page  &  Keeney,  paper  manufacturers 
of  East  Litchfield.  October  i,  1S71,  he  bought  Mr. 
Keeney 's  interest  in  the  mill,  and  commenced  the 
business  in  companj'  with  Mr.  Page,  under  the 
firm  name  of  Page  &  Dains,  which  firm  is  still 
carrying  on  the  business  at  the  old  stand. 

Mr.  Dains  has  had  three  children,  two  of  whom 
—  one  son  and  one  daughter  —  are  living.  He  has 
held  the  offices  of  justice  of  the  peace,  school  visi- 
tor, town  auditor,  and  registrar  of  voters.  At 
present  he  holds  the  office  of  county  auditor  for 
Litchfield  county  and  also  that  of  commissioner  of 
the  superior  court.  He  was  brought  up  a  demo- 
crat, and  went  into  the  army  as  a  democrat,  but 
came  out  an  uncompromising  republican.  While 
his  post-office  address  is  East  Litchfield,  his  resi- 
dence is  on  the  Harwinton  side  of  the  Naugatuck 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


51 


river,  which  divides  the  two  towns  of  Harwinton 
and  Litchfield.  He  has  twice  represented  the  town 
of  Harwinton  in  the  legislature,  first  in  1S77  and 
again  1889,  when  he  served  as  house  chairman  of 
the  joint  standing  committee  on  claims.  At  the 
November  election  in  iSgo  he  was  elected  to  the 
state  senate  from  the  eighteenth  district,  and  was 
with  the  minority  in  that  body  during  the  peculiar 
proceedings  which  characterized  the  remarkable 
session  of  1891.  He  has  been  engaged  in  local 
politics  for  many  years  and  chairman  of  the  repub- 
lican town  committee  for  the  past  thirteen  years. 
He  is  a  member  and  past  commander  of  L.  W. 
Steele  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Torrington ;  also  belongs 
to  the  orders  of  Royal  Arcanum  and  Knights  of 
Honor,  in  which  last-named  order  he  is  grand 
assistant  dictator.  In  his  religious  faith  and  con- 
nections JMr.  Dains  is  a  Congregationalist. 


S.    E.    MERWIX. 


HON.    SAMUEL    E.    MERWIN,    New    Haven  : 

Lieutenant-Governor  of  Connecticut. 

Samuel  E.  Merwin  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Brookfield,  Fairfield  county,  Conn.,  August  31, 
1S31.  His  education  was  that  afforded  by  the  dis- 
trict school  of  that  day, 
stipplemented  by  a  year's 
instruction  in  a  school  of 
higher  grade  in  the  adjoin- 
ing town  of  Newtown. 
In  his  sixteenth  year  he 
removed  to  New  Haven 
with  his  father,  where  he 
spent  one  3'ear  in  school 
before  beginning  his  busi- 
ness life.  After  serving 
as  clerk  for  two  or  three 
years  he  associated  him- 
self with  his  father,  whose 
name  he  bears,  under  the 

firm  name  of  S.  E.  Merwin  &  Son,  and  continued 
in  this  relation  until  1889.  Outside  of  his  very 
active  and  successful  business  life  General  Merwin 
has  been  identified  with  a  variety  of  important  pub- 
lic and  private  trusts.  For  two  years  he  served 
his  city  as  commissioner  of  police,  and  for  nine 
years  was  an  active  and  efficient  member  of  the 
board  of  education.  In  1S72  he  represented  the 
fourth  senatorial  district  in  the  legislature,  being 
elected  by  a  majority  of  500  in  a  district  heavily 
democratic.  He  has  also  been  a  candidate  of  the 
republicans  for  mayor  of  his  city,  and  member  of 
congress  from  the  second  district,  his  great  popu- 
larity in  both  cases  nearly  resulting  in  overcoming 
large  democratic  majorities.  His  great  admiration 
and  friendship  for  the  soldiers  led  to  his  appoint- 
ment as  chairman  of  the  committee  to  build  the 
soldiers'  monument  erected  by  the  town  of  New 


Haven,  and  it  is  largely  due  to  his  untiring  zeal 
and  energy  that  a  most  beautiful  tribute  has  been 
dedicated  to  their  memory. 

General  Merwin  is  at  present  the  president  of 
the  Connecticut  Hospital  Society,  trustee  of  the 
Orphan  Asylum,  and  president  of  the  New  Haven 
Savings  Bank  —  the  largest  savings  institution  in 
New  Haven.  The  various  positions  show  the 
esteem  in  which  he  is  held  by  his  associates,  and 
show  also  his  charitable  nature,  as  they  are  all  a 
drain  upon  his  time  and  pocket,  without  any 
pecuniary  compensation.  He  is  almost  daily  the 
counsellor  and  advisor  of  widows  and  orphans, 
and  has  been  called  frequently  during  the  past 
twenty  years  by  the  business  men  of  his  city  to 
settle  various  estates,  including  those  of  insurance 
companies,  banks,  manufacturers,  and  merchants; 
and  in  these  important  trusts,  often  compUcated, 
he  has  ever  won  the  esteem  and  thanks  of  the 
creditors  for  faithful  and  energetic  settlements. 

In  military  circles  General  Merwin  has  been  more 
conspicuous  even  than  in  civil  life.  During  the  war 
he  was  in  command  of  the  New  Haven  Grays,  sub- 
sequently he  became  lieutenant-colonel  and  colonel 
of  the  second  regiment,  and  later  was  adjutant- 
general  under  Governor  Jewell  for  three  years. 
Probably  no  man  in  Connecticut,  not  in  actual  ser- 
vice, was  more  efficient  during  the  civil  war  than 
General  Merwin.  In  response  to  a  call  from  Gov- 
ernor Buckingham,  the  Grays  under  his  command 
volunteered  to  go  to  Gettysburg.  During  the 
draft  riots  in  New  York  his  company  remained 
under  arms  for  thirty  days,  in  hourly  expectation 
of  being  called  upon  to  aid  in  averting  that  appal- 
ling danger.  Guarding  conscripts,  burying  with 
appropriate  honors  many  officers  and  soldiers  who 
had  fallen  in  battle  or  died  in  hospitals,  and  receiv- 
ing with  proper  military  display  the  returning  vet- 
erans of  the  war,  became  a  part  of  his  official 
duties  while  in  command  of  the  regiment.  His 
last  military  service  was  to  direct  in  the  capture  of 
a  party  of  prize  fighters  and  their  associates  at 
Charles  Island  opposite  Milford.  By  his  judicious 
management  the  whole  party  were  taken  to  New 
Haven  and  turned  over  to  the  civil  authorities.  The 
prompt  and  efficient  action  at  that  time  has  since 
saved  our  state  from  scenes  of  such  brutal  char- 
acter. 

General  Merwin  was  chosen  lieutenant-governor 
of  Connecticut  for  two  years,  on  the  state  ticket 
with  Hon.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley  at  its  head,  by  the 
legislature  of  1SS9.  In  the  fall  of  1S90  he  was 
nominated  by  the  republicans  for  governor,  but 
failed  of  an  election  by  the  people  at  the  polls  in 
November!  On  the  assembling  of  the  legislature 
in  January,  1S91,  a  series  of  entanglements  arose 
and  no  legal  election  or  inauguration  of  state  offi- 
cers Avas  accomplished   by   that   body  —  except  in 


52 


AX    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


the  case  of  the  comptroller,  who  was  declared  to 
have  been  elected  by  the  people.  Lieut. -Governor 
Merwin  is  therefore,  at  the  present  writing,  acting 
lieutenant-governor  of  the  commonwealth,  and, 
under  the  constitution  will  remain  such  until  his 
successor  shall  be  duly  chosen  and  qualified. 

General  Merwin's  name,  in  all  the  various  walks 
of  life,  whether  ci\-il  or  military,  public  or  private, 
has  been  synonj^mous  with  honor,  integrity,  and 
energy.  He  has  done  his  duty  at  all  times  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  fellow-citizens. 


CHAUNCEY  G.  JOHNSON,  Meride.n:  Real  Es- 
tate. 

Chauncey  G.  Johnson,  who  is  engaged  in  the 
real  estate  business  in  Meriden,  with  a  large  and 
successful  patronage,  was  born  at  Johnstown,  Ohio, 
Aug.  15,  1845,  and  at  four 
years  of  age  removed  with 
his  parents  to  Durham, 
Conn. ,  where  he  was  ed- 
ucated in  the  common 
schools.  Both  of  his  pa- 
rents died  before  he  was 
thirteen  years  of  age.  In 
1 86 1  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  removed  from  Durham 
to  Meriden  and  has  grown 
up  with  the  city,  being 
identified  with  its  best 
interests.  He  is  an  ac- 
tive member  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  and  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association.  In  1884  he  commenced  the  building 
up  of  a  successful  fire  insurance  business,  but  in 
1889  disposed  of  his  interest  to  the  Meriden  Fire  In- 
surance Co.  Since  then  he  has  devoted  his  time 
entirely  to  real  estate  interests.  During  the  win- 
ter of  1888  he  took  a  three  months'  trip  through  the 
principal  cities  of  the  south  and  to  California,  and 
on  the  return  trip  visited  the  principal  western 
cities  with  a  view  of  gaining  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  real  estate.  Flattering  offers  were  made  him 
while  in  California  and  also  in  Denver  to  locate 
there  in  real  estate  interests,  but  having  built  up  a 
successful  business  in  Meriden  he  concluded  to  re- 
main there  where  he  was  well  known  and  possessed 
the  confidence  and  patronage  of  the  people.  He 
also  has  the  management  of  several  large  estates, 
gi\-ing  his  personal  attention  to  the  business  in  all 
its  details.  Mr.  Johnson  is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics. He  was  one  of  the  first  letter  carriers  in 
Meriden.  He  is  connected  with  a  number  of  clubs 
and  associations  and  is  a  popular  gentleman.  His 
Avife,  who  was  Miss  Lucy  M.  Lee  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage, died  in  October,  1889.  Only  one  daughter 
remains  in  the  familv. 


SAMUEL  SIMPSON. 


SAMUEL  SIMPSON,  Wallingford  :  President 
the  Simpson,  Hall  &  Miller  Company,  and  the 
Simpson  Nickel  Silver  Company. 
Samuel  Simpson,  one  of  the  best-known  manu- 
facturers in  the  state,  was  born  in  AVallingf ord , 
April  7,  1 8 14,  and  received  a  thorough  common- 
school  education.  In  Jan- 
uary, I  S3  5,  he  engaged  in 
the  manufacturing  busi- 
ness, and  has  since  con- 
tinued in  that  line  of  ac- 
tivity, building  up  an  ex- 
tensive industry  in  bri- 
tannia,  nickel,  silver,  and 
electro  silver-plated  ware. 
He  is  the  president  of  the 
Simpson,  Hall  &■  Miller 
Company,  and  of  the 
Simpson  Nickel  Silver 
Company.  He  is  also  the 
president  of  the  National 
and  Savings  banks,  occupying  this  position  in  each 
since  its  establishment.  Mr.  Simpson  is  a  promi- 
nent democrat  and  has  held  important  positions 
within  the  gift  of  his  part)'.  In  iSSo  he  was  a  dele- 
gate to  the  national  democratic  convention  at  Cin- 
cinnati, and  has  represented  the  town  of  Walling- 
ford in  the  legislature  during  the  sessions  of  1846, 
1859,  1865,  and  1879.  He  has  been  the  nominee  of 
his  party  on  various  occasions  for  the  state  senate, 
and  has  held  the  offices  of  justice  of  the  peace, 
selectman,  assessor,  member  of  the  board  of  relief, 
and  warden  of  the  borough.  When  he  first  ran  for 
state  senator,  he  was  on  the  ticket  with  Samuel 
Ingraham  for  governor,  and  Samuel  Arnold  for  con- 
gress. As  the  New  Haven  Register  of  that  day 
expressed  it:  "  We  have  three  Sams  on  our  ticket.'' 
Only  one  Sam,  however,  was  elected  —  Arnold  of 
Haddam.  In  the  legislature  Mr.  Simpson  exer- 
cised a  wide  influence  and  was  invariably  instru- 
mental in  promoting  the  best  interests  of  the  state. 
His  busmess  interests  and  associations  have  ex- 
tended beyond  Wallingford.  From  1840  until  1850 
he  was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  in  New  York 
city  under  the  firm  name  of  Simpson  &  Benham , 
his  place  of  business  being  on  Pearl  street.  He 
was  one  of  the  original  stockholders  of  the  First 
National  Bank  in  Meriden  in  1863,  subscribing  to 
one-tenth  of  the  stock.  He  has  been  a  director 
since  the  organization  of  the  bank,  Joel  H.  Guy 
being  the  president.  ]Mr.  Simj^son  married  Miss 
Martha  DeEtte  Benham  of  Cheshire,  July  6,  1835. 
She  is  still  living.  Of  a  family  of  six  children  only 
one  survives.  Mr.  vSimpson  is  a  member  of  St. 
Paul's  church  in  Wallingford,  and  holds  the  office 
of  senior  warden,  having  been  the  incumbent  of  the 
position  since  1S57.  He  began  his  career  as  a  citi- 
zen of  the  state  bv  sustaining  the  administration  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


53 


E.   C.   LEWIS. 


President  Jackson,  and  has  voted  for  every  demo- 
cratic candidate  for  the  presidency  since  he  became 
of  age. 

EDWARD  C.  LEWIS,  Waterbury  :  President 
Waterbury  Parrel  Foundry  and  Machine  Com- 
pany. 

E.  C.  Lewis,  who  is  one  of  Waterbury's  most 
substantial  citizens,  and  interested  in  some  of  the 
largest  enterprises  of  that  prosperous  city,  is  a  na- 
tive of  North  Wales,  born 
September  23,  1826.  At 
the  early  age  of  four  years 
he  came  to  this  country 
with  his  father  and  moth- 
er, locating  at  Bridgeport. 
His  parents  being  pos- 
sessed of  but  little 
money,  they  could  only 
give  him  a  common- 
school  education,  and 
early  in  life  he  was  com- 
pelled to  go  to  work  in 
cotton  and  woolen  mills, 
where    he    was    engaged 

for  eight  years.  He  then  sought  other  occupation 
and  entered,  as  an  apprentice,  the  Bridgeport 
Iron  Works,  a  concern  which  he,  with  others,  in 
later  life,  owned  and  managed.  In  1847  he  re- 
moved to  Birmingham  and  worked  for  Colburn  & 
Bassett,  who  were  then  prominent  iron  founders  in 
that  vicinity.  In  1849  he  became  foreman  for  the  Far- 
rell  Foundry  &  Machine  Company  of  Ansonia,  and 
it  was  here  that  Mr.  Lewis  demonstrated  his  thor- 
ough knowledge  of  the  business,  and  also  his  execu- 
tive ability,  which  soon  resulted  in  his  being  trans- 
ferred to  Waterbury  as  foreman  for  the  same  con- 
cern, w'hich  had  a  branch  foundry  and  machine 
shop  at  that  locality.  Mr.  Lewis  rapidly  rose  in 
the  estimation  of  those  by  whom  he  was  employed, 
and  by  the  simple  force  of  his  ability  and  character 
soon  secured  an  interest  in  the  business,  and  in  a 
short  time  became  the  active  manager  and  head  of 
the  concern  at  Waterbury.  The  Parrel  Foundry 
&  Machine  Company  have  long  been  known 
throughout  the  Naugatuck  valley  as  successful  iron 
founders  and  builders  of  machinery,  and  no  one 
concern  in  that  section  has  done  more  to  build  up 
its  material  interests  than  they.  In  this  work  Mr. 
Lewis  has  done  much  by  giving  it  his  best  thought 
and  untiring  eiTort.  Politically,  he  has  always 
been  a  pronounced  republican,  and  as  such  has  held 
several  offices  under  the  city  government,  having 
been  elected  twice  as  a  member  of  the  common 
council,  and  also  served  one  term  as  police  commis- 
sioner. In  the  fall  of  1S83  he  reluctantly  accepted 
a  nomination  for  representative  in  the  legislature, 
from    Waterburv     and    was    handsomelv   elected 


against  an  able  political  opponent,  and  that  in  a 
town  which  usually  gives  a  democratic  majority  — 
a  sufficient  tribute  to  his  popularity  and  abilit3^ 

Mr.  Lewis  is  a  member  of  Trinity  Episcopal 
church  of  Waterbury  ;  a  member  of  the  order  of 
Odd  Fellows,  and  of  the  Waterbury  club.  Addi- 
tionally to  his  connection  with  the  Parrel  company, 
he  is  a  director  and  one  of  the  original  projectors  of 
the  Manufacturers'  National  Bank  of  Waterbury, 
an  owner  in  several  manufacturing  concerns,  and 
has  a  large  real  estate  interest  in  Waterbur3^  He 
is  thus  thoroughly  identified  with  the  material 
prosperity  and  welfare  of  his  section,  and  is  also  in 
hearty  and  active  sympathy  with  all  efforts  for  the 
public  good  in  its  higher  and  broadest  sense. 


EDWIN  A.   BUCK,  Willimantic  :  Wholesale  and 

Retail  Merchant. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Ashford, 
Conn.,  February  11,  1832,  and  received  in  addition 
to  a  common  school  education  one  term  at  the  Ash- 
ford Academy.  At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  com- 
menced teaching  and  for 
six  years  followed  the 
business  of  teaching  in 
winter  and  working  on  a 
farm  in  summer.  In 
1855  he  married  Delia 
Lincoln,  also  a  native  of 
Ashford.  In  1856  he  com- 
menced business  in  sawed 
lumber,  which  soon  grew 
into  a  large  trade  in  car 
timber,  plow  beams   and 

^  E.    A.    HLL'K. 

handles,  and  also  chestnut 

finishing  lumber,  large  quantities  of  which  were 
shipped  to  New  York.  In  this  business  he  used 
several  water-power  sawmills  and  emploj'ed  a 
large  number  of  men.  In  the  year  1865  he  pur- 
chased at  bankrupt  sale  the  property  of  the  West- 
ford  Glass  Company,  and  associating  with  him  the 
late  Capt.  John  S.  Dean  and  Charles  L.  Dean,  also 
residents  of  Ashford,  commenced  the  manufacture 
of  glass  under  the  firm  name  of  E.  A.  Buck  &  Co. 
This  firm  emploj-ed  in  various  capacities  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  made  a  large  addition 
to  the  business  interest  of  the  town ;  and  so  success- 
fully was  the  business  carried  on  that  it  became 
necessary  to  establish  houses  in  both  New  York 
and  Boston,  not  onl}'  for  the  sale  of  the  firm's  goods 
but  other  lines  of  goods  not  manufactured  by  them. 
In  1874  he  sold  out  his  glass  business.  For  several 
years  he  was  a  director  in  the  Stafford  National 
Bank  and  one  of  the  original  corporators  of  the 
Stafford  Savings  Bank,  and  also  became  president 
of  that  institution.     In  1875  he  became  interested 


54 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


in  real  estate  in  Willimantic  and  removed  to  that 
place  in  thQ  autumn  of  that  year,  resigning  his 
offices  in  the  Stafford  banks.  In  the  year  1877  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  the  late  Allen  Lin- 
coln of  Willimantic  and  Everett  M.  Durkee  of  Ash- 
ford  for  carr\-ing  on  a  grain  business,  and  soon 
after  purchased  the  hardware  business  of  Crawford 
&  Banford  at  Stafford  Springs  and  located  his  old- 
est son  at  that  place  to  take  care  of  the  business. 
This  business  is  still  in  the  same  firm  name  of 
E.  A.  Buck  &  Co.,  and  he  has  also  two  other  firms 
of  E.  A.  Buck  &  Co.,  one  in  oil  the  other  in  hard- 
ware, in  Palmer,  Mass.  In  addition  to  the  Willi- 
mantic firms  of  E.  A.  Buck  &  Co.,  dealers  in  hard 
wood  lumber,  of  which  firm  Col.  Marvin  Knowlton 
is  a  member,  he  is  also  the  head  of  the  firm  of 
E.  A.  Buck  &  Co.,  wholesale  and  retail  dealers  in 
flour  and  grain,  of  which  firm  W.  A.  Buck,  the  son, 
is  junior  partner.  In  1885  he  was  elected  a  director 
and  the  following  year  president  of  the  Willimantic 
Savings  Institute,  holding  the  position  two  years 
through  a  very  critical  time  in  its  history  caused  by 
the  irregularities  of  its  treasurer,  but  finally  placing 
it  on  a  sound  financial  basis.  He  was  elected  to 
his  first  political  office,  that  of  constable  of  the 
town,  soon  after  his  admission  as  an  elector,  and  in 
1S56,  at  the  age  of  twenty-four,  was  elected  by  the 
republican  party  a  member  of  the  legislature,  being 
the  youngest  member  in  the  house.  In  1862  he  was 
again  elected  to  the  legislature  by  a  coalition  of 
union  democrats  and  republicans  by  a  very  large 
majority.  He  was  also  appointed  by  the  town  to 
fill  its  quota  of  soldiers,  and  was  a  firm  friend  of 
the  union  cause,  furnishing  money  to  pay  for  en- 
listed men  which  was  afterwards  paid  by  the  town. 
He  has  always  been  a  firm  friend  of  the  soldiers, 
assisting  many  of  them  in  obtaining  pensions  from 
the  government.  In  1864  he  joined  his  fortunes 
with  the  democratic  party,  and  the  town  having 
previously  been  republican,  was  carried  by  the 
democrats,  and  in  1865  he  was  again  elected  a 
member  of  the  legislature.  He  has  held  nearly  all 
of  the  town  offices,  —  selectman,  assessor,  town 
clerk,  and  judge  of  probate.  In  1874  and  again  in 
1875  he  was  re-elected  to  the  legislature,  and  during 
both  sessions  served  on  the  judiciary  committee. 
In  the  spring  of  1876,  after  his  removal  to  Willi- 
mantic, he  was  elected  to  the  senate,  it  being  the 
last  session  in  the  old  state  house.  In  the  autumn 
of  that  )'ear  he  was  nominated  and  elected  treasurer 
of  the  state,  which  office  he  filled  for  two  years. 
He  was  renominated  for  the  same  position  in  1878, 
but  shared  the  fate  of  the  rest  of  the  democratic 
ticket.  He  has  always  been  active  in  politics, 
filling  the  position  of  town  committee  and  state 
central  committee  of  the  democratic  party,  and  also 
a  member  of  the  finance  committee  for  the  last  two 
vears. 


THOMAS  W.   RUSSELL,   Hartford:  President 
Connecticut  General  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Mr.    Russell  is  a  native   of   Greenfield,    Mass., 
where  he  was  born  May  22,  1824.     Educated  in  the 
district  schools  of  his  native  town  and  the  adjoining 
town  of  Coleraine,  with  a 
supplementary    academic 
course,    he     engaged    in 
teaching  for  a  single  win- 
ter.     This   calling,   how- 
ever, he  forsook  for  mer- 
cantile business,  following 
the  latter   for   about   six 
years,  or  until  1852,  when 
he  entered  upon  what  has 
proved  his  life  work   by 
soliciting     insurance    for 
the  Charter  Oak  Life  In- 
T     w    RUSSELL.  suraucc  Company  of  Hart- 

ford. After  four  years 
service  as  a  local  agent,  incidental  to  his  mercan- 
tile business,  he  was  made  the  general  traveling 
agent  for  the  same  company,  and  in  1857  was 
chosen  its  vice-president.  In  1864,  Mr.  Russell 
was  induced  to  leave  the  Charter  Oak  Life  Insur- 
ance Company  and  become  nominally  the  actuary 
of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company. 
In  1865,  the  legislature  of  Connecticut  chartered 
the  Connecticut  General  Life  Insurance  Company, 
and  Mr.  Russell  was  induced  to  become  its  secre- 
tary. He  subsequentl}^  became  president  and  ac- 
tive manager,  having  held  the  latter  relations  now 
for  nearly  a  score  of  years.  Under  his  control  and 
advice  the  original  scope  and  plans  of  the  company 
were  radically  changed,  and  it  was  long  ago  placed 
on  an  equal  footing  with  the  best  life  companies  of 
the  country.  One  of  the  most  competent  insurance 
critics  of  the  present  day  says  of  President  Russell 
that  "  he  is  perhaps  as  fine  an  example  as  there  is 
in  this  country  of  the  man  who  seeks  his  content- 
ment in  the  daily  round  of  duty,  satisfied  if  the  end 
of  the  year  finds  the  cause  of  his  companj'  ad- 
vanced, its  business  increasing  and  the  death-rate 
normal.  He  is  one  of  the  old  workers  in  life  insur- 
ance, who  has  a  steady  faith  in  his  business,  an 
earnest  desire  to  benefit  all  with  whom  he  comes  in 
contact,  and  who  keeps  about  him  the  clean  and 
pure  atmosphere  of  business  honor."  The  healthy 
and  prosperous  condition  of  this  company  is  suffi- 
cient evidence  of  the  ability  and  integrity  of  its 
management,  of  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
the  head  and  front. 

Outside  his  business  relations  ^[r.  Russell  is 
called  upon  to  aid  in  social,  civil,  and  religious  work. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  general  assembly  of 
this  state,  was  for  a  number  of  years  connected 
with  the  Hartford  city  government,  is  a  director  in 
several   of   the   city   corporations,    an    officer    and 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


55 


active  worker  in  Park  Congregational  Church,  and 
a  director  in  the  city  missionary  society.  He  is  in- 
terested in  and  often  called  to  assist  in  the  admin- 
istration of  the  educational  affairs  of  his  city. 


L.    M.    LEACH. 


LEVERETT  M.   LEACH,  Durham:    Investment 

Securities. 

Mr.  Leach  was  born  in  Madison,  Conn.,  in  1S22, 
a  lineal  "  son  of  the  Revolution,"  his  grandfather 
on  his  mother's  side  having  been  a  soldier  in  the 
revolutionary  army,  who 
enlisted  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen, served  through oiit 
the  war,  w^as  in  the  line 
and  witnessed  the  sur- 
render of  General  Corn- 
wallis  at  Yorktown.  In 
1835  he  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Durham,  where 
his  father,  Leverett  W. 
Leach,  established  an  ex- 
tensive country  store,  and 
where  he  has  ever  since 
resided.  He  was  educa- 
ted at  the  public  and  se- 
lect schools  of  his  native  and  adopted  town,  until 
about  eighteen  years  of  age.  He  was  then  em- 
ployed as  clerk  in  his  father's  store  until  he  reached 
his  majority.  In  1843  he  became  a  partner  in  the 
business,  under  the  firm  name  of  L.  W.  Leach  & 
Son,  and  continued  as  such  until  the  death  of  his 
father  in  1866.  In  1855  his  only  brother,  Oscar 
Leach,  was  admitted  a  partner,  and  since  the 
decease  of  his  father  and  until  the  year  1S82,  has 
been  the  senior  partner  in  the  business,  thereafter 
conducted  under  the  name  of  L.  M.  &  O.  Leach; 
thus  having  been  for  forty-three  years  in  active 
mercantile  life,  as  clerk  or  principal.  In  1S44  he 
married  Lydia  M.  Thayer,  who,  with  one  daughter, 
the  wife  of  Charles  E.  Bacon  of  Middletown,  is 
now  living.  He  was  a  representative  in  the  some- 
what memorable  legislature  of  1849,  when  Joseph 
Trumbull,  the  last  of  the  famous  governors  of  that 
name,  was  chosen  governor  by  the  general  assem- 
bly, the  "free  soilers "  holding  the  balance  of 
power  in  the  house  of  representatives.  He  was 
also  a  representative  in  the  legislature  of  i860  and 
the  special  session  called  by  Governor  Buckingham 
in  December  of  that  year.  He  was  elected  senator 
from  the  "  old  "  1 8th  senatorial  district  in  1862.  Was 
postmaster  from  1849  to  '53.  He  has  held  various 
town  offices  and  was  for  ten  or  twelve  years  first 
selectman,  justice  of  the  peace,  etc.  He  has  been 
a  director  in  the  First  National  Bank  of  Middle- 
town  for  a  number  of  years,  and  a  trustee  of  the 
Middletown  Savings  Bank  since  1864.  He  is  a 
member  of   the   Methodist   Episcopal  Church.     In 


politics  is  connected  with  the  republican  party,  with 
a  large  reserve  of  independence.  He  is  not  at 
present  engaged  in  any  active  business  enterprise, 
but  generally  occupied  in  such  business  of  a  public 
or  private  character  as  a  large  and  extensive 
acquaintance  with  his  townsmen  and  the  surround- 
ing community  brings  to  him,  besides  being  the 
local  agent  of  several  of  the  largest  and  soundest 
investment  companies  of  this  and  other  states. 


HON.     ARTHUR     B.     CALEF,    Middletown: 

Judge  Middletown  City  Court. 

Arthur  B.  Calef  was  born  at  Sanbornton,  N. 
H.,  June  30,  1S25.  He  worked  on  a  farm  and 
taught  school  winters  until  twenty-one  years  of  age; 
prepared  for  college  in  a 
3'ear  at  the  New  Hamp- 
shire Conference  Semi- 
nary at  Tilton,  N.  H.; 
entered  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity in  1847  and  grad- 
uated therefrom  in  1S51. 
During  his  college  course 
he  taught  district  schools 
three  winters  and  was 
principal  of  Woodman 
Sanbornton  Academy  at 
Sanbornton,  N.  H.,  one 
term.     Pie  studied  law  at 

TIT-  -,  I,  .   ,       -,      ,  A.     h.    C.\LEF. 

Middletown    with   Judge 

Charles  Whittlesey  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of 
Middlesex  county  in  1852.  He  was  soon  after  ap- 
pointed clerk  of  the  courts  in  Middlesex  count}^  and 
held  the  office  for  about  eight  years.  Judge  Calef 
has  been  councilman,  alderman,  recorder,  and  city 
attorney  of  the  city  of  Middletown,  school  visitor, 
and  treasurer  of  the  state  of  Connecticut..  Elected 
to  the  latter  office  at  twenty-nine  years  of  age,  he 
has  survived  the  distinction  for  a  longer  period 
than  any  other  living  state  treasurer.  He  has  been 
Grand  Junior  Warden  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  A. 
F.  and  A.  Masons  of  the  state;  was  trustee  of  Wes- 
leyan LTniversity  about  twenty  years,  and  for  some 
years  its  secretary,  and  has  been  lecturer  on  consti- 
tutional law  in  the  university.  He  was  a  delegate 
to  the  national  republican  convention  in  i860  and 
1864;  was  postmaster  at  Middletown  from  1861  to 
1869;  was  for  several  years  president  of  the  Xi 
Chapter  of  Psi  Upsilon  at  Wesleyan  Universit3^ 
and  also  president  of  the  Alumni  Association.  He 
is  president  of  the  Middletown  Gas  Light  Company, 
director  in  several  financial  institutions,  and  is  now 
and  has  been  for  seven  years  past,  judge  of  the 
city  court  of  Middletown.  He  has  had  an  extensive 
practice  in  the  state  and  United  States  courts. 
Judge  Calef  married,  March  21,  1853,  Miss  Hannah 
F.  Woodman,  granddaughter  of  Col.  Asa  Foster  of 


56 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


the  revolutionary  army.  They  have  four  sons,  all 
living,  among  whom  are  Dr.  J.  F.  Calef  of  Crom- 
well, and  Arthur  B.  Calef  of  Middletown,  an 
attorney-at-law.  Judge  Calef  is  a  direct  descend- 
ant of  Robert  Calef  of  Boston,  who  wrote  and  pub- 
lished a  book  in  opposition  to  witchcraft  in  1700  and 
in  reply  to  Cotton  Mather. 


CHARLES    H.    PINE,   Ansonia  :    President  An- 
sonia  National  Bank. 

Charles  H.  Pine  was  born  at  Riverton,  in  the 
town  of  Barkhamsted,  September  20,  1845.  He 
left  the  public  schools  at  the  age  of  sixteen  years  to 
enlist  in  Company  E, 
Nineteenth  Regiment,  af- 
terwards the  Second 
Heavy  Artillery,  and 
served  as  musician  for 
three  years,  or  until  the 
close  of  the  war.  At  its 
termination  he  engaged 
in  mercantile  business 
with  N.  B.  Lathrop  inWol- 
cottville,  now  Torring- 
ton,  remaining  two  years. 
In  1S67  he  entered  the 
c    H    PINE  Ansonia    National    Bank 

as  clerk,  and  was  subse- 
quently appointed  bookkeeper,  then  teller,  elected 
cashier  in  1873,  and  president  in  1886,  a  position  he 
now  holds.  He  has  held  various  offices  of  trust 
and  responsibihty  during  his  residence  in  Ansonia, 
such  as  treasurer  of  the  borough  of  Ansonia, 
treasurer  of  the  Pine  Grove  Cemetery  Association, 
and  treasurer  of  the  Fourth  School  District  of 
Derby.  He  represented  the  town  of  Derby  in  the 
general  assembly  of  1882,  and  served  as  house 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs;  was 
re-elected  a  member  of  the  house  of  1883,  and 
chosen  speaker.  He  was  paymaster-general  on  the 
staff  of  Governor  Lounsbury  in  1887-8.  He  is  an 
ardent  republican,  believing  in  the  principles  of 
the  republican  party  most  thoroughly,  and  has  al- 
ways been  an  earnest,  faithful  worker  in  the  cause 
of  republicanism.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  of  the  Society  of  the  Sixth 
Corps,  of  the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut.  He 
is  actively  engaged  in  business  pursuits,  for,  besides 
holding  the  position  of  president  of  the  Ansonia 
National  Bank,  he  is  president  of  the  Sperry  Manu- 
facturing Company  of  Ansonia,  of  the  Seymour 
Manufacturing  Company  of  Seymour,  and  of  the 
Bridgeport  Forge  Company  of  Bridgeport,  treasurer 
of  the  Bridgeport  Copper  Company  of  Bridgeport, 
and  of  the  Parrot  Silver  and  Copper  Company  of 
Butte  City,  Mf)ntana.     He  is  also  a  special  partner 


in  a  commission  house  in  New  York  City  doing 
business  with  the  West  Indies. 

Mr.  Pine  has  been,  literally,  the  architect  of  his 
own  fortune.  Starting  a  poor  boy,  without  influen- 
tial friends,  he  has  made  his  own  way  in  life,  and 
has  reached  a  degree  of  success,  financially  and 
socially,  rarely  attained  by  much  older  men  than 
he.  He  is  regarded  with  high  esteem  in  political 
and  business  circles  throughout  the  state,  and  par- 
ticularly in  Ansonia,  with  whose  interests  he  is 
closely  identified. 


R.    CRAiMPTON. 


SAMUEL  R.   CRAMPTON,  Madison  : 

Mr.  Crampton  was  born  at  East  Guilford,  now 
Madison,  July  11,  1816.  He  received  a  common 
school  education.  Circumstances  over  which  he 
had  no  control  kept  him 
with  his  father  until  his 
majority.  Like  many 
young  men  without 
means,  he  engaged  in 
several  kinds  of  business 
which  gave  him  only  a 
bare  living.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-ong  he  was 
chosen  town  constable. 
His  father  being  the  trial- 
justice  of  the  town  gave 
him  most  of  his  business 
in  this  line.  During  the 
administration  of  Lean- 
ander  Parmelee,  sheriff  of  New  Haven  county, 
he  held  the  position  of  deputy  for  about  six  years. 
After  the  retirement  of  Sheriff  Parmelee  he  was 
the  candidate  of  the  republican  party  for  sheriff 
at  two  different  elections,  but  was  defeated  each 
time,  the  county  being  strongly  democratic.  In 
1854,  he  was  elected  to  the  legislature,  of  which 
body  he  was  one  of  the  youngest  members.  In 
1856,  he  was  at  the  convention  which  organized 
the  republican  party,  and  has  been  in  every  state 
convention  of  the  party  since, —  a  republican  who 
looks  back  upon  the  achievements  of  the  party 
with  great  satisfaction.  In  business  he  has  been 
connected  with  New  York  houses  about  twenty 
years,  first  as  commercial  traveler  for  nine  years, 
and  afterwards  with  Messrs.  E.  &  H.  T.  Anthony 
for  a  like  period,  holding  a  prominent  position  in 
their  extensive  establishinent,  then  at  501  Broad- 
way. In  all  these  years  of  New  York  life  he  held 
his  residence  in  Madison.  Later,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Prof.  Cyrus  Northrup,  as  collector 
of  the  port  of  New  Haven,  he  held  the  position  of 
weigher  and  ganger  for  twelve  years.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church  of 
Madison  for  more  than  fifty  years,  and  has  been 
active  there  as  in  all  local  matters  pertaining  to  the 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


57 


D.     U.     EROWX. 


interest  of  the  town.  He  is  now  living  with  his 
second  wife,  by  whom  he  has  had  four  children, 
among  whom  he  is  now  enjoying  his  old  age. 


DELOS    D.   BROWN,    Ch.^tham:    Hotel  Proprie- 
tor. 

Mr.  Bi'own  was  born  at  Orleans,  Barnstable 
County,  Mass.,  in  1S3S.  His  education  was  ac- 
quired at  Chase's  Institute  in  Middletown,  and  at 
Wesleyan  Academy  in 
Wilbraham,  Mass.  Dur- 
ing active  life  he  has  been 
engaged  in  manufactur- 
ing and  mercantile  biisi- 
ness,  and  in  the  promo- 
tion of  these  interests  has 
traveled  extensively 
through  the  southern  and 
western  states.  He  was 
at  one  time  house  re- 
porter of  the  legislature 
for  the  New  Haven  Morn- 
ing Nervs. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  Mr.  Brown  enlisted  in  the  federal  service, 
raised  a  company  for  the  Twenty-first  regiment,  C. 
V. ,  going  out  as  first  lieutenant.  He  was  promoted 
to  the  rank  of  captain,  and  commended  in  special 
orders  for  gallant  conduct  at  the  battle  of  Drewry's 
Bluff.  He  participated  in  nearly  all  the  battles  in 
which  the  Twenty-first  was  engaged,  including 
among  others,  Fredericksburg,  the  siege  of  Suffolk, 
the  siege  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  Cold  Harbor,  and 
Drewry's  Bluff.  When  the  rebel  general,  Fitz-Hugh 
Lee,  was  captured  at  White  House  Landing,  Ya., 
Captain  Brown  was  detailed  with  his  company  to 
conduct  him  to  Fortress  Monroe,  and  deliver  him 
up  as  a  prisoner  of  war.  His  regiment  belonged 
to  Burnside's  famous  Ninth  Army  corps,  and  was 
co.Timanded  by  Colonel  Arthur  H.  Dutton  of  the 
regular  army,  and  later  by  Colonel  Thomas  F. 
Burpee  of  Rockville,  Conn.,  both  of  whom  were 
killed  in  the  service. 

The  father  of  Captain  Brown  enlisted  in  the  war 
of  1 8 12,  but  saw  no  active  service.  His  grandfather 
served  in  the  war  of  the  revolution.  All  the  male 
members  of  his  father's  family  were  in  the  army  or 
navy  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  his  older 
brother  as  paymaster  and  his  younger  brother  as 
paymaster's  assistant  in  the  navy,  and  his  brother 
in-law.  Lieutenant  F.  W.  H.  Buell,  was  with  him 
in  the  Twenty-first  regiment  and  died  in  the  ser- 
vice. His  father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  G.  Brown, 
when  sixty-three  years  of  age,  anxious  to  take  part 
in  the  conflict,  was  appointed  chaplain  of  the 
Twenty-first  regiment,  and  by  gallant  conduct 
under  fire,  at  the  battle  of  Drewry's  Blufl:,  where  he 


was  wounded  in  the  arm,  became  known  as  the 
"  Fighting  Chaplain."  Captain  Brown  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  of  representatives  in  1882;  was 
county  commissioner  for  Middlesex  county  for  two 
terms;  is  chairman  of  the  republican  town  com- 
mittee; a  member  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of 
Connecticut:  also  of  Mansfield  Post,  No.  53,  G.  A. 
R. ;  a  prominent  member  of  the  masonic  fraternity, 
and  of  the  order  of  American  Mechanics.  At  the 
present  time  he  is  proprietor  of  the  Lake  Yiew 
House,  a  beautiful  summer  resort  on  Lake  Pocoto- 
paug  at  East  Hampton,  in  this  state. 


W.    W.     MCLAXE. 


REY.  WILLIAM  W.  McLANE,  New  Havex  : 
Pastor  College  Street  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  William  W.  McLane  was  born  in  Indiana 
Co.,  Pa.,  Nov.  13,  1846.  His  father  was  of  Scotch 
ancestry  and  his  mother  of  English  descent,  the 
original  members  of  her 
family  having  come  to 
Philadelphia  with  Wm. 
Penn  or  his  iminediate 
followers.  Mr.  McLane 
grew  up  in  the  country 
and  was  trained  in  the 
Presbyterian  faith.  He 
was  graduated  Bachelor 
and  Master  of  Arts  from 
Blackburn  University, 
graduated  in  theology 
from  the  Western  Theo- 
logical Seminary  in  Alle- 
gheny, and   subsequently 

took  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy  from  Yale 
University  for  special  studies  in  biology  and  phi- 
losophy. He  received  the  degree  of  D.D.  from  his 
alma  mater  in  1882.  He  taught  one  year  in  an 
academy  and  two  years  in  college  before  entering 
the  seminary,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  a  large 
class  numbering  almost  fifty  when  he  graduated 
in  theology.  He  was  ordained  a  Presbyterian 
minister  in  May,  1S74,  and  continued  in  that 
denomination  nine  years,  spending  the  last  five 
as  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church, 
Steubenville,  O.,  then  the  largest  Presbyterian 
church  in  that  part  of  the  state.  He  then  left  the 
Presbyterian  denomination  and  has  been  pastor  of 
College  Street  Congregational  church,  New  Haven, 
since  January,  1884.  Dr.  McLane  has  been  twice 
married,  his  last  wife,  7iee  Miss  Fanny  Robinson, 
being  a  descendant  of  the  family  of  John  Robinson 
the  Pilgrim  pastor.  She  is  also  descended  on 
her  mother's  side  from  Governor  Bradford  and 
on  the  father's  from  Governor  Carver.  Her 
ancestors  have  formed  almost  an  unbroken  line 
of  ministers.  There  are  in  the  family  five 
children,  all  boys,  two  being  sons  of  the  first  wife 


58 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


and  three  sons  of  the  second.  Dr.  McLane  is  the 
author  of  a  book  on  theology,  and  has  contributed 
articles  to  the  leading  religious  newspapers  and  to 
different  magazines.  Several  sermons  and  ad- 
dresses of  his  have  also  been  published. 


JOSHUA    PERKINS. 


JOSHUA    PERKINS,    D.D.S.,    Danielsonville. 
Dr.  Joshua  Perkins  is  a  descendant  of  the  sixth 
generation  of  John  Perkins,  who  came  from  New- 
ent,    Gloucester    County,    England,   in    1631,    and 
settled  in  Ipswich,  Mass., 
and   some   of    whose   de- 
scendants  settled  in  Lis- 
bon, Conn.,  then  included 
in  the  town  of  Norwich, 
Conn.      He   was  born   in 
Lisbon,  Conn.,   April  16, 
1818,   attended   the   com- 
mon district  school   until 
twelve  years  of  age,  and 
at    fifteen   taught   a   dis- 
trict school,  and,  as  most 
all   teachers   did   at   that 
time,  "  boarded  around  in 
the  district." 
At  seventeen  years  of  age  he  was  fitted  for  col- 
lege at  Plainfield  Academy,  under  the  instruction 
of  that  excellent  and  respected  teacher,  John  Wit- 
ter, and  in  the  same  class  that  included  Dr.  Lowell 
Holbrook   of   Thompson,    Dr.    Elijah    Baldwin   of 
Canterbury,  and  Hon.  Albert  H.  Almy  of  Norwich, 
now  of  New  York,  and  other  classmates  from  this 
and  other  states.     He  did  not  enter  college,  as  did 
many  of  his  classmates. 

At  nineteen  he  was  chosen  captain  of  the  Sixth 
infantry  company,  Eighteenth  regiment  of  Connec- 
ticut militia.  After  serving  three  years  and  having 
no  taste  or  ambition  for  military  matters  he  re- 
signed the  captaincy  of  the  company. 

Having  followed  mercantile  business  in  the  then 
"  far  west"  for  a  number  of  years,  he  returned  to 
Lisbon,  then,  after  a  few  years,  he  came  to  Daniel- 
sonville, where  he  has  followed  a  successful  and 
remunerative  practice  of  dentistry  for  more  than 
thirty  years. 

In  religion  he  is  a  Unitarian,  and  in  politics  he 
can  say  of  himself,  "  I  am  a  democrat."  He  has 
taken  an  active  interest  in  local  matters  and  politi- 
cal questions.  He  was  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the 
borough  of  Danielsonville  six  3'ears  ('57  to  '63);  was 
warden  of  the  borough  three  years  ('S3  to  '86);  was 
registrar  of  voters  in  the  town  of  Killingly  three 
years  ('69  to  '72);  was  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education  three  years  ('77  to  '80);  and  is  now  and 
has  been  for  many  years  past  a  town  auditor.  He 
was  a  delegate  to  the  Union  National  Convention 
in    Philadelphia   in    1866,    and   a   delegate   to   the 


Democratic  National  Convention  at  Chicago  in 
18S4,  which  nominated  President  Cleveland,  and 
was  by  his  fellow  delegates  chosen  a  vice-president 
of  that  convention.  Dr.  Perkins  has  long  been  a 
recognized  and  trusted  leader  of  the  democratic 
party  in  his  town,  and  is  well  known  in  Windham 
county  as  an  efficient  organizer  and  worker  in  the 
democratic  ranks.  He  has  twice  ('83  and  '88)  re- 
ceived the  nomination  for  state  senator  in  the  Six- 
teenth senatorial  district.  Unfortunately  for  him 
and  the  democratic  party  he  is  in  a  town  and  a  sen- 
atorial district  dominated  by  adverse  political  con- 
ditions, otherwise  his  well-known  abilities  would 
have  done  his  party  able  service  in  a  broader  field 
than  his  town  limits.  As  a  writer  and  speaker  Dr. 
Perkins  is  direct  and  effective  and  is  worthy  of  and 
has  the  confidence  of  his  party. 


HON.    JOHN    WHITTLESEY    MARVIN,    Say- 
brook:  Insurance  and  Investments. 
John  W.  Marvin  was  born,  the  youngest  son  of 
Deacon  John  Marvin,  in  Lyme,  January  13,  1824. 
He   came   of   excellent    stock,   being   a   lineal   de- 
scendant of  Captain  Rey- 
^'        ^  nold   Marvin,    justly    re- 

nowned in  the  history  of 
the  town.  Vp  to  his  thir- 
teenth j-ear  the  family 
lived  in  Lyme ;  then  it  re- 
moved to  Deep  River 
(Saybrook).  There  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  has 
since  lived.  The  town 
has  found  him  a  capable 
and  efficient  officer.  He 
has  been  town  clerk,  a 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief,  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  has  held  various  other  elective  offices.  In  1871 
and  1S72  he  represented  Saybrook  in  the  legisla- 
ture, and  both  years  served  upon  the  leading  com- 
mittee —  the  judiciary.  Among  his  associates  were 
some  of  the  ablest  minds  that  have  found  their  way 
recently  to  membership  in  the  house  —  Messrs. 
Waite,  IngersoU,  Treat,  Eaton,  and  Seymour.  In 
1 87 1  he  was  also  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
constitutional  amendments.  During  the  past  sev- 
eral years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  general  in- 
surance business,  and  latterly  has  added  to  it  a 
western  loan  and  farm  mortgage  agenc}'.  His  ex- 
cellent judgment  and  sterling  integrity  have  raised 
him  to  financial  positions  of  prominence.  He  is 
now  a  director  in  a  national  bank  and  savings 
bank  and  in  an  insurance  company.  In  the  fall 
of  1885  he  was  elected  by  his  party —  the  republi- 
cans—  as  senator  from  the  twenty  first  district. 
As  a  legislator,  his  practical  knowledge  of   public 


J- 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


59 


and  general  affairs  greatly  facilitated  the  dis- 
charge of  senatorial  duties,  and  he  easily  took 
rank  among  the  ablest  and  most  active  of  his 
colleagues. 


RUFUS    S      PICKETT. 


RUFUS   STARR   PICKETT,  New  Haven  ;   At- 

torney-at-Law,  Judge  of  the  City  Court. 

Judge  Pickett,   a  resident  of  New  Haven  since 
1854,  is  a  descendant  of  the  sixth  generation  of  an 
English  ancestor  who  emigrated  from  Dover,  Eng- 
land, and  settled  at  Mil- 
ford,   in   this    state.     He 
was   boi-n   at    Ridgefield, 
Feb.   28,  1829,  studied  in 
the  common  schools,  and 
prepared    for    college    at 
Hugh    Banks'    academy, 
in  his  native  town. 

On  account  of  the  fail- 
ing health  of  his  father, 
Rufus  H.  Pickett,  Rufus 
S.  was,  when  eighteen 
years  of  age,  compelled  to 
relinquish  study,  and  de- 
vote himself  to  the  man- 
agement of  his  father's  business,  which  he  con- 
tinued for  six  years,  when  he  removed  to  New 
Haven,  and  for  seven  and  a  half  years  w^orked  at 
building  and  repairing  locomotives  for  the  New 
York  &  New  Haven  Railroad,  when  it  was  a  sin- 
gle track  road,  doing  its  business  with  twenty- 
four  engines  onlj'. 

In  the  Lincoln  campaign  of  i860  Mr.  Pickett, 
then,  as  now,  an  ardent  republican,  was  encour- 
aged to  take  an  active  part,  by  his  friend  and  former 
schoolmate,  Cyrus  Northrop,  then  a  professor  in 
Yale  college,  now  president  of  the  University  of 
Minnesota.  He  answered  some  of  the  numerous 
calls  for  speakers  in  New  Haven  and  adjoining 
towns,  speaking  in  company  with  Professor  North- 
rop, Hon.  N.  D.  Sperry,  John  Woodruff,  M.C.,  and 
others.  After  the  Lincoln  administration  came 
into  power,  and  the  late  James  F.  Babcock  was  ap- 
pointed collector  of  the  port  of  New  Haven,  he  ap- 
pointed Mr.  Pickett  an  inspector  of  customs,  which 
office,  and  that  of  weigher  and  ganger,  he  held  for 
several  years;  and  while  in  these  offices,  and  per- 
forming his  duties  faithfully,  resumed  study,  en- 
tered the  Yale  Law  School,  took  the  Jewell  prize 
as  essayist  at  the  close  of  the  first  year,  graduated 
with  fair  honors  in  1873,  and  entered  upon  the  gen- 
eral practice  of  law.  In  1877  he  was  appointed 
city  attorney,  being  continued  in  that  office  six 
years;  in  1885  was  appointed  assistant  judge,  and 
in  1887  judge  of  the  city  court  of  New  Haven. 
Judge  Pickett  heard  some  of  the  early  boycott 
cases,  and  prepared  opinions  on  them,  which  had  a 


wide  circulation  in  the  country,  and  which  have 
been  substantially  confirmed  by  the  higher  courts 
of  several  states. 

Judge  Pickett  is  married,  and  has  four  children. 
His  religious  connections  are  with  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  and  he  is  a  "Son  of  the  Revolution" 
through  his  maternal  ancestry. 


W.  J.   MILLER. 


WATSON  J.  MILLER,  Sheltox  :  President  and 
General  Manager  Derby  Silver  Company. 
Watson  J.  Miller  was  born  in  Middletown,  Conn., 
November  23,  1849.  His  early  education  was  ac- 
quired in  the  public  schools,  including  the  Middle- 
town  high  school  and 
Chase's  institute  of  that 
city.  This  w^as  supple- 
mented by  a  business 
course  at  a  commercial 
college  in  New  Haven, 
from  which  he  went  into 
business  in  Middletown, 
in  Mai'ch,  1868,  engaging 
in  the  manufacture  of  sil- 
ver plated  ware.  He  re- 
mained there  until  1S73, 
when  he  removed  to  New 
York,  where  he  continued 
in  the  same  branch  of 
business  for  six  years.  From  New  York  he  went  to 
Shelton,  Conn.,  in  1878,  and  when  the  Derby  Silver 
Companj'  was  re-organized,  Mr.  Miller  was  made 
its  secretary  and  treasurer,  and  general  manager, 
having  been  already  on  the  board  of  directors.  Ten 
years  later  he  was  elected  president  of  the  com- 
pany, still  being  continued  in  the  general  manage- 
ment, both  which  positions  he  continues  to  occupy 
at  the  present  time.  He  is  also  president  of  the 
South  End  Land  Company,  and  of  the  Shelton 
Loan  and  Savings  Institution,  and  is  largely  inter- 
ested in  real  estate  in  the  borough  of  Shelton.  He 
is  recognized  as  one  of  the  ablest  business  men  in 
the  Naugatuck  valley  ;  is  thoroughh'  public-spir- 
ited, a  wise  and  discreet  counsellor,  and  activelj'  in- 
terested in  the  welfare  and  progress  of  the  commu- 
nity of  which  he  is  so  important  a  factor. 

Mr.  Miller  was  married  October  13,  1874,  to  Miss 
Susie  J.  Waite,  only  daughter  of  Alonzo  Waite, 
Esq.,  of  Chicopee,  Mass.  He  is  an  attendant  at  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  church,  but  not  a  member  ; 
and  cheerfully  aids  in  the  material  support  of  all 
religious  organizations  and  charities.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  several  mutual  benefit  societies. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  promoters  of  the  enterprise 
which  resiilted  in  the  organization  of  the  Shelton 
board  of  trade,  of  which  he  is  now  a  member  and 


6o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


director.  He  has  always  kept  out  of  politics,  though 
often  urged  to  become  the  candidate  of  his  party 
for  both  borough  and  town  offices,  preferring  to 
devote  his  attention  to  business  and  accomplish 
what  he  could  for  the  benefit  of  his  townsmen  in 
the  capacity  of  a  private  citizen,  rather  than  as  a 
public  office-holder. 

Mr.  Miller  is  a  practical  philanthropist.  He  has 
helped  many  of  the  workingmen  of  his  borough  to 
build  houses  of  their  own,  and  to  save  something 
for  a  rainy  day.  He  is  strongly  in  favor  of  the  sav- 
ings system  among  laboring  men,  and  was  second  in 
the  state  to  get  a  special  charter  for  a  savings  and 
loan  institution  to  furnish  aid  to  workingmen  and 
mechanics  in  providing  homes  for  their  families.  He 
also  favors  the  co-operative  principle  in  business,  to 
the  extent  of  admitting  as  stockholders  in  his  own 
company  those  who  have  been  faithful  as  workmen 
and  have  accumulated  something  for  investment, 
even  though  the  amount  be  small.  It  is  a  settled 
principle  with  him  to  promote  those  who  are  de- 
serving, and  give  every  man  a  chance  to  rise  in  the 
world.  As  a  consequence,  the  Derby  Silver  Com- 
pany is  a  prosperous  institution,  the  management 
is  popular,  and  Mr.  Miller  has  the  satisfaction  of 
seeing  his  faithful  workmen  share  in  the  general 
prosperity.  * 


JULIUS  A.  HART,  Beacon  Falls:  Station  agent 
X.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R. 

Julius  A.  Hart  was  born  at  Hubbardton,  Vt., 
April  4,  1S46,  being  the  son  of  a  farmer  of  moderate 
means,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  school. 
He  remained  on  the  farm 
until  he  reached  the  age 
of  nineteen,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Nashua,  N.  H., 
and  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits.  July  I,  1867, 
he  accepted  the  position 
of  head  clerk  in  the  coun- 
try store  of  C.  W.  Elkins 
&  Co.  at  Beacon  Falls. 
He  was  appointed  station 
agent  in  that  place,  Dec. 
21,  1S68,  and  has  since  re- 
tained the  position.  He 
is  also  the  agent  for  the 
Adams  Express  Co.  and  the  manager  of  the  AVest- 
ern  Union  Telegraph  Co.  at  Beacon  Falls.  Mr. 
Hart  has  held  the  offices  of  town  clerk,  treasurer, 
and  collector.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a 
member  of  the  Methodist  church,  an  influential 
Christian  worker,  and  a  member  of  Centennial 
Lodge,  No.  100,  I.  O.  O.  F.  of  Naugatuck.  His 
wife  was  Miss  Sarah  A.  ^litchell  prior  to  marriage. 
The  familv  includes  three  children. 


J.    A.    HART. 


REV.  THOMAS  K.  NOBLE,  Norwalk:  Pastor 
First  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  Thomas  Kimball  Noble  was  born  in  Nor- 
way, Me.,  Jan.  19,  1832,  and  was  educated  at  Bow- 
doin  College  and  Bangor  Theological  Seminary. 
After  the  completion  of 
his  studies  he  was  elected 
master  of  the  High  School 
in  Augusta  and  remained 
there  for  five  years,  pre- 
paring students  for  Yale, 
Harvard,  and  other  New 
England  colleges.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he  was  in 
charge  for  seven  months 
of  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion at  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  headquar- 
ters, the  hospital  in  con- 
nection with  the  work 
being  designed  for  the  accommodation  of  15,000  pa- 
tients. Subsequently  he  accepted  the  chaplaincy 
of  Gen.  Charles  Howard's  old  regiment.  By  order 
of  the  Secretary  of  War  he  was  detached  from  this 
position  and  assigned  to  duty  on  the  staff  of  Gen. 
Scott,  Department  of  the  South,  occupying  the  po- 
sition for  eighteen  months.  He  was  then  trans- 
ferred to  the  staff  of  Gen.  Jeff.  C.  Davis  with  head- 
quarters at  Louisville,  Ky.,  where  he  remained  for 
two  years,  when  he  was  again  transferred  to  the 
staff  of  Gen.  Burbank,  who  was  Gen.  Davis's  suc- 
cessor. This  position  he  retained  for  one  year, 
when  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  Jennings  Avenue 
Congregational  church  in  Cleveland,  O.  The  pas- 
torate of  this  church  was  occupied  for  three  years 
and  a  half.  During  that  period  an  embarrassing 
debt  on  the  church  was  extinguished  and  the  mem- 
bership trebled.  In  1872,  ha\nng  declined  a  call  to 
the  Winthrop  church  in  Boston,  which  possessed  a 
membership  in  excess  of  600,  Air.  Noble  accepted 
the  pastorate  of  Plymouth  church  in  San  Fran- 
cisco, where  he  remained  for  fourteen  years.  Dur- 
ing this  time  a  beautiful  church  edifice  was  con- 
structed and  the  church  membership  increased  by 
700  or  more.  Impaired  health  compelled  him  to 
resign  the  pastorate  in  San  Francisco  in  1886,  and 
he  traveled  extensively  through  England  and  the 
Continent,  visiting  France,  Belgium,  Holland, 
Switzerland,  Germany,  and  Italy,  during  the  suc- 
ceeding months.  On  his  return  he  supplied  the 
pulpit  of  the  Eastern  Presbyterian  church  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C,  for  more  than  two  years.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  church  was  doubled  and  the  congre- 
gation trebled  during  this  period.  Declining  a  call 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  church  permanently,  he  re- 
moved north  and  accepted  the  pastoral  office  of  the 
First  Congregational  church  in  Norwalk,  one  of 
the  oldest  organizations  in  the  state  and  the  mother 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


6i 


of  eight  surrounding-  churches.  During  his  pas- 
torate of  the  San  Francisco  church  he  was  one  of 
the  lecturers  in  the  Pacific  Theological  Seminary, 
and  for  seven  j-ears  was  the  department  chaplain  of 
the  Grand  Army  in  California  and  Nevada.  He  is 
still  a  member  of  Lincoln  Post  of  San  Francisco. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Clerical  Union  Club 
and  of  the  Aldine  Club,  both  of  New  York  city. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  is  a  sister  of  Professor 
Bradbury  of  Cambridge,  Mass.  He  has  two 
daughters,  both  of  whom  are  residing  in  vSan  Fran- 
cisco.    In  politics  Mr.  Noble  is  a  republican. 


B.   LOCKWOOD. 


DAVID      BENJAMIN      LOCKWOOD,    Bkii.ce- 

PORT  :  Attorney-at-Law. 

David  B.  Lockwood  was  born  in  Weston,  Conn., 
January  7,  1827.  He  prepared  for  college  at 
Staples'  Academy  in  Easton,  and  graduated  from 
Wesleyan  University  in 
1849.  He  .studied  law 
with  the  late  Judge  Sid- 
ney B.  Beardsley,  and 
was  admitted  to  practice 
in  1 85 1.  After  practicing 
in  Bridgeport  for  several 
years,  he  removed  to  New 
York  city,  where  he  con- 
tinued his  profession  until 
the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  of  the  rebellion ,  when 
he  returned  to  Bridgeport 
and  enlisted  in  the  Second 
Connecticut  Light  Bat- 
tery, where  he  served  for  three  years.  At  the  close 
of  the  war  he  returned  to  Bridgeport,  and  resumed 
the  practice  of  his  profession.  He  has  held  the 
office  of  city  clerk  of  Bridgeport,  was  for  three 
years  judge  of  the  city  court,  and  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  in  1875 
and  in  1883.  He  held  the  office  of  city  attorney  in 
1880  and  1885.  From  1882  to  1887  he  was  one  of 
the  trustees  of  Wesleyan  University.  He  is  one 
of  the  original  incorporators  of  the  Mechanics  and 
Farmers'  Savings  Bank.  He  is  one  of  the  original 
board  of  directors  of  the  Bridgeport  Public  Library, 
and  was  largely  instrumental  in  changing  it  from  a 
private  to  a  public  institution.  He  drew  the  jDub- 
lic  act  providing  for  count}'  law  library  associa- 
tions, and  gave  the  initial  movement  to  the  Fair- 
field county  law  library,  which  is  now  by  far  the 
most  important  county  law  library  in  the  state. 
He  has  closely  followed  the  practice  of  the  law, 
and  is  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Lockwood  & 
Beers,  which  has  been  in  existence  for  twenty 
years,  and  has  a  large  and  successful  practice.  Mr. 
Lockwood  first  married  Caroline  A.  Redfield  in 
1S56,  who  died  in  1S65,  leaving  a  daughter  and  son. 


.^, 


/ 
CHAS.    EDW.     PRIOR. 


In  1S6S  he  married  Lydia  Ellen  Nelson,  who  is  still 
living,  and  by  whom  he  had  two  daughters  and  a 
son.  Politically,  Mr.  Lockwood  is  a  democrat. 
His  religious  connections  are  with  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  of  the  Seaside  Club  of 
Bridgeport. 

CHARLES    EDWARD    PRIOR,    Jewett   City: 

Secretar}-   and   Treasurer   Jewett   City   Savings 

Bank. 

]\Ir.  Prior  was  born  at  Moosup,  Conn.,  Jan.  24, 
1S56.  When  he  was  four  years  old  his  parents 
moved  to  Jewett  City,  where  he  has  since  resided. 
He  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools  of 
the  town  of  Griswold.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen  he 
secured  a  situation  in  the 
office  of  the  N.  &  W.  R. 
R.  Co. ,  in  Norwich,  where 
he  remained  one  year. 
In  1875  he  entered  the 
employ  of  the  Ashland 
Cotton  Company,  and 
soon  became  bookkeeper 
and  paymaster  for  that 
flourishing  corporation. 
In    1883   he   was    elected 

secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Jewett  Cit}'  Savings 
Bank.  Two  years  later  he  became  a  member  of 
the  corporation,  and  after  four  years  of  service  he 
was  elected  a  director.  The  bank  under  his  care 
has  become  a  widely-known  institution,  and  its 
greatly  increased  usefulness  is  owing  in  no  ^small 
degree  to  his  acknowledged  ability  in  the  manage- 
ment of  its  affairs.  During  his  administration  a 
large  premium  account  has  been  nearly  annihilated, 
and  the  surplus  account  has  been  quadrupled. 

Mr.  Prior  has  taken  a  lively  interest  in  musical 
matters  for  many  years.  He  became  organist  of 
the  Congregational  church  in  Jewett  City  when  but 
fourteen  j^ears  of  age,  and  resigned  eight  years 
later  to  serve  the  Baptist  chtirch  in  the  same 
capacity.  In  1SS3  he  brought  out  his  first  volume 
of  Sunday-school  songs,  entitled  "  Spicy  Breezes," 
and  in  1S90  his  second  book,  "Sparkling  and 
Bright,"  was  given  to  the  public.  His  compositions 
are  now  in  great  demand,  as  their  appearance 
in  nearly  all  of  our  Sunday-school  and  Gospel 
praise  books  testifies.  Mr.  Prior  is  an  honorary 
member  of  the  Worcester  County  Musical  Associa- 
tion of  Worcester,  Mass.,  and  takes  an  active  inter- 
est in  its  affairs.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Jewett 
City  Baptist  church,  which  body  he  serves  as  choir- 
leader  and  organist,  and  has  been  president  of  the 
Young  People's  Society  of  Christian  Endeavor 
since  its  organization.     He  is  past  master  of  Mount 


62 


AX    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


MARVIN    KNOWLTOX. 


Vernon  Lodge,  No.  75,  A.  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  has 
advanced  in  masonry  to  the  degree  of  Knight  Tem- 
plar, being  a  member  of  Columbian  Commandery, 
No.  4,  K.  T.,  of  Norwich,  Conn.  Mr.  Prior  married 
Miss  Mary  E.  Campbell,  and  has  one  son,  Charles 
Edwin  Prior. 

MARVIN  KNOWLTON,  Wii.limantic  :  Lumber 
Manufacturer. 

Marvin  Knowlton  is  to-day  best  known  in  Con- 
.necticut  as  the  leader  of  the  prohibition  party,  and 
he  is  gratefully  remembered  in  Canada  as  among 
the  foremost  in  Good 
Templar  work  and  in 
efforts  for  temperance 
legislation  during  the  de- 
cade of  1S70-80.  The 
best  years  and  best  efforts 
of  his  life  have  been  de- 
voted to  the  temperance 
and  prohibition  cause. 

Born  in  Ashford,  in  old 
Windham  county,  in  1S37, 
he  came  of  a  heroic  line, 
in  whose  veins  the  fires  of 
patriotism  and  self-sacri- 
fice had  burned  since 
colonial  days.  His  father,  of  the  same  name, 
fought  in  the  war  of  1S12.  Lieutenant  Daniel 
Knowlton,  the  famous  scout  of  French  and  Indian 
war,  was  his  grandfather.  He  is  a  grand-nephew, 
also,  of  Col.  Thomas  Knowlton  of  revolutionary 
fame,  the  close  friend  and  adviser  of  Washington, 
who  fell  at  Harlem  Heights;  and  a  cousin  of  Gen- 
eral Nathaniel  Lyon,  the  beloved  son  of  Connecti- 
cut who  fell  at  Wilson's  Creek  in  1861. 

The  obligations  of  home  kept  young  Marvin  in 
Ashford  until  his  thirtieth  year,  and  when  he  was 
only  nineteen  the  management  of  the  farm  devolved 
upon  him.  In  1868,  just  after  his  father's  death, 
he  removed  to  the  city  of  London,  Ontario,  in 
Canada,  and  engaged  in  the  wholesale  lumber  busi- 
ness with  a  brother-in-law.  Two  years  later  he 
purchased  the  whole  business  and  developed  it  to 
large  proportions. 

In  1870  he  began  to  take  an  active  interest  in  the 
temperance  work.  He  joined  the  Good  Templars, 
and  at  once  became  prominent  in  the  order.  He 
entered  the  field  as  lecturer  and  organizer,  was 
largely  instrumental  in  increasing  the  membership 
from  12,000  to  35, 000,  and  was  successively  elected 
to  the  positions  of  grand  counsellor  and  grand  chief 
of  the  order  for  Ontario  and  Quebec;  his  grand 
lodge  at  that  time  being  the  largest  on  the  conti- 
nent, and  the  third  largest  in  the  world.  He  was 
delegate  to  the  international  grand  lodge  in  the 
conventions  of  1875  and  1876,  at  Bloomington,  111., 
and  Louisville,  Ky.,  respectively,  being  chairman 


of  the  Canada  delegation  in  the  latter  body.  Dur- 
ing these  years  he  developed  great  power  as  a  tem- 
perance orator.  His  experience  led  him  to  appre- 
ciate the  insufficiency  of  moral  suasion  work  alone. 
Hence  he  became  one  of  the  foremost  advocates  of 
the  so-called  Duncan  bill,  a  county  local-option 
measure  which  was  championed  by  the  temperance 
men  of  all  parties,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Canada 
Temperance  Alliance,  in  1875.  This  agitation  cul- 
minated in  1878  in  what  is  known  as  the  Canada 
Temperance  Act  or  the  Scott  Act;  and  Mr.  Knowl- 
ton was  among  the  foremost  of  those  who  were 
active  and  influential  in  securing  the  passage  of 
this  measure.  Mr.  Knowlton  thus  became  a  tower 
of  strength  to  the  temperance  cause  in  Canada. 
He  was  identified  with  the  reform  wing  of  the 
liberal  party  and  was  strongly  urged  to  accept 
various  public  positions,  but  he  preferred  to  attend 
to  his  own  business  and  to  pursue  the  temperance 
work  in  his  own  way.  In  1883  he  decided  to  return 
to  his  native  state  and  county,  and  in  1884  he  en- 
gaged in  the  lumber  business  with  the  firm  of  E.  A. 
Buck  &  Co.  of  Willimantic  (where  he  is  now),  as 
manufacturers  and  wholesale  jobbers  in  native 
hard  Avoods  for  railway  and  domestic  uses.  Firmly 
convinced  by  his  Canadian  experience  that  moral 
suasion  and  legal  suasion  must  be  supplemented  by 
public  officers  and  organization  in  sympathy  there- 
with, Mr.  Knowlton  promptly  identified  himself  with 
the  national  prohibition  party  in  this  country,  and  he 
has,  with  characteristic  self-sacrifice,  given  to  the 
movement  an  abundance  of  his  substance,  energy, 
and  political  wisdom,  to  the  signal  advantage  of 
the  cause.  As  a  prominent  lecturer  and  political 
adviser  in  the  Forbes  campaign  in  1886;  as  the 
chosen  representative  sent  by  Connecticut  friends 
of  prohibition  to  assist  in  the  campaign  for  the 
amendment  in  Michigan  in  1887;  as  field  manager 
in  the  Fisk  and  Camp  campaign  in  18SS;  as  chair- 
man of  the  special  amendment  committee  in  1889; 
and  as  state  organizer  in  1890,  he  has  been  gener- 
ally recognized  as  the  leader  of  the  prohibition 
movement  in  Connecticut;  while  the  party  has- 
risen  from  a  spasmodic  agitation  to  a  steady,  per- 
manent place,  with  a  growing  political  issue. 

;Mr.  Knowlton  is  a  single  man  and  a  member  of 
the  Masonic  order.  He  also  retains  connection 
with  the  order  of  Good  Templars  in  this  country. 
He  is  a  man  of  strong  personal  popularity,  of 
marked  power  and  magnetism  as  a  public  speaker, 
a  sagacious  politician  in  the  best  sense,  and  always 
keenly  alive  to  the  whole  political  situation.  He  is 
a  thorough  and  determined  champion  of  the  cause 
of  "  the  home  against  the  saloon,"  and  believes  in 
the  speedy  coming  of  a  new  party  of  the  people, 
which  shall  faithfully  preserve  the  democratic  prin- 
ciple of  equality  in  the  pubhc  regulation  and 
administration     of     wholesome     industries,    while 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


63 


N.    MORSE. 


bringing  the  full  power  of  government  to  bear 
against  the  forces  of  nnn,  monopoly,  and  corrup- 
tion. 

GEORGE  N.   MORSE,   Meridex:    Ex-State  Sen- 
ator. 

George  Newton  Morse  was  born  in  Meriden,  Oct. 
16,  1853.  He  is  a  descendant  of  John  Morse,  bom 
1604,  who  was  one  of  the  seven  Puritans  of  that 
name  who  emigrated  from 
England  to  America  in 
1635,  settled  at  New 
Haven,  and  was  one  of 
the  founders  of  Walling- 
ford  in  1670,  and  was  a 
deputy  and  commissioner 
to  the  general  court  for 
fourteen  years,  dying  in 
1707  at  the  age  of  103. 
On  his  maternal  side  Mr. 
Morse  is  a  descendant  of 
Rev.  Samuel  Hall  of 
Cheshire,  born  1695,  died 
1776,  who  married  Annie 
Law,  daughter  of  Gov.  Jonathan  Law  and  grand- 
daughter of  Gov.  Wm.  Brenton  of  Rhode  Island. 

After  the  usual  training  in  the  common  schools, 
Mr.  Morse  attended,  when  sixteen  years  of  age,  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institute  at  Suffield  in  1869- 
70.  For  several  years  he  was  correspondent  of  the 
New  Yo7'k  Mirror  and  the  Ttirf,  Field,  and 
Farm.  He  has  been  at  one  time  or  another 
in  various  mercantile  pursuits.  In  1872  he  was 
a  member  of  Charter  Oak  Hose  Company  in  the 
old  volunteer  fire  department.  In  1882  he  moved 
to  Kansas  City  but  returned  to  Meriden  the  follow- 
ing 3'ear.  Was  married  in  1877  to  Mary  A.,  daugh- 
ter of  John  C.  Byxbee,  by  whom  he  has  had  two 
children:  John  B.,  born  18S0,  and  Ida  L.,  born 
1882.  He  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  local  and 
state  politics.  At  the  state  convention  held  in 
Hartford  in  May,  1888,  to  choose  delegates  to  the 
democratic  national  convention,  he  was  chairman 
of  his  town's  delegation.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
state  convention  held  in  September  of  the  same 
year  at  New  Haven,  presenting  the  name  of  Hon. 
Carlos  French  for  governor  in  the  county  caucus, 
and  Hon.  E.  B.  Manning  to  the  convention  for 
electoral  delegate.  The  latter  was  nominated  and 
elected.  Mr.  Morse  was  nominated  for  state 
senator  in  1888  and  was  elected  by  a  plurality  of 
353.  In  the  presidential  campaign  of  1888,  he 
organized  and  was  president  of  the  Cleveland  demo- 
cratic club  of  Meriden.  In  the  state  senate  he  was 
chairman  of  the  manufactures  and  woman's  suf- 
frage committees  ;  introduced  and  advocated  the 
passage  of  the  cigarette  bill,  which  is  now  the  law. 
The  most  notable  speeches  which  he  delivered  m 


that  bod}'  were  those  on  ballot  reform,  the  West- 
port  ballot  box  contest,  oleomargarine,  and  the 
Storrs  School  appropriation.  He  was  the  author  of 
the  famous  Parnell  resohitions,  which  were  finally 
passed  by  the  general  assembly  after  a  bitter  con- 
test. He  organized  and  is  the  secretary  of  the 
Senate  Club  of  1889-90.  He  was  chairman  of  the 
town  delegation  to  the  state  convention  held  in 
Hartford  in  September,  1890,  and  at  this  .conven- 
tion was  a  candidate  for  the  office  of  secretary  of 
state.  He  is  a  member  of  St.  Andrews  Episcopal 
Church,  an  officer  in  the  state  Democratic  Club, 
trustee  of  the  Royal  Arcanum,  a  member  of  the 
I.  O.  Odd  Fellows,  O.  LT.  American  Mechanics, 
Golden  Eagles,  I.  O.  Red  Men,  Political  Equahty 
Club,  and  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 


KIRKHAM. 


JOHN  S.   KIRKHAM,  Newington:   Farmer. 

Mr.  Kirkham  is  a  native  of  Newington.  He  was 
born  April  6,  1S26,  and  reared  on  his  father's  farm, 
working  hard  and  attending  the  common  schools 
during  such  portions  of 
the  j^ear  as  might  be  con- 
veniently spared  from 
farm  work  for  that  pur- 
pose. His  education  was 
finished  in  the  Springfield 
High  School  and  Newing- 
ton Academy.  In  1849 
he  went  to  California,  be- 
ing one  of  the  pioneer 
band  of  Ai-gonauts  organ- 
ized in  Hartford  by  Major 
Horace  Goodwdn,  C.  G. 
Smith,  Joseph  Pratt,  and 
others.      He  was  chosen 

on  the  board  of  managers,  and  also  clerk  of  elec- 
tions in  El  Dorado  county  in  1850.  After  a  valua- 
ble experience  in  the  gold  regions  he  returned  to 
Newington,  where,  since  1855,  he  has  been  justice 
of  the  peace.  When  the  town  was  incorporated  in 
1871,  he  was  chosen  town  clerk,  and  has  remained 
such  since,  save  for  three  years.  From  1S66  he  has 
been  school  visitor,  and  is  now  chairman  of  the 
board.  In  addition  to  these  places  of  trust  he  is 
treasurer  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
He  was  a  leader  in  the  farmers'  organization  a 
few  years  ago  to  contest  the  claims  of  the 
"  Granite  Agricultural  Works"  of  Lebanon,  N.  H., 
growing  out  of  fraudulent  notes.  Always  a 
staunch  defender  of  farmers'  rights  and  a  leading 
spirit  in  the  local  and  state  Grange,  he  is  more 
active  in  the  support  of  agricultural  interests  than 
even  the  interests  of  the  democratic  party.  In 
1878  he  represented  Newington  in  the  lower  house 
of  the  general  assembly,  and  ten  years  later  served 
as   state   senator   from   the   second   district.      Mr. 


64 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


H.    C.    BALDWIN. 


Kirkham  has  been  twice  mai'ried;  first  to  Miss 
Harriet  P.  Atwood,  who  died  in  1882;  his  second 
wife  being  Miss  Mary  K.  Atwood,  to  whom  he  was 
married  in  1885.  He  has  four  children.  He  is  a 
member  and  clerk  of  the  Congregational  church  in 
Newington,  and  occupies  an  influential  position  in 
all  local  religious  affairs. 

HERBERT    C.    BALDWIN,  Beacon    Falls: 
Farmer. 

Herbert  C.  Baldwin  was  born  in  Oxford,  in  this 
state,  Sept.  3,  1S40.  He  was  one  of  four  sons  of 
Lucian  Baldwin,  and  grandson  of  Matthew  Bald- 
win, of  what  was  formerly 
called  Salem,  now  Nau- 
gatuck.  His  educational 
accomplishments  were  de- 
ri\-ed  mainly  from  the 
district  school.  At  the 
age  of  fifteen  his  father 
died,  throwing  the  young 
man  upon  his  own  re- 
sources. He  hired  out  up- 
on a  farm  and  for  several 
years  was  occupied  in 
working  summers  and  at- 
tending school  winters. 
At  the  outbreak  of  the 
civil  war  he  enlisted  in  Company  K,  Thirteenth 
regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  commanded  by 
Colonel  Henry  W.  Birge.  This  regiment  was  in- 
cluded in  the  great  New^  England  division  for  the 
extreme  south,  under  Major-General  B.  F.  Butler, 
and  was  sent  by  sea  to  Ship  Island  in  the  Gulf, 
where  the  expedition  was  fitted  out  against  New 
Orleans.  He  served  in  the  department  of  the 
Gulf  until  July,  1S64,  participating  in  the  Bayou 
Lafourche  campaign,  Teche,  siege  of  Port  Hudson, 
and  Red  River  campaigns.  He  was  one  of  those 
who  volunteered  under  general  order  No.  49,  dated 
before  Port  Hudson,  La.,  June  15,  1863,  the  day 
after  the  general  advance  had  been  made,  to  carry 
the  rebel  works,  in  which  the  Union  forces  suffered 
defeat.  The  language  of  the  order,  after  congratu- 
lating the  troops  upon  the  steady  advance  made  up- 
on the  enemj^'s  works,  conveyed  the  "  commanding 
general's  summons  to  the  bold  men  of  the  corps,  to 
the  organization  of  a  storming  column  of  a  thousand 
men,  to  vindicate  the  flag  of  the  Union  and  the 
memory  of  its  defenders  who  have  fallen,"  and 
promised  a  just  recognition  of  their  services  by  a 
medal  of  honor  "  fit  to  commemorate  the  first  grand 
success  for  the  freedom*  of  the  Mississippi."  This 
prf)mise  has  never  been  fulfilled  by  the  govern- 
ment. In  1864  that  portion  of  the  army,  the  19th 
corps,  was  transferred  north  mto  Virginia,  under 
General  P.  H.  Sheridan,  and  took  part  in  the  gen- 
eral clearing-out  of  the  Shenandoah  Valley.      Mr. 


Baldwin  was  wounded  in  the  battle  of  Cedar 
Creek,  Va.,  Oct.  19,  1864  ;  the  following  December 
his  regiment  was  transferred  with  his  division  to 
Savannah,  Ga.,  where  they  met  Sherman's  army 
and  remained  with  them  through  the  Carolinas 
until  the  final  surrender.  Mr.  Baldwin  was  in 
active  service  for  four  years  and  six  months, 
being  present  with  his  command  in  every  bat- 
tle and  skirmish  in  which  the  regiment  took 
part,  serving  as  private  and  through  the  suc- 
ceeding grades  to  that  of  second  lieutenant, 
and  being  brevetted  for  gallant  and  meritorious  ser- 
vices. After  the  war  closed  Mr.  Baldwin  bought 
the  farm  in  Beacon  Falls,  on  which  he  still  resides. 
He  married  Josephine  H.  Jones  of  Central  New 
York,  and  settled  down  to  farming.  They  have 
five  children,  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  has 
been  called  to  fill  most  of  the  local  offices  of  his 
town,  has  been  elected  selectman  seventeen  years, 
during  sixteen  of  which  he  was  chairman  of  the 
board.  At  present  he  is  first  selectman  and  town 
agent,  justice  of  the  peace,  secretary  of  the  board 
of  education,  and  representative  of  his  town  in  the 
general  court.  He  has  previously  represented  the 
towm  in  the  house  during  the  sessions  of  1876,  iSSo, 
1883,  and  1884.  He  has  always  been  a  republican, 
and  a  zealous  worker  for  the  principles  w^hich  that 
party  represents.  His  health  is  greatly  impaired, 
and  he  feels  that  he  should  be  relieved  from  any 
further  public  service. 


HORACE    E.    KELSEY,    Westhrook  :    Farmer 
and  Fisherman. 

Horace  E.  Kelsey  was  born  in  Old  Saybrook, 
September  17,  1862,  and  received  a  common  school 
and  academic  education,  graduating  from  the  West- 
brook  Academy.  He  was 
formerly  master  of  a  coast- 
ing craft,  but  gave  up  that 
avocation  in  December, 
1887.  Since  that  time  he 
has  been  engaged  in  farm- 
ing and  fishing  pursuits. 
He  is  the  chairman  of  the 
board  of  selectmen  and 
has  the  chai'ge  of  the 
town's  business.  Mr. 
Kelsey  is  a  democrat 
politically.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber   of     the     Westbrook 

II.    E.     KELSEY.  . 

Grange  and  of  the  United 
Order  of  American  Mechanics.  He  has  a  wife  and 
three  children,  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  His 
marriage  occurred  January-  25,  1877,  the  bride  be- 
ing Miss  Nancy  M.  Burdick.  INIr.  Kelsey  has  been 
a  resident  of  Westbrook  since  the  first  year  of  his 
life,  and  is  thoroughly  honored  in  the  town  where 
he  resides. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


65 


D.    S.    FLETCHER. 


DOLPHIN  SAMUEL  FLETCHER,  Hartford  : 
General  Manager  National  Life  Association. 
D.  S.  Fletcher  is  a  native  of  Buffalo,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  was  born  April  9,  1847,  his  father  removing  with 
his  family  to  Shelburne,  A"t.,  when  the  lad  was 
nine  years  old.  He  was 
brought  up  on  a  farm, 
and  by  personal  experi- 
ence became  entirel}-  fa- 
miliar with  all  the  duties 
and  pleasures  of  a  farm- 
er's life.  He  laid  the 
foundation  of  an  educa- 
tion at  the  district  schools, 
graduating  at  Hinesburg 
(\'ermont)  academy  in 
1 868.  Shortly  thereafter 
he  removed  to  Brandon 
in  that  state,  and  entered 
the  insurance  business, 
receiving  the  appointment  of  special  agent  and 
adjuster  for  several  companies.  This  position  he 
retained  for  several  years,  performing  its  duties 
with  success  and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  princi- 
pals, and  gaining  by  experience  a  knowledge  of  the 
details  of  underwriting  which  has  proved  of  im- 
mense advantage  to  him  in  the  broader  field  in 
which  he  has  since  been  engaged.  After  a  long 
and  faithful  service  in  Vermont  he  resigned  his  con- 
nection with  the  companies  alluded  to,  desiring  to 
extend  the  scope  and  area  of  his  activities,  and  in 
1 882  came  to  Hartford,  the  home  and  center  of  the 
insurance  interest.  Here,  in  January,  1885,  he 
organized  the  National  Life  Association  of  Hart- 
ford, and  was  elected  its  general  manager,  still 
holding  the  position.  Mr.  Fletcher  is  an  efficient 
organizer  and  a  tireless  worker.  He  has  labored 
hard  and  persistently  in  bringing  the  peculiar  and 
original  system  of  the  National  Life  before  the  peo- 
ple, and  in  establishing  it  in  the  public  confidence. 
The  success  which  has  been  achieved  is  very  largely 
attributable  to  his  personal  exertions,  and  to  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  he  inspires  those  who  are 
associated  with  him  as  well  as  his  subordinates  in 
the  company's  service.  Mr.  Fletcher  is  a  member 
of  the  republican  party,  and  while  in  Vermont 
was  a  participant  in  the  activities  of  local  and  state 
politics.  Since  his  residence  in  Connecticut  he  has 
confined  himself  to  bu.siness  and  eschewed  active 
politics.  He  is  a  member  of  Wangunk  Tribe,  No. 
II,  of  the  Improved  Order  of  Red  Men,  of  Hart- 
ford, but  has  no  further  connection  with  clubs  or 
fraternities.  Mr.  Fletcher  has  been  twice  mar- 
ried ;  first,  in  1871  to  Miss  Mary  Tagert,  daughter 
of  Hugh  Tagert,  M.  D. ,  of  Shelburne,  Vt. ;  who  died 
in  1872,  leaving  one  .son  ;  second,  in  1S75  to  Miss 
Clara  L.  Smith,  daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Eben 
Smith  of  Hartford,  bv  whom  he  has  two  children. 


HENRY  BILL. 


HON.  HENRY  BILL,  Norwich:  Book  Publisher, 

State  Senator,  Bank  President. 

Henry  Bill,  son  of  Gurdon  and  Lucy  Yerrington 
Bill,  was  born  in  the  north  parish  of  Groton,  now 
Ledyard,  on  the  i8th  day  of  May,  1S24.  Up  to  the 
age  of  fifteen  he  was  oc- 
cupied bjr  the  ordinary 
life  of  a  farmer's  boy,  at- 
tending the  public  school 
during  the  winter  months. 
Then  he  was  for  a  short 
time  an  apprentice  in  the 
printing  office  of  the  New 
London  Gazef/e,  hut,  not 
being  satisfied  with  the 
profession,  he  abandoned 
it  and  engaged  in  school 
keeping  in  the  neighbor- 
ing town  of  Preston.  He 
then  engaged  in  school 
teaching  in  Plainfield  and  Groton  during  the  winter 
months  and  assisting  his  father  on  his  farm  in  the 
summer,  till  he  was  twenty  years  of  age.  Then  he 
entered  the  field  as  a  book  agent,  and  for  three 
years  traveled  through  the  Western  States  in  this 
business.  In  1847,  having  acquired  a  practical 
knowledge  of  the  book  business,  he  returned  to  Nor- 
Avich  and  established  the  subscription  book  publish- 
ing business,  on  his  own  account.  For  more  than 
twenty-five  years  he  followed  this  business  with 
great  success,  employing  hundreds  of  agents,  in  all 
parts  of  the  country,  distributing  some  of  the  most 
useful  and  popular  books  of  the  day.  His  business 
outgrowing  his  strength,  he  turned  it  into  a  joint 
stock  company,  put  it  in  charge  of  younger  men, 
and  nominally  retired  from  active  life,  to  recuper- 
ate his  failing  health. 

In  1853  he  represented  the  8th  senatorial  district 
in  the  state  senate,  as  a  free  soil  democrat,  and 
was  the  youngest  member  of  that  body,  but  in  1856 
he  zealously  espoused  the  free  soil  cause  and  cast 
his  lot  with  the  republican  party,  \vith  whirh  he 
has  since  been  affiliated.  In  1868  he  was  one  of 
the  presidential  electors  on  the  Gen.  Grant  ticket. 
With  these  exceptions,  he  has  held  no  public  office. 

During  the  civil  war  he  was  one  of  the  strong 
men  upon  whom  Governor  Buckingham  relied  at 
all  times  for  advice  and  assistance,  and  after  the 
war  was  deeply  interested  in  the  work  of  educa- 
ting the  colored  people  of  the  South,  and  gave 
freel}^  of  his  time  and  means  in  this  cause.  He  has 
manifested  his  interest  in  his  native  town  by  pre- 
senting the  homestead  of  his  family  to  the  Congre- 
gational society  for  a  parsonage,  and  b)^  endowing 
a  free  library  in  connection  with  the  same,  the  good 
influence  of  which  will  endure  forever. 

Mr.  Bill  was  married  on  the  i6th  of  February, 
1S47,  to  i\Iiss  Julia  O.  Chapman  of  Groton,  and  has 


66 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


three  Imng  children,  two  daughters  and  a  son.  For 
more  than  thirty  years  he  was  a  vice-president  of 
the  Chelsea  Savings  Bank,  and  for  two  years  was 
its  president,  and  only  resigned  that  oflfice  on  ac- 
count of  declining  health.  From  his  j^outh  up  he 
has  been  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church, 
and  since  his  residence  in  Norwich  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  BroadM'ay  church.  A  fact  worthy  of 
mention  in  connection  with  his  business  life,  be- 
cause worthy  of  imitation,  is  this,  that  he  has  in- 
vested the  proceeds  of  his  enterprises  almost  wholly 
in  the  city  of  his  residence,  by  laying  out  and  build- 
ing up  the  most  beautiful  of  ^its  suburbs.  Laurel 
Hill,  and  by  holding  and  improving  some  of  the 
most  valuable  of  its  business  property.  This  has 
proved  to  him  not  only  good  citizenship  but  sound 
financial  foresight. 

Mr.  Bill  is  one  of  the  best  products  of  our  old 
Connecticut  institutions,  —  self-made,  self-rehant, 
strong  to  execute  whatever  he  plans,  a  good  citizen, 
a  good  neighbor  and  friend,  and  one  who  will  leave 
a  lasting  mark  for  good  upon  the  community  where 
he  has  passed  the  active  period  of  his  life. 


CHARLES  A.  MILLER,  Meriden  :  Machinist. 

Charles  A.  Miller,  who  occupies  the  position  of 
master  mechanic  at  the  works  of  the  Wilcox  Silver 
Plate  Company  in  Meriden,  was  born  in  Peter- 
borough, Hillsborough 
county,  N.  H.,  June  2, 
1S30,  and  was  educated 
in  the  Peterborough  acad- 
emy. He  learned  the 
trade  of  a  machinist  and 
remained  in  Peterborough 
until  1862,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Meriden  and 
was  employed  there  as  a 
toolmaker  and  cqntractor 
in  the  works  of  Parker, 
.!i,^  '  Snow,   Brooks   &  Co.,  in 

the  manufacture   of 

C.   A.   MILLER.  „       ,        .  - 

Springfield  rines  for  the 
government,  and  in  making  the  Scott  &  Triplet 
rifle  for  the  state  of  Kentucky.  At  the  close  of  the 
war  he  became  master  mechanic  of  J.  Wilcox  & 
Co.'s  woolen  mill  and  remained  there  for  eight 
years.  He  was  then  employed  for  a  short  time  as 
a  toolmaker  for  the  Parker  shot  gun.  The  present 
position  he  has  held  for  a  number  of  years.  Mr. 
Miller  was  married  June  7,  1854,  to  Miss  Sarah  M. 
Ames,  daughter  of  Alvah  and  Betsey  Ames,  and 
has  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  He  is  a  republican 
in  politics  and  was  a  member  of  the  Meriden  city 
council  in  1870,  1871,  and  1875.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Center  Congregational  church  and  belongs  to 
Meriden  Lodge,  No.  77,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Meriden, 
and  to  the  Order  of  the  Iron  Hall. 


J.   D.   CHAFFEE. 


J.  DWIGHT  CHAFFEE,  Mansfield  :  President 
the  Natchaug  Silk  Company. 
J.  D.  Chaffee  was  born  in  Mansfield,  Conn., 
August  9,  1846.  After  finishing  his  education  at 
Fitch's  boarding  school  at  South  Windham,  he  en- 
tered business  with  his 
father  in  manufacturing 
sewing  silk  and  machine 
twist  at  Mansfield  Center 
and  Willimantic,  Conn., 
under  the  firm  name  of 
O.  S.  Chaffee  &  Son, 
which  business  was  es- 
tablished by  the  senior 
Chaffee  in  1838.  This  con- 
nection was  maintained 
with  uninterrupted  suc- 
cess for  a  long  period  of 
years.  In  the  spring  of 
1884,  Colonel  Chaffee  be- 
came interested  in  the  manufacture  of  silk 
and  mohair  braids  for  coat  bindings,  the  plant 
being  at  Willimantic.  He  has  been  a  director  of 
the  Morrison  Machine  Company  of  Willimantic, 
Avhich  was  incorporated  July,  1S82,  and  is  doing  a 
flourishing  business  in  the  manufacture  of  silk  ma- 
chinery of  all  kinds.  He  was  also  one  of  the  in- 
corporators of  the  Dime  Savings  Bank  of  Willi- 
mantic. He  is  now  the  president  of  the  Natchaug 
Silk  Company  of  Willimantic,  whose  New  York 
office  is  at  546  Broadway.  Colonel  Chaffee  is  a 
breeder  of  thoroughbred  Jersey  cattle,  and  has 
upon  his  farm  at  Mansfield  some  of  the  best  strains 
of  Jersey  blood  to  be  found  upon  the  American 
Jersey  cattle  club  book. 

As  a  politician  he  has  never  entered  into  any 
scheme  or  device  to  put  himself  forward,  as  his 
strict  attention  to  business  would  not  permit  it. 
He  represented  his  native  town  in  the  legislature 
in  1874,  and  acquitted  himself  with  credit  as  clerk 
on  the  committee  of  cities  and  boroughs.  He  was 
called  upon  to  represent  the  twenty-fourth  dis- 
trict in  the  senate  of  1885,  and  responded  with  a 
majority  larger  than  was  ever  given  a  candidate, 
republican  or  otherwise,  in  his  own  town,  and  for 
the  'first  time  in  the  history  of  the  party  carried 
every  town  in  the  district.  He  served  the  first 
year  upon  the  committee  of  fisheries,  and  had  the 
satisfaction  of  seeing  all  the  bills  reported  favora- 
bly by  himself  pass  both  houses.  The  last  year  in 
the  senate  he  served  upon  the  labor  committee, 
which  had  before  it  every  conceivable  bill  that 
might  seem  to  benefit  laborers.  The  press  gave 
him  great  credit  for  his  deliberations  and  as  be- 
ing fair  and  conscientious  in  his  reports. 

As  a  military  man.  Colonel  Chaffee  has  had  no 
training  whatever,  but  his  selection  by  Governor 
Lounsbury   to    a  position    upon   his   staff   as   aid- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


67 


BARBOUR. 


de-camp,  with  rank  of  colonel,  in  1S87,  gave  great 
satisfaction  to  all  people  with  whom  he  is  asso- 
ciated. 

GEN.  LUCIUS  A.  BARBOUR,  Hartford: 
President  Willimantic  Linen  Corrrpany. 
General  Barbour  was  born  at  Madison,  Ind., 
January  26,  1846,  and  was  educated  at  the  Hart- 
ford High  School,  graduating  from  that  institution 
in  1S64.  He  was  ap- 
pointed teller  of  the  Char- 
ter Oak  Bank,  and  held 
the  position  until  1870, 
when  he  resigned  for  the 
purpose  of  spending  two 
years  in  European  travel. 
He  is  a  man  of  wide  cul- 
ture, and  his  civic  and 
business  career  has  been 
exceptionally  brilliant 
and  successful.  His  mil- 
itary advancements,  how- 
ever, have  the  widest 
notice  in  the  state.  Sep- 
tember 9,  1 86 5,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  Hart- 
ford City  Guard,  then  attached  to  the  First  regi- 
ment as  Battery  D.  Rapid  promotion  awaited  him, 
his  instincts  and  tastes  entithng  him  to  the  place  of 
a  military  leadership  from  the  outset.  In  1871  he 
resigned  from  the  company  and  was  out  of  service 
until  Feb.  i,  1S75,  when  he  was  elected  major  of 
the  First  regiment.  Dec.  29,  1876,  he  was  elected 
lieutenant-colonel  and  was  advanced  to  the  com- 
mand of  the  regiment  June  26,  187S.  He  was  in 
command  of  the  First  at  the  Yorktown  Centennial 
in  1 88 1,  and  won  a  national  reputation  by  the 
splendid  efficiency  and  discipline  which  his  organ- 
ization displayed.  The  memorable  visit  to  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  was  made  in  connection  with  the  York- 
town  anniversary,  and  resulted  in  the  attainment  of 
the  highest  military '  praise.  The  tribute  paid  to 
Colonel  Barbour's  command  by  the  celebrated  Lon- 
don war  correspondent,  Archibald  Forbes,  was 
deserved  by  the  superb  esprit  de  corps  which  pre- 
vailed in  the  First.  Colonel  Barbour  resigned  the 
command  of  the  regiment  Nov.  12,  1S84.  He  was 
one  of  the  most  popular  officers  connected  with  the 
National  Guard,  and  his  selection  as  adjutant-gen- 
eral met  with  universal  satisfaction  throughout  the 
state.  General  Barbour  was  a  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives  in  1879,  being  the  col- 
league of  Hon.  Henry  C.  Robinson.  His  legisla- 
tive career  was  in  keeping  with  the  course  which  he 
had  followed  in  other  callings  of  life,  and  added  to 
his  reputation  and  popularity.  He  was  prominently 
identified  with  Battle  Flag  Day,  being  a  member 
of  the  legislative  committee  which  had  the  arrange- 
ments in  charge.     He  is  honored  throughout  the 


state    as    a    distinguished    representative    of    the 
national  guard. 

General  Barbour  is  at  the  head  of  the  Willimantic 
Linen  Company,  of  which  he  has  been  the  presi- 
dent and  treasurer  since  18S4,  and  is  regarded  as 
one  of  the  ablest  business  managers  in  Hartford. 
He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Charter  Oak  National 
Bank,  and  a  member  of  the  firm  of  H.  C.  Judd  & 
Root.  In  politics  he  is  a  repubhcan,  and  his  relig- 
ious connections  are  with  the  First  Congregational 
church  of  Hartford.  General  Barbour  married 
Miss  Harriet  E.  Barnes  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  a 
daughter  of  A.  S.  Barnes,  the  head  of  the  well- 
known  New  York  pubHshing  house  of  A.  S.  Barnes 
&  Co.     They  have  two  children. 


GEORGE  P.  McLEAN,    Simsblry:    Attorney-at- 

Law. 

George  P.  ]\IcLean  was  born  in  Simsbury,  Octo- 
ber 7,  1857.  He  was  educated  at  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town  and  at  the  Hartford  High  School, 
from  which  latter  institu- 
tion he  graduated  in  1877. 
After  leaving  school  he 
became  connected  with 
the  Hartford  Evening 
Post,  on  the  reportorial 
staff  of  which  journal  he 
did  excellent  service,  but 
soon  abandoned  journal- 
ism for  the  law,  for  which 
he  has  special  taste  and 
ability.  After  a  thorough 
course  of  legal  study  in 
the  office  of  Hon.  Henry 
C.  Robinson,  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  Hartford  county  bar  in  1881,  and  has 
remained  in  practice  in  the  city  of  Hartford  to  the 
present  time,  retaining  his  residence  in  Simsbury. 
Mr.  McLean  represented  his  town  with  honor  and 
clistinction  in  the  general  assembly  during  the  ses- 
sions of  1883  and  1884,  his  facility  in  debate  and 
argumentative  powers  making  him  one  of  the  most 
influential  members  on  the  republican  side.  As 
chairman  of  the  State  Prison  committee  in  1883  he 
reported  the  bill  establishing  the  board  of  jsardons 
and  delivered  a  strong  and  successful  speech  in 
support  of  the  measure.  On  the  organization  of  the 
board  in  November  of  the  same  year,  he  was  unani- 
mously elected  clerk,  and  still  retains  the  position. 
In  1885  Governor  Harrison  appointed  him  a  mem- 
ber of  the  commission  on  revising  the  public 
statutes,  and,  on  its  organization,  he  was  elected 
secretary.  In  the  fall  of  18S5  he  was  elected  state 
senator  from  the  third  district,  and  was  naturally 
accorded  in  the  upper  house  the  same  influential 
position  which  his  ability  and  usefulness  had  secured 


G.    p.    MCLEAN. 


68 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


for  him  in  the  lower  branch  of  the  legislature  two 
years  before.  During  the  presidential  canvass  in 
1884  he  stumped  the  state  in  support  of  Blaine  and 
Logan,  and  performed  considerable  similar  service 
in  the  campaign  of  1888.  The  versatiHty  of  his 
gifts  as  an  orator  has  been  often  illustrated  before 
critical  audiences,  and  on  more  than  one  occasion 
he  has  received  distinguished  compliments  from 
eminent  sources,  of  which  he  would  be  justified  in 
feeling  proud. 


T.    S.    MARLOR. 


HON.     THOMAS     S.     MARLOR,      Brooklyn: 
Banker. 

Hon.  Thomas  S.  Marlor  of  Brooklyn  is  an  Eng- 
lishman by  birth,  though  an  almost  lifelong  resi- 
dent of  this  country.  He  was  born  in  England  on 
the  loth  of  December, 
1839,  but  at  the  early  age 
of  two  years  came  to 
America,  his  parents  set- 
tling in  New  York,  in 
which  city,  as  a  boy,  he 
received  his  education  at 
the  public  schools.  He 
early  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile business  in  the  me- 
tropolis, but  his  tastes  in- 
clined him  decidedly 
toward  financial  pursuits, 
and  at  length  he  became 
a  banker,  a  member  of 
the  New  York  Stock  Exchange,  and  a  prominent 
and  successful  operator  among  the  active  financiers 
•of  that  great  money  center.  Although  having 
:scarcely  reached  his  majority  at  the  breaking  out 
•of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  Mr.  Marlor  was  in- 
tensely loyal  to  the  government  of  his  adoption; 
and,  unable  himself  to  take  up  arms  in  its  defense, 
he  not  only  contributed  liberally  and  freely  through 
the  ordinary  channels,  but  at  his  own  personal  ex- 
pense procured  a  recfuit  and  sent  him  into  the  field, 
thus  performing  by  proxy  a  duty  which  he  felt  to 
be  upon  him,  but  which  was  not  proper  or  wise  for 
him  to  undertake  to  perform  in  person.  In  1869, 
having  met  with  very  gratifying  success  in  business, 
and  being  desirous  of  disengaging  himself  to  some 
extent  from  its  burdens,  Mr.  Marlor  purchased  a 
tract  of  land  in  the  village  of  Brooklyn,  in  this  state, 
and  erected  upon  it  a  handsome  country  residence, 
to  which  he  retired  with  his  family.  He  soon  after- 
wards acquired  considerable  other  real  estate  in  the 
neighborhood  of  his  home,  and  at  once  identified 
himself  with  the  town  of  his  adoption  in  the  most 
thorough  and  liberal  manner.  He  has  in  many 
ways  manifested  his  public  spirit  and  practical 
generosity,  by  the  bestowment  of  various  gifts  and 


privileges  upon  the  town,  village,  and  religious 
society  with  which  he  is  connected.  The  handsome 
soldiers'  monument  which  stands  on  a  public  square 
in  the  village  was  wholly  the  gift  of  Mr.  Marlor,  as 
was  the  site  of  the  state  monument  to  the  memory 
of  General  Israel  Putnam,  which  occupies  a  com- 
manding position  in  the  vicinity  of  the  memorial 
referred  to.  The  Putnam  equestrian  statue  was 
erected  by  the  state,  but  the  site  and  all  improve- 
ments thereon,  including  the  grading,  the  heavy 
granite  coping,  and  the  granite  roadwaj',  were  pro- 
vided by  Mr.  Marlor  at  his  own  personal  expense, 
to  the  acceptance  of  the  state  monument  commis- 
sion. Probably  no  individual  citizen  of  Brooklyn 
ever  gave  so  liberally  and  voluntarily  of  his  time 
and  money  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow-citizens  and 
the  improvement  and  beautifying  of  their  village  as 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  has  done  since  he  first 
made  that  delightful  town  his  permanent  abode. 
Mr.  Marlor  has  several  times  been  called  to  accept 
positions  of  public  service  and  trust,  but  he  has 
been  disinclined  to  office-holding  and  has  refused 
more  importunities  of  this  kind  than  he  has 
accepted.  Although  claimed  by  the  democrats,  he 
is  an  independent  in  the  best  political  sense,  and 
his  elections  to  ofifice  have  almost  invariably  been 
by  such  majorities  as  to  show  the  voice  of  the  peo- 
ple rather  than  of  any  particular  party.  Mr.  Mar- 
lor has  twice  represented  Brooklyn  in  the  general 
assembly,  and  once  the  sixteenth  senatorial  district 
in  the  upper  house.  He  has  repeatedly  declined 
re-nominations  for  both  branches  of  the  legislature, 
and  in  1886  received  the  nomination  of  the  demo- 
cratic congressional  convention,  but  refused  to  ac- 
cept. In  addition  to  his  political  services  Mr.  Mar- 
lor has  rendered  important  aid  in  civil  affairs  of 
local  concern.  He  is  one  of  the  corporators  of  the 
Prisoner's  Friend  Society,  and  also  of  the  Brooklyn 
Savings  Bank.  He  is  an  active  member  of  the 
Episcopal  Society  of  Brooklyn,  and  is  always  ready 
to  perform  his  part  in  every  movement  which  has 
in  view  the  welfare  and  proper  entertainment  of 
the  people  and  particularly  the  education  and  re- 
finement of  the  rising  generation.  He  is  not  now 
in  active  business,  though  retaining  his  member- 
ship in  the  New  York  Stock  Exchange.  He  there- 
fore has  the  leisure  as  well  as  the  inclination 
and  the  means  to  gratify  his  laudable  ambition 
to  make  the  world  better  and  happier  \vhile  he  is 
on  the  stage  of  action.  Mr.  Marlor  married,  early 
in  life,  Miss  Mary  F.  Loper,  and  there  have  been 
three  children,  two  of  whom,  both  adult  sons,  are 
living  and  residing  in  their  native  town.  The 
homestead  is  on  the  Pomfret  road,  just  on  the  edge 
of  Brooklyn  village,  a  delightful  spot  where  many 
a  guest  has  tasted  and  enjoyed  the  abounding 
hospitality  of  Mr.  Mai'lor  and  his  accomplished 
wife. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


69 


JOHN    C.    COLLINS. 


JOHN    C.    COLLINS,    New   Haven  :    Secretary 

and  Treasurer  International  Christian  Workers' 

Association. 

Mr.  Collins  was  born  in  Albion,  N.  Y.,  Septem- 
ber 19,  1S50.  He  prepared  for  college  at  the  State 
Normal  school  at  Brockport,  N.  Y.,  graduated  at 
Yale  in  the  class  of  1S75, 
and  from  Yale  Theologi- 
cal Seminary  in  1S7S.  He 
spent  two  years  with  his 
brother  in  the  Sixteenth 
New  York  Cavalry,  as  a 
sort  of  ' '  Boy  of  the  regi- 
ment," in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  Washington,  D. 
C.  This  regiment  was 
the  one  that  captured 
John  Wilkes  Booth,  the 
assassin  of  President  Lin- 
coln. Young  Collins  was 
present  at  the  hanging  of 

the  four  "Lincoln  conspirators,"  as  they  were 
called  —  probably  the  only  person  under  fifteen 
years  of  age  who  saw  the  conspirators  hung  — 
gaining  access  to  the  execution  on  account  of  his 
familiar  acquaintance  with  the  guard. 

After  graduating  from  college  Mr.  Collins  consid- 
ered several  lines  of  Christian  work  before  reach- 
ing a  decision  as  to  the  particular  branch  to  which 
he  ought  to  devote  his  energies.  He  finally  decided 
to  undertake  mission  work  in  the  city  of  New 
Haven,  in  which  he  at  once  engaged  in  the  capacity 
of  general  superintendent  of  the  Gospel  Union,  a 
mission  societj^  in  New  Haven,  the  members  of 
which  Avere  prominent  Christian  people  of  different 
denominations,  the  Christian  work  of  which  con- 
sisted in  holding  gospel  services  in  the  center  of  the 
city,  carrying  on  a  Sunday-school,  working  among 
prisoners  in  police  courts,  doing  auxiliary  work  such 
as  penny  savings  bank,  temperance  work,  and  the 
like.  In  1SS6,  in  connection  with  Col.  Geo.  R.  Clarke 
of  Chicago,  111.,  he  was  privnleged  to  take  the  initia- 
tory steps  which  resulted  in  the  holding  for  eight 
days  (June,  1886),  in  Chicago,  the  first  convention 
of  Christian  Workers  in  the  United  States  and 
Canada.  In  this  year  also  he  was  ordained  by  the 
Congregationalists  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  as 
an  evangelist, —  an  unusual  proceeding,  as  Congre- 
gationalists do  not  as  a  rule  ordain  ministers  tmless 
they  become  settled  pastors  or  are  going  abroad  as 
foreign  missionaries.  It  was  to  some  extent  pro- 
phetic of  a  new  order  of  things  in  which  the  church 
would  recognize  the  need  of  ordained  ministers 
among  the  masses.  During  the  work  in  New 
Haven,  in  one  way  and  another,  he  gathered  in 
over  two  thousand  children  to  Sunday-school  who 
had  not  been  habitual  attendants,  and  reduced  the 
number  of  Protestant  non-Sundav-school  children 


from  nearly  three  thousand  to  about  three  hundred. 
The  penny  savings  bank  which  the  society  organ- 
ized was  a  pioneer  in  juvenile  savings,  and  the  poor 
children  of  New  Haven  put  into  the  bank  about 
82,000;  and  perhaps  five  thousand  more  in  the 
larger  savings  banks,  as  a  direct  result  of  the  in- 
fluence of  saving  in  the  small  bank.  Mr.  Collins 
was  app(nnted  secretary  of  the  committee  which 
was  formed  after  the  first  Christian  Workers'  con- 
vention, called  the  committee  for  Christian  Workers 
in  the  United  States  and  Canada.  Out^of  the  work 
of  this  committee  has  grown  the  International 
Christian  Workers'  Association,  which  now  numbers 
nearly  eight  hundred  of  the  most  prominent  Chris- 
tians-at-work  from  all  the  different  evangelical  de- 
nominations in  the  L^nited  States  and  Canada,  and 
whose  yearly  conventions  for  the  consideration  of 
Christian  work  and  methods  are  considered  the  most 
influential  religious  gatherings  of  the  year.  He 
was  continued  as  secretary  and  executive  of  the 
association,  which  has  been  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  the  state  of  Connecticut.  In  1887  the 
Christian  Workers'  Association  authorized  him  to 
organize  a  work  for  street  boys  under  their  author- 
ity and  subject  to  such  rules  as  he  might  tliink 
advisable,  and  in  three  years  the  work  has  extended 
into  four  states,  being  chiefly  confined,  however,  to 
]\Iassachusetts  and  Connecticut.  It  consists,  in  a 
word,  of  opening  rooms  in  the  different  cities  dur- 
ing the  evenings  of  the  colder  months  of  the  year, 
supplied  with  instructive  books  and  interesting 
games,  to  which  free  access  is  given  to  the  boys 
who  are  accustomed  to  spend  their  evenings  in  the 
streets.  A  Christian  young  man  is  placed  in 
charge  of  the  room  as  superintendent.  During  the 
day  and  summer  months  when  the  club  is  not  open 
the  superintendent  visits  the  homes  of  the  boys, 
goes  to  police  court,  and  watches  over  those  who 
get  into  the  hands  of  the  police,  having  their  cases 
continued  and  doing  what  he  can  to  help  them. 
He  secures  employment  for  them,  and  in  every 
way  acts  as  a  helpful  friend.  Every  superintendent 
is  in  constant  communication  with  the  secretary, 
sending  him  a  report  every  week  of  the  visits 
made,  the  boys  found  in  police  court,  what  action 
has  been  taken,  etc.  ]\Ir.  Collins's  long  experience 
and  the  "  facihty  "  which  he  has  acquired  in  this 
kind  of  work  enables  him  to  give  important  advice 
to  his  subordinates,  and  to  aid  in  the  disposition  of 
individual  cases  thus  brought  to  his  attention  by  the 
superintendent.  The  total  number  of  boys  brought 
under  the  supervision  of  the  work  has  reached  per- 
haps about  thirteen  thousand  during  the  less  than 
four  years  it  has  been  in  operation.  The  Boys' 
Brigade  in  Scotland,  which  has  the  same  object  in 
view,  namely,  that  of  saving  street  boys,  has  been 
in  operation  since  1S82,  and  they  have  gotten  in 
about  eighteen  thousand  boys  of  this  class.     vSo  it 


70 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


would  seem  that  this  society's  plan  of  work  is 
reaching  an  even  larger  number  than  that  of  the 
Scottish  philanthropists.  The  boys  have  pennj- 
savings  banks,  manual  training  classes,  bath- 
rooms, and  light  g^^mnastics  in  their  club  room,  as 
a  means  of  attracting  and  helping  them.  A  work 
among  the  students  in  colleges  has  also  grown  out 
of  the  International  Christian  Workers'  Associa- 
tion, which  consists  of  the  appointment  of  a  secre- 
tary who  obtains  5'oung  men  from  the  colleges  and 
puts  them  into  missions  for  two  months  during 
their  summer  vacations,  in  order  that  the}'  may 
come  into  contact  with  the  great  needs  of  humanity 
and  be  better  lifted  to  sj-mpathize  with  the  suffer- 
ings of  men  when  they  become  ministers  later  on. 
Besides  this,  the  association  has  resulted  in  the 
starting  of  a  number  of  very  flourishing  missions, 
and  imparting  new  life  to  many  churches  of  dif- 
ferent denominations. 

Mr.  Collins  was  married  in  1S7S  to  Miss  Fannie 
M.  Smith  of  Brockport,  N.  Y.  They  have  seven 
children,  five  boys  and  two  girls.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  New  Haven;  in 
politics  a  prohibitionist.  His  chief  ability  is  in  the 
lin^of  an  executive,  and  he  has  thus  been  intrusted 
with  most  of  the  executive  work  connected  with  the 
International  Christian  Workers'  Association,  al- 
though having  done  a  great  deal  of  public  speaking 
in  mission  work,  and  for  a  number  of  years  made  a 
thorough  study  of  various  forms  and  methods  of 
aggressive  Christian  effort  through  Christian,  evan- 
gelical, and  mission  agencies  both  in  this  country 
and  abroad. 

GEORGE    P.  FIELD,  Tolland  :  Farmer. 

George  P.  Field  is  the  secretary  of  the  Tolland 

Grange  and  a  prominent  farmer  in  his  section  of 

the  county.  He  has  resided  in  Massachusetts, 
Vermont,  New  Hamp- 
shire, New  York  and  Cali- 
fornia. He  was  born  at 
South  Hadley,Mass.,  Dec. 
3,  1S26,  and  received  a 
common  school  education. 
Most  of  his  life  has  been 
spent  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits and  farming.  He 
has  held  the  office  of  jus- 
tice of  the  peace  and  is  a 
republican.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist 
church  and  is  connected 
with  the  F.  and  A.  M. 
His  wife  was  Miss  Emily  L.  Phelps  of 

Simsbury  prior   to  marriage,  and    is   still    living. 

There   are  also  three  children  living,   and   one  is 

deceased.     W^hile  in  California  Mr.    Field  was  in 

the  militia  service  of  the  state. 


G.    p.    FIELD. 


fraternity. 


ALBERT  I\IILLER  CARD,  Sharon  ;    Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Mr.  Card  has  been  engaged  in  active  legal  prac- 
tice since  1866,  with  offices  at  Sharon  and  on  Nas- 
sau street,  in  New  York  city.  He  was  born  in 
Ancram,  Columbia  coun- 
ty, N.  Y.,  July  21,  1S45, 
and  is  related  to  the  Hon. 
Theodore  Miller  of  Co- 
lumbia county,  a  judge  of 
the  New  York  court  of 
appeals.  He  removed  to 
Sharon  when  quite  young 
and  was  educated  at 
Sharon  high  school,  Ame- 
nia  seminary,  and  at  East- 
man's college  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  N.  Y.,  graduat- 
.    „      .    ^  ing  from  the   two  latter. 

A.    M.   CARD.  =" 

In  1 86 1,  he  enlisted  for 
the  war,  and  soon  thereafter  was  injured  in  a 
Harlem  railroad  accident  while  going  from  Sharon 
to  Amenia,  and  was  obliged  to  walk  on  crutches 
for  nine  years.  In  1S65,  he  married  Miss  Mary  L. 
jMorey,  an  intelligent  and  refined  lady  of  English 
origin,  a  descendant  of  the  Livingston,  Lewis,  Ry- 
der, and  Northrop  families,  who  assisted  in  set- 
tling Columbia  and  Dutchess  counties,  N.  Y.,  and 
especially  the  Hudson  River  valley.  They  have 
one  son,  Clayton  M.  Card,  now  twenty-two  years 
of  age,  and  all  are  members  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church. 

j\Ir.  Card  was  Ignited  States  District  revenue 
assessor  under  President  Johnson,  with  head- 
quarters at  Poughkeepsie,  a  school  commissioner 
of  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  ran  for  assembly  from 
Dutchess  county  against  Hon.  A.  A.  Brush,  now 
warden  of  Sing  Sing  prison.  He  was  elected  a  dele- 
gate to  the  general  M.  E.  Conference  of  1S8S,  and 
with  ex-Governor  Lounsbury  constituted  the  onlj' 
two  lay  delegates  to  that  conference  from  the  state 
of  Connecticut.  As  a  member  of  the  general  as- 
sembly of  1 886  he  championed  the  child's  labor 
and  other  labor  bills,  and  assisted  materially  in  the 
legislation  that  resulted  in  their  becoming  laws. 
He  is  a  justice  of  the  peace,  commissioner  of  the 
superior  court  of  Connecticut,  a  director  and  trustee 
in  the  Sharon  Water  Company,  president  of  the 
lire  district  of  Sharon,  is  serving  his  second  term 
as  probate  judge  of  the  district  of  Sharon,  and  is 
now  a  member  of  the  general  assembly.  Speaker 
Page  having  appointed  him  one  of  the  three  minor- 
ity democratic  members  of  the  house  on  the  can- 
vass of  votes  for  governor  and  other  state  officers. 
He  is  a  member  of  Hamilton  Lodge  of  F.  and  A. 
M.,  belongs  to  the  Harlem'  Democratic  club,  the 
Sagamore  club,  the  Tammany  Society  of  Colum- 
bian Order  of  New  York  citv,  and  is  a  member  of  the 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


71 


N.  Y.  state  Bar  Association.  He  is  a  democrat, 
and  has  alwaj-s  taken  an  active  part  in  politics, 
speaking  for  McClellan  in  the  campaign  of  1S64,  and 
in  each  successive  campaign  for  the  democratic 
nominees  down  to  and  including  President  Cleve- 
land in  the  last  campaign  of  1S8S  ;  and  his  portrait 
and  biographical  sketch  appear  in  the  book  en- 
titled "  The  Leading  Orators  of  Twenty-five  Pres- 
idential Campaigns,"  written  by  Wm.  Roberts  and 
published  by  Strouse  &  Co.  of  New  York,  in  1884. 
Mr.  Card  possesses  an  intelligent  comprehension 
of  legislative  duties,  has  filled  all  ofiices  with  fidel- 
ity, integrity,  ability,  and  honor,  and  in  a  manner 
satisfactory  to  his  constituents.  He  makes  a  valu- 
able member  of  the  general  assembly,  is  a  thor- 
oughly iiseful  citizen,  and  commands  the  respect 
and  esteem  of  all  who  know  him. 


A.    MARDEN. 


FRANCIS     ALEXANDER     MARDEN,    Stam- 
ford :  Attorney-at-Law. 

Francis  A.  Marden  is  a  native  of  West  Wind- 
ham, New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  born  January 
19,  1840,  and  in  which  place  he  spent  his  early 
years  at  the  public 
schools.  He  was  fitted 
for  college  at  Phillips, 
Exeter,  and  Andover 
Academies, after  which  he 
entered  Harvard  Univer- 
sity, and  was  graduated 
in  1863,  taking  the  degree 
of  M.A.  in  1865.  He 
taught  school  at  Stam- 
ford, Conn.,  from  1S63  to 
1S64,  and  studied  law  at 
Harvard  Law  School 
1S64  to  1S65,  and  in  Octo- 
ber, 1865,  was  admitted  to 

the  bar  in  New  York  city.  In  1866  he  was  married  in 
Stamford  to  Miss  Lillie  B.  Skiddy,  which  union  has 
been  blessed  with  four  children.  Since  his  marriage 
he  has  been  a  resident  of  Stamford,  practicing  his 
profession  in  New  York  city,  and  latterly,  with  his 
family,  spending  his  winters  in  New  York,  his  resi- 
dence there  being  at  No.  640  Madison  Avenue.  A 
democrat  in  politics,  he  has  occupied  various  posi- 
tions of  trust  within  the  gift  of  his  party,  such  as 
delegate  to  state  and  national  conventions,  judge 
of  probate  for  the  district  of  Stamford,  burgess  of 
the  borough,  nine  years  member  of  the  school 
committee,  and  a  representative  from  Stamford  in 
the  general  assembly  for  two  terms  —  1S76  and 
187S  —  when  he  served  on  the  judiciary  and  insur- 
ance committees.  He  was  commissary-general  on 
the  staff  of  Governor  Waller  in  1883-84.  At  col- 
lege he  was  a  member  of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  and 
President  of  the  Harvard  Society  of  Natural  His- 


tory. He  is  a  member  of  L^nion  Lodge,  No.  5,  F. 
and  A.  M.,  Rittenhouse  Chapter,  No.  11,  Roj-al 
Arch  Masons,  Washington  Council,  and  Clinton 
Commandery.  Mr.  iNIarden  has  recently  devoted 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  his  legal  practice, 
which  is  very  large  and  of  such  a  character  as  to 
demand  the  most  intelligent  and  careful  attention. 


chas.  nukthknd. 


CHARLES    NORTHEND,    New    Brit.\in  :    Au- 
thor and  Educator. 

Charles  Northend  was  born  in  Newbury,  Mass., 
April  2,  1 8 14.  His  preparatory  education  was 
under  the  charge  of  that  accomplished  and  efficient 
instructor,  N.  Cleaveland, 
Esq.,  who  for  about 
twenty  years  was  princi- 
pal of  Dummer  Acad- 
emy, located  in  the  im- 
mediate vicinity  of  Mr. 
Northend's  paternal 
home.  At  the  age  of  six- 
teen Mr.  Northend  en- 
tered Amherst  College, 
where  he  spent  two  years, 
and  from  which  he  re- 
ceived the  honorary  de- 
gree of  A.M.  On  leaving 
college    he     engaged     in 

teaching,  first  as  assistant  at  Dummer  Academy, 
and  subsequently  in  Danvers  and  Salem,  Mass. 
After  nearly  twenty  years  of  experience  in  the 
work  of  the  school-room  in  these  two  places,  he 
was  called  to  the  superintendency  of  the  schools  of 
the  former  place,  a  position  he  held  for  three  years, 
when  he  accepted  a  position  as  assistant  to  the 
state  superintendent  of  schools  of  Connecticut.  In 
this  situation  he  spent  about  eleven  years,  during 
which  time  he  had  principal  charge  of  the  state 
teachers'  institutes,  and  for  nearly  ten  years  the 
chief  editorial  charge  of  the  Connecticut  Common 
School  Journal.  For  two  successive  years  he  was 
called  to  assist  in  conducting  institutes  in  the  state 
of  Maine,  working  in  nine  different  counties.  He 
,  has  also  assisted  at  institutes  in  New  Hampshire, 
Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  New  York,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Vermont. 

In  a  historical  address  on  Dummer  Academy, 
printed  in  1865,  in  speaking  of  Mr.  Northend,  the 
author  says:  "  Dtiring  these  busy  years  he  has 
found  time,  not  only  for  the  editing  of  an  educa- 
tional journal  and  the  pi-eparing  and  publishing  of 
several  school  books,  but  also  to  attend  about  a 
hundred  and  fifty  teachers'  institutes,  lasting  gen- 
erally four  or  five  days,  and  fifty  or  more  of  them 
under  his  direction.  For  eight  years  he  was  super- 
intendent of  schools  of  New  Britain  and  for  twenty 
years  a  member  of  its  school  committee,  making  in 


72 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


all  nearly  forty-five  consecutive  }-ears  in  the  work  of 
education. 

Mr.  Northend  was  for  many  years  an  active 
member  of  the  two  oldest  educational  associations 
of  our  country  —  the  American  Institute  of  Instruc- 
tion and  the  Essex  County  Teachers'  Association. 
Of  both  of  these  institutions  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent. His  works  on  education,  "  The  Teacher  and 
Parent"  and  "The  Teachers'  Assistant,"  have 
passed  through  several  editions,  and  have  had  an 
extensive  sale.  Of  the  former  the  North  Ameri- 
can  Revzeiu  said:  "There  probably  lives  not  the 
teacher  or  parent  to  whom  this  book  might  not 
furnish  suggestions  worthy  his  diligent  heed  and 
profound  gratitude." 

Mr.  Northend  is  a  member  of  the  First  Congre- 
gational church  of  New  Britain.  Politically  he  is 
a  republican.  Early  in  life  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Lucy  A.  Moody,  who  died  some  years  ago. 
He  remains  a  widower.  Two  sons  have  survived 
the  mother. 


ABNER    S.     HART,    Unionville   (Farmington): 
Merchant. 

Abner  S.  Hart  was  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly  in  1SS7,  representing  the  town  of  Farm- 
ington in  the  house.  Mr.  Hart  cast  his  first  vote 
for  Henry  Clay  for  presi- 
dent in  1 844  and  has  since 
been  a  member  of  the 
whig  and  republican 
parties.  He  was  born  in 
Barkhamsted,  July  15, 
1823,  and  received  a  thor- 
ough education,  prepar- 
ing him  for  the  avocation 
of  teaching  in  the  public 
schools.  He  pursued  that 
calling  for  fourteen  years, 
teaching  winters  and 
farming  through  the  sum- 
mer. In  1866  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  drug  business  at  Riverton  and 
became  postmaster  there  in  1S69.  The  latter  posi- 
tion was  retained  for  twelve  years.  He  has  held 
various  local  offices,  including  that  of  acting  school 
visitor  for  fourteen  years  and  chairman  of  the  board 
of  relief.  Since  18S1  he  has  resided  at  Unionville, 
where  he  is  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits.  Mr. 
Hart  is  a  member  of  Evening  Star  Lodge,  No.  loi, 
F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Unionville.  He  is  descended  from 
revolutionary  stock,  both  of  his  grandfathers  hav- 
ing served  in  the  war  for  independence.  He  has  in 
his  possession  a  sword  that  was  carried  in  the  ser- 
vice by  one  of  them.  Mr.  Hart  is  a  prominent  citi- 
zen of  Unionville,  and  is  held  in  thorough  esteem  in 
that  community  as  well  as  in  his  old  home  in  Bark- 
hamsted. 


V 


.A..    S.    HART. 


'^ 


C.    IJWIGHT. 


the  state. 


HON.  HENRY  C.  DWIGHT,  Hartford:  Mayor. 
Henry  C.  Dwight  was  born  at  Northampton, 
Mass.,  January  19,  1S41.  His  father,  Henry  A. 
Dwight,  was  for  a  number  of  years  at  the  head 
of  an  educational  institute 
at  Norfolk,  Va.,  and  Hen- 
ry C.  was  there  with  him 
during  1853  and  1854. 
Returning  north,  he  en- 
gaged early  in  life  in  the 
dry  goods  trade  at  North- 
ampton, and  was  living 
there  at  the  outbreak  of 
the  war.  He  enlisted  in 
the  three-months  service, 
but  the  Northampton 
quota  being"  filled,  he  was 
not  able  to  go  to  the  front 
with  the  first  troops  from 
He  again  enhsted  in  September,  1S61, 
and  was  instrumental  in  organizing  Company  A  of 
the  Twenty-seventh  Massachusetts  regiment.  Sep- 
tember 20,  1861,  he  was  appointed  Sergeant-Major 
of  the  command,  and  was  with  it  through  the  Burn- 
side  Expedition  in  North  Carolina.  In  December, 
1861,  he  was  appointed  Second  Lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany H,  and  April  i,  1862,  he  was  promoted  to  the 
First  Lieutenancy  of  Company  A.  In  August  of 
that  year  he  received  his  captain's  commission. 
Mr.  W.  P.  Derby,  in  his  admirable  history  of  the 
Twenty-seventh  Massachusetts,  speaks  in  the  high- 
est terms  of  Captain  Dwight.  "  Fortunately  for 
Company  A,"  he  says,  "  there  was  one  in  the  regi- 
ment, by  birth  and  association  allied  with  them, 
who  was  a  natural  leader,  of  courage  and  ability, 
and  to  him  the  command  fell."  Captain  Dwight's 
advancement  was  won  through  earnest  and  valiant 
services  at  the  front.  He  remained  with  his  regi- 
ment in  North  Carolina  until  the  fall  of  1863,  when 
he  was  assigned  to  provost  duty  at  Norfolk,  where 
he  had  passed  a  couple  of  years  —  1853  and  1854  —  as 
a  student  under  his  father's  direction  and  tutorship. 
He  remained  there  until  the  spring  of  1864,  when 
he  accompanied  his  regiment  in  the  James  River 
campaign  under  General  Butler.  March  i,  1S64, 
he  was  appointed  recruiting  officer  of  the  Twenty- 
seventh,  and  under  his  leadership  343  members  re- 
enlisted.  He  served  with  the  Twenty-seventh 
until  May  16,  1864,  when,  under  special  order  from 
headquarters,  Eighteenth  Army  Corps,  he  was 
assigned  to  staff  service  as  assistant-commissary  of 
subsistence,  and  remained  with  the  second  division 
of  the  corps  until  the  close  of  his  term  of  service, 
September  28,  1864.  Throughout  his  army  career 
of  three  years,  "Captain  Dwight's  intelligent, 
courageous,  patriotic  service,"  says  Mr.  Derby, 
"  with  his  genial,  self-forgetful  spirit,  inspired  uni- 
versal confidence  and  regard."     He  is  still  one  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


73 


the  regiment's  most  popular  representatives,  and  is 
president  of  the  regimental  association. 

General  Dwight  removed  from  Northampton  to 
Hartford  in  January,  1S65,  and  has  since  resided 
here.  He  engaged  in  business  with  E.  N.  Kellogg 
&  Co. ,  wool  dealers,  and  afterwards  with  Austin 
Dunham  &  Sons.  In  1S79,  with  Drayton  Hillyer 
of  this  city,  he  organized  the  firm  of  H.  C.  Dwight 
&  Co.,  at  present  Dwight,  Skinner  &  Co.,  conduct- 
ing an  extensive  wool  trade  throughout  the  West, 
Southwest,  and  New  England.  General  Dwight 
has  served  in  the  court  of  common  council  from  the 
fourth  ward,  both  as  alderman  and  councilman, 
several  years,  and  was  a  member  of  the  board  of 
street  com.missioners  about  ten  years.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  American  National  Bank  and  the 
Phtenix  Insurance  Company,  vice-president  and 
trustee  of  the  Mechanics  Savings  Bank,  a  member 
of  the  south  district  school  committee,  and  sustains 
other  minor  official  relations  with  the  institutions 
of  the  city.  In  April,  1890,  he  was  elected 
mayor  of  Hartford,  the  duties  of  which  office  he 
discharges  with  ability  and  dignity. 

Mavor  Dwight  was  one  of  the  charter  members 
of  Robert  O.  Tyler  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Hartford, 
and  was  commander  of  the  Union  Veteran  Battalion 
on  Battle-Flag  Day,  and  also  on  Buckingham  Day. 
As  an  old  soldier  and  citizen,  as  well  as  in  his  offi- 
cial capacity,  he  enjoys  the  fullest  confidence  of  the 
public,  and  is  a  man  whom  all  delight  in  honoring. 


-\ 


ALONZO  GRANNISS,  Waterbury  :  Sheet  Brass 

and  Steel  Worker. 

Alonzo  Granniss  was  born  in  Waterbury,  ]\Iarch 
27,  1S20,  and  received  a  public  school  education. 
He  has  followed  the  avocation  of  a  sheet  brass  and 
silver  roller  at  Benedict 
&  Burnham's  Manufac- 
turing Company.  He  en- 
tered the  employ  of  the 
company  when  twelve 
years  old,  and  at  sixteen 
was  entrusted  with  the 
charge  of  the  department. 
This  position  he  has  held 
since  his  original  appoint- 
ment, and  is  a  man  de- 
serving in  every  way  of 
the  triist  that  has  been  i^e- 
posed  in  him.  Mr.  Gran- 
niss is  a  member  of  the 

Episcopal  church  and  a  republican  in  politics.  His 
wife,  who  was  Miss  Esther  D.  Payne  before  mar- 
riage, is  still  living.  There  is  also  one  son.  The 
only  office  that  Mr.  Granniss  has  held  is  that  of 
member  of  the  council  board  of  Waterbury  for  six 
years. 


^^:T* 


ALONZO    GRANNISS. 


REV.    ALEX.    HAMILTON. 


REV.  ALEXANDER  HAMILTON,  M.A.,  Wes- 
ton :  Rector  of  Emanuel  Parish,  Minister  in 
charge  of  Christ  Parish,  Redding,  and  Mission- 
ary in  Fairfield  County. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  third  in  descent 
from  Alexander  Hamilton  of  Revolutionary  days, 
and  son  of  General  Alexander  Hamilton  of  Tarry- 
town,  New  York;  and  on 
the  maternal  side  a  de- 
scendant of  Richard 
NicoU,  the  famous  English 
governor  of  New  York. 
He  was  born  at  Setau- 
ket.  Long  Island,  where 
he  spent  his  youth  until 
eleven  years  of  age,  when, 
his  father  owning  large 
estates  in  Northern  New 
Jersey  in  the  Ramapo 
Valley,  he  removed  there 
in  1S5S  —  remaining  till 
the   close   of    1S61,   when 

his  family  became  residents  of  New  York  city. 
He  was  educated  at  the  public  school  and  by 
tutors;  took  a  special  course  in  the  General  Theo- 
logical Seminary  of  New  York;  and  in  1870  was 
ordained  by  Bishop  Potter.  Having  a  special  apti- 
tude for  missionary  w'ork,  he  became  engaged  in 
such  effort  successively  at  Armonck,  Newcastle, 
and  Pleasantville,  and  at  Lewisboro,  Westchester 
county.  New  York. 

Resigning  the  work  at  Lewisboro,  he  purchased, 
in  1S84,  the  historical  Smith  residence  on  Newtown 
avenue,  Norwalk,  Conn.  While  residing  there,  he 
prosecuted  missionary  work;  and,  taking  a  deep  in- 
terest in  the  cause  of  education,  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  school  board  annually.  In  1S89  the 
rectorship  of  Emanuel  Parish  became  vacant,  and 
a  call  therefrom  being  extended  to  Mr.  Hamilton, 
he  moved  to  the  rectory,  and  is  now  rector  of  that 
parish  and  missionary  of  two  of  the  oldest  parishes 
in  Connecticut, —  that  at  Redding  being  organized 
in  1727,  and  at  Weston  in  1744.  Belonging  to  these 
churches  are  many  old  and  valuable  books  and  an 
ancient  communion  set;  at  Redding  a  Bible  and 
prayer  book,  bound  in  one  cover,  under  date  1726; 
while  the  communion  set  dates  from  1735.  Again 
elected  as  school  visitor  and  committee  in  Weston, 
he  renders  valuable  and  appreciated  service.  He 
inherits  the  financial  ability  of  Hamilton,  and  pos- 
sesses the  keenness  and  aptitude  of  one  who  has 
trained  himself  in  the  practical  duties  of  life.  He 
is  fully  alive  to  the  responsibility  that  rests  upon 
him,  and  earnestly  desires  and  endeavors  to  ad- 
vance by  personal  effort  every  good  cause.  Blessed 
with  robust  health,  he  is  enabled  to  perform  labori- 
ous work  without  fatigue;  on  Sunday  holding  three 
services  and  two  Sunday-schools,  preaching  three 


74 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


sermons,  and  driving  seventeen  miles.  These, 
with  calls  upon  the  sick,  fill  up  each  of  the  fift}-- 
two  Sundays  of  every  year.  Taking  an  interest  in 
local  improvements,  he  aids  all  enterprises  for  pro- 
moting the  welfare  of  the  community  in  which  he 
lives.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  though  recog- 
nizing the  principle  of  equal  rights  among  all  men 
in  the  exercise  of  the  elective  franchise.  INIr.  Ham- 
ilton has  traveled  throughout  the  British  Isles  and 
on  the  Continent,  where  he  was  received  with  con- 
sideration, preaching  in  the  American  churches 
there,  and  attending  many  public  receptions.  In 
1872  he  married  Miss  Adele  Walton,  daughter  of 
William  W.  Livermore,  banker,  of  New  York  city, 
and  a  grand-niece  of  Charles  Floyd,  a  signer  of  the 
declaration  of  independence.  He  has  four  children 
living,  the  youngest  a  son.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Cincinnati  Society,  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  Sons 
of  Veterans,  and  the  Historical  Society  of  West- 
chester County,  New  York.  He  is  also  a  frequent 
contributor  of  articles  to  the  press. 


ERASTUS   GEER,  Lebanon:  Farmer. 

The  Geer  family,  or  the  branch  of  it  which  is  now 
so  numerous  in  New  London  county,  traces  its  ori- 
gin directly  to  George  Geer,  who  was  born  in  Hevi- 
tree,    England,   in    1621, 
and  his  brother  Thomas 
in   1623.     The   biography 
of   the   ancestor   and   his 
descendants,    to   and    in- 
cluding the  subject  of  this 
sketch,    is   given     in    the 
history   of    New   London 
ccjunty     substantially     as 
If/  "'^^¥9''      "-^       follows: 

' ' They  (George  and 
Thomas)  were  bereaved 
of  their  parents  while 
young,  and  were  put  in 
charge  of  an  uncle.  They 
came  to  America  and  settled  in  Boston  in  1635, 
without  friends  or  money.  George  Geer  became 
an  early  settler  in  New  London,  Conn.,  about  165 1, 
and  Thomas  1682. 

On  the  17th  of  February,  165S,  George  Geer  mar- 
ried Sarah,  daughter  of  Robert  Allyn,  one  of  the 
earliest  settlers  in  New  London,  Conn.  Immedi- 
ately after  his  marriage  he  settled  on  a  tract  of 
land  adjoining  or  near  said  AUyn's  land,  on  the 
grant  of  fifty  acres  made  to  him  by  the  town  of 
New  London,  now  called  Ledyard.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  officers  of  the  town.  He  died  towards  the 
close  of  the  year  1726  at  the  age  of  one  hundred 
and  five  years.  He  had  a  familj'  of  eleven  children, 
the  eighth  of  whom  was  Robert,  born  Jan.  2,  1675, 
and   died  in    1742.     Robert  married   ]\Iartha  Tvler 


ERASTUS  GEER. 


and  had  five  children,  the  second  of  whom  was 
Ebenezer,  born  April  i,  1709,  and  died  August  28, 
1763.  Ebenezer  Geer  married  Prudence  Wheeler, 
Jan.  2,  1735.  She  was  born  Sept.  25,  1712,  and  died 
June  2,  1797.  They  had  ten  children,  the  youngest 
of  whom  was  David,  born  June  iS,  1755,  and  died 
Aug.  31,  1S35. 

David  Geer  married  Mary  Stanton,  May  17,  1781. 
She  was  born  Aug.  28,  1756,  and  died  December, 
1837.  Their  children  were  Dorothy,  David  (2)  born 
Jan.  20,  1784,  William  S.,  Pinidence,  Joseph,  Cyrus, 
Anna,  Robert,  Isaac  W.,  and  Charles,  all  born  in 
Groton,  now  Ledyard,  Conn. 

David  Geer  (2)  married  Anna  Gallup,  Jan.  11, 
1810.  She  was  born  Sept.  3,  1787,  and  died  Feb.  12, 
1862.  He  died  May  19,  1867.  Their  children  were 
Cyrus  G.,  William  F.,  Thankful  S.,  an  infant  son, 
Sarah  A.,  David,  and  Erastus,  the  immediate  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  born  Oct.  9,  1S23.  David  Geer 
settled  in  Lebanon,  Conn.,  1817,  on  the  farm 
now  (1891)  owned  and  occupied  by  his  son 
Erastus.  His  farms,  now  comprising  nearh' 
eight  hundred  acres,  are  in  a  good  state  of 
cultivation.  Among  Lebanon's  substantial  men 
and  representative  farmers,  none,  perhaps,  have 
accomplished  more  than  the  Geer  family,  and  much 
credit  is  due  to  the  indefatigable  energy  and  perse- 
verance of  David  Geer.  He  was  a  whig  and  re- 
publican in  politics. 

His  brothers  and  sisters  settled  in  New  London 
county,  excepting  Wm.  S.,  Robert,  and  Charles, 
who  settled  near  Syracuse,  New  York.  His  chil- 
dren settled  in  Lebanon,  with  the  exception  of 
Wm.  F.,  who  settled  at  Syracuse,  New  York. 

Erastus  Geer  was  reared  on  the  farm,  and  earl}' 
learned  the  cardinal  principles  of  success  —  indus- 
try and  frugality.  His  advantages  for  an  educa- 
tion were  such  as  the  common  schools  of  the  day 
afforded,  supplemented  with  a  few  terms  at  Bacon 
Academy,  at  Colchester,  Conn.  At  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  commenced  teaching  school,  and  taught  ten 
terms  during  the  winters,  working  on  the  farm  sum- 
mers. Being  the  youngest  of  the  family,  he  \evy 
naturally  continued  the  occupancy  of  the  home- 
stead. He  is  energetic,  prudent,  and  practical  alike 
in  public  and  private  affairs.  As  a  man  he  is  re- 
spected at  home  and  abroad  ;  as  a  farmer  he  ranks 
among  the  most  enterprising  of  the  town.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  farming  interests,  he  manufactures  the 
patent  iron  stall  window  frame,  a  device  the  result 
of  his  own  invention.  In  politics  a  life-long  whig 
and  republican,  and  as  such  has  held  important 
offices  of  the  town. 

In  1877  he  was  a  member  of  the  state  legislature, 
serving  on  the  committee  of  claims.  In  187S  he  was 
appointed  one  of  the  county  commissioners  of  New 
London  county,  and  served  two  terms,  retiring  in 
1SS4.     He  has  been  twice  married,  —  first  to  Almira 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


75 


H.  Saxton,  May  12,  1S52.  She  died  May  30,  1S53, 
leavnng  one  son,  Wm.  H.;  second,  to  Frances-  A., 
daughter  of  Joseph  and  Lura  (Witter)  Geer  of 
Ledyard,  Conn.,  Nov.  21,  1S60.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Geer 
are  members  of  Goshen  Congregational  chnrch  in 
Lebanon,  Conn. 


E.    L.    COOKE. 


EDWARD  LUDLOW  COOKE,  H.\rtford:  Man- 
ufacturer of  Burial  Caskets,  Handles,  and  LTn- 
dertakers'  Supplies. 

E.  Ludlow  Cooke  was  born  in  North  Haven, 
April  5,  1S40,  and  was  the  youngest  of  six  children. 
When  he  was  but  six  months  old  the  family  moved 
to  New  Haven,  where 
they  resided  many  years. 
Mr.  Cooke's  ancestors, 
who  were  Puritans,  came 
from  Kent,  England,  to 
Plymouth,  Mass.,  some- 
time before  1640.  One 
of  them  was  a  celebrated 
admiral  in  the  English 
navy,  whose  remains  are 
entombed  in  Westminster 
Abbey.  Samuel  Cooke 
was  one  of  the  first  set- 
tlers of  Wallingford, 
Conn.,  and  among  his  de- 
scendants Avere  Commodore  Foote  and  the  wife  of 
Ex-President  Hayes.  Stephen  Cooke,  the  father 
of  Ludlow,  was  a  man  of  sterling  qualities.  He 
was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Free  Con- 
gregational church  of  New  Haven,  and  its  build- 
ing on  Church  street  was  erected  under  his  super- 
vision. Its  pastor  at  this  time  was  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Ludlow,  and  after  him  Edward  Ludlow  Cooke  was 
named.  Stephen  Cooke  was  the  publisher  of  the 
Christian  Spectator  and  the  Religious  Intelli- 
gencer. Beside  being  interested  in  the  growth  of 
Congregationalism  he  worked  earnestly  in  the 
anti-slavery  movement,  but  died  before  his  hopes 
in  that  direction  were  realized,  and  when  his 
youngest  child  was  but  six  months  old,  leaving  his 
widow  dependent  on  her  own  exertions  for  the  sup- 
port of  her  family.  She,  however,  was  a  woman  of 
the  true  New  England  type,  and  her  strong  Chris- 
tian character,  unfailing  courage,  and  indomitable 
will,  enabled  her  to  overcome  obstacles  that  a 
weaker  nature  would  have  deemed  insurmountable. 
She  supported  and  educated  her  children,  and  lived 
to  see  them  settled  in  homes  of  their  own. 

Ludlow  inherited  his  father's  strong  anti-.slavery 
principles,  and  very  early  in  life  his  sympathies 
were  aroused  for  the  colored  people  fleeing  from 
slavery.  His  home  was  near  that  of  Amos  Town- 
send,  who  for  many  years  was  the  agent  of  the 
"  Underground  Railroad,"  and  being  so  well  known 


in  that  capacity,  feared  to  shelter  the  runaways 
himself,  and  used  to  send  them  to  the  home  of  Mrs. 
Cooke,  who  would  keep  them  for  days  at  a  time 
when  they  were  sick  and  foot-sore  and  unable  to 
continue  their  journey;  and  her  j'oungest  son  — 
though  a  lad  of  not  more  than  twelve  years  —  was 
often  called  up  at  three  o'clock  in  the  morning  to 
act  as  guide  to  slaves  who  were  fleeing  to  Canada. 
\^ery  often  there  were  slaveholders  in  the  city 
offering  rewards  of  five  hundred,  eight  hundred, 
and  a  thousand  dollars  for  the  capture  of  the  fugi- 
tives, and  they  would  have  the  streets  near  Mr. 
Townsend's  house  patrolled  to  prevent  their  escape. 
Mr.  Cooke  was  present  at  the  famous  meeting  held 
in  the  North  Church  of  New  Haven  one  Sunday 
evening  in  1857,  to  bid  farewell  to  a  company  of 
men  who  were  being  sent  to  help  make  Kansas  a 
free  state.  Rev.  S.  W.  S.  Dutton  presided  and 
called  for  donations  of  the  necessary  equipments 
for  the  company.  Few  meetings  have  equaled 
that  since  the  days  of  the  Revolution.  The  excite- 
ment was  intense  as  man  after  man  arose  offiering 
rifles,  Bibles,  blankets,  and  money,  but  the  climax 
was  reached  when  Miss  Mary  Dutton  stood  up  and 
contributed  a  rifle,  and  the  applause  was  so  great 
as  to  fairly  shake  the  building.  The  next  day  the 
New  Haven  Register,  a  democratic  paper,  in  its 
account  of  the  meeting  printed  a  doggerel,  begin- 
ning: 

"  Shoulder  arms,  Miss  Mary  Dutton, 

Your  knapsack  buckle  tight, 

Put  on  your  soldier  breeches 

And  show  them  how  to  fight. 

Quick  !   march  upon  the  foe, 

And  now  your  rifle,  cock  it 

And  send  a  slaveholder  to  H 

With  every  whistling  bullet." 

Mr.  Cooke  was  a  great  admirer  of  Wendell  Phil- 
lips and  never  failed  to  hear  him  when  he  delivered 
his  lectures  in  New  Haven.  In  1S60,  soon  after  the 
execution  of  John  Brown,  Mr.  Cooke  and  a  j'oung 
friend  invited  Mr.  Phillips  to  deliver  his  celebrated 
lecture  on  that  subject.  One  of  the  Yale  professors 
promised  to  introduce  the  speaker  to  his  audience, 
but  at  the  last  moment  withdrew,  saying  that  he 
feared  the  act  would  injure  his  political  prospects. 
The  result  was  that  Mr.  Cooke,  though  a  very 
young  man,  was  obliged  himself  to  present  the  lec- 
turer. At  this  time  there  were  many  southern 
students  in  Yale,  and  they  were  persistent  in  their 
attempts  to  prevent  Mr.  Phillips  from  speaking, 
and  at  one  time  during  the  lecture  the  orator  stood 
twenty  minutes  before  he  could  make  himself  heard. 

Mr.  Cooke  attended  the  public  schools  of  New 
Haven  until  his  fourteeenth  j-ear,  when  he  entered 
a  dry  goods  store,  where  he  remained  eight  years. 
At  this  time,  his  health  being  impaired,  he  spent  a 
winter  on  the  island  of  Porto  Rico.  At  this  period 
the  oil    excitement   was    running  very   high,    and 


76 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


Mr.  Cooke,  after  his  return  from  the  West  Indies, 
went  as  agent  for  a  company  to  West  Virginia, 
where  he  sunk  two  wells,  one  eight  hundred  and 
the  other  twelve  hundred  feet  deep,  but  found  no 
oil.  Another  winter  Avas  spent  in  prospecting, when 
he  traveled  over  six  hundred  miles  on  mule-back  in 
Alabama. 

In  1864  Mr.  Cooke  married  Ella  E.,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Oliver  Parish  of  Hartford.  In  1865  he 
associated  himself  with  Mr.  Herman  Glafcke  in 
the  manufacture  of  burial  caskets.  Three  years 
later  the  firm  was  changed  to  Cooke  &  Whitmore, 
and  is,  perhaps,  the  oldest  partnership  in  Hart- 
ford, it  having  remained  unchanged  for  twenty- 
three  years.  For  twenty  years  Mr.  Cooke  was  the 
traveling  man  of  the  business  and  probabh-  jour- 
neyed more  miles  than  an}-  other  person  in  the  city 
at  that  time.  This  being  the  pioneer  concern  in 
this  line  of  goods,  the  territory  covered  was  a  large 
one,  extending  from  Bangor  to  St.  Louis.  In  1872 
]Mr.  Cooke  built  his  fine  residence  on  Woodland 
street,  where  he  still  resides.  The  summer  of  1888 
he  spent  in  Europe,  traveling  through  Belgiiim, 
Germany,  Switzerland,  France,  England,  and 
Scotland. 

All  strong  characters  have  their  weak  points  and 
Mr.  Cooke's  appears  to  be  a  passion  for  antiquities. 
He  has  the  largest  collection  of  ancient  clocks  in 
Hartford  and  also  possesses  many  other  unique 
and  valuable  pieces  of  antique  furniture.  ^Ir. 
Cooke  has  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Fourth 
Congregational  church  for  twenty  years,  and  for 
thirteen  years  was  superintendent  of  the  Sabbath- 
school. 

DAVID  M.   MITCHELL,  South  Britain  (  South- 
bury  )  :  Farmer. 

David  Merwin  Mitchell  is  a  well-known  resident 
of  the  town  of  Southbury,  where  he  was  born  Oc- 
tober 16,  1841,  in  that  part  of  the  town  known  as 
South   Britain,  where  he 
still     resides.       He     was 
born     and  bred     on    the 
farm,  but  took  time 
/#S9   ^c—    r  /^\  enough     at     the     district 

4/      '        f,' vV  school  to  lay  the  founda- 

'    *^        "  tion  for  a  good  education, 

which  was  subsequently 
acquired  at  Hinman's 
well-known  academy.  He 
married  ]Miss  Hattie  I. 
Lemmon,  who  with  their 
three  children  is  still  liv- 
ing. He  is  a  republican 
in  politics,  and  as  such 
has  served  his  party  and  his  town  as  selectman,  and 
has  held  other  minor  offices.  He  belongs  to  the 
Congregational  church  of  South  Britain. 


-? 


<^ 


HUBBARD. 


I).   .M.    MITCHELL. 


HON.  LEVERETT  MARSDEN  HUBBARD, 
Wallingford:  Attorney-at-Law. 
Leverett  M.  Hubbard  was  born  at  Durham, 
April  23,  1849.  He  was  educated  at  the  Wilbraham 
Acadeni}-  and  Wesleyan  Universitj-,  at  which  latter 
institution  was  also  edu- 
cated his  father,  Rev.  Eli 
Hubbard,  who,  for  many 
years  before  his  death,  in 
1 868,  had  been  a  clergy- 
man of  distinction  in  Mis- 
sissippi. His  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  Mr.  L.  W. 
Leach,  for  many  years  a 
prominent  merchant  and 
honored  citizen  of  Dur- 
ham, and  the  only  .sister 
of  Hon.  L.  ^I.  Leach 
and  Hon.  Oscar  Leach, 
both  of  whoin  are  well 
known  as  among  the  most  substantial  and  in- 
fluential men  in  Middlesex  count}^.  Mr.  Hub- 
bard's mother  died  when  he  was  three  years 
of  age,  and  from  that  time  until  he  went 
from  home  to  attend  school  he  lived  with  his 
grandparents  at  Durham.  After  leaving  college 
he  studied  law  at  the  Albany  Law  School,  grad- 
uating in  1870.  In  August  of  that  year  he  located 
in  Wallingford,  and  soon  became  marked  at  the 
bar  of  his  county,  and  by  the  community  gener- 
ally, as  a  young  man  of  fine  spirit  and  rare  in- 
tellectual endowments.  From  that  time  he  has 
steadily  grown  in  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
community,  until  now,  no  lawyer  of  his  age  in  New 
Haven  county  has  a  more  remunerative  practice, 
or  is  more  widely  known  and  respected.  From  the 
beginning  of  his  practice  he  has  maintained  an 
office  connection  in  New  Haven.  For  a  year  he 
pursued  his  studies  with  the  late  Charles  Ives. 
From  1874  to  1877  he  was  a  law  partner  of  Morris 
F.  Tyler,  and  since  that  time  he  has  been  associated 
with  John  W.  Ailing,  one  of  the  leading  lawj'ers  in 
the  state.  Mr.  Hubbard  was  appointed  postmaster 
of  Wallingford  by  President  Grant  in  1872,  which 
office  he  held  by  successive  re-appointments  until 
the  inauguration  of  President  Cleveland  in  1885, 
when  he  resigned  with  an  unexpired  commission 
for  three  years.  He  administered  that  oflice  with 
great  intelligence  and  fidelity,  and  to  the  universal 
acceptance  of  its  patrons,  who,  without  respect  of 
party,  tendered  him,  upon  his  retirement,  a  com- 
plimentary banquet,  which  was  widely  remarked 
at  the  time  for  its  elaborateness  and  the  enthusiasm 
which  attended  it. 

Mr.  Hubbard  has  been  borough  attorney  since 
1870,  and  counsel  for  the  town  during  most  of  the 
same  period.  He  has  been  a  director  in  the  First 
National  Bank  of  Wallingford  since  its  organization 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


77 


in  iSSi,  and  a  director  in  the  Dime  Savings  Bank 
since  1SS4.  He  has  also  been  a  trustee  of  the  Wes- 
leyan  Academy  at  Wilbraham,  Mass.,  since  18S1. 
Upon  the  estabUshment  of  a  borough  court  for 
Wallingford  by  the  legislature  of  1886  he  accepted 
the  position  of  its  first  judge,  and  is  now  discharg- 
ing the  duties  of  that  office  to  the  eminent  satisfac- 
tion of  the  community.  In  18S6  he  was  elected 
Secretary  of  State  on  the  republican  ticket,  which 
had  Governor  Lounsbury  at  its  head,  and  during 
the  term  of  his  office  performed  its  duties  with 
signal  ability. 

Mr.  Hubbard  is  esteemed  throughout  the  com- 
munity as  an  honorable  and  upright  citizen,  en- 
joying great  popularity  among  all  classes  and  in 
both  political  parties. 


%: 


HEZEKIAH  L.  READE,  Jewett  Crrv:  President 

Jewett  City  Savings  Bank. 

Hezekiah  L.  Reade  was  born  in  Lisbon,  Oct.  i, 
1827.  He  is  the  onh'  child  of  Silas  and  Sarah 
(Meech)  Reade.  His  ancestors  emigrated  from 
England  to  this  country 
in  1640  ;  settled  at  Ips- 
wich, Mass.,  and  subse- 
quently came  to  Norwich, 
Conn. ,  where  they  bought 
a  tract  of  land  one  mile 
long  by  half  a  mile  wide, 
of  Owaneco,  the  brother 
of  Uncas,  on  which  the 
family  has  since  continu- 
ously resided.  The  deed 
of  this  land  bears  date 
1686.    He  was  educated  in  ^   ^"^ 

the  common  schools  of  his  h.  l.  reade. 

town ;  in  select  schools  in  a 

near  village  — Jewett  City —  and  in  Plainfield  acade- 
my. Spending  his  summers  at  work  on  the  farm, 
he  commenced  teaching  school  winters  at  the  age  of 
seventeen,  continuing  this  occupation  with  success 
for  many  years.  In  1864,  he  added  to  his  farm 
and  other  occupations  that  of  manufacturer  of  pa- 
per. The  business  was  successfully  conducted, 
and  at  length  grew  into  the  "  Reade  Paper  Com- 
pany," which  owned  and  profitably  operated  three 
paper  mills.  Of  this  companj'  he  was  for  a  consid- 
erable time  the  business  manager.  Disposing  of 
his  interest  in  this  business,  he  was  called  to  the 
city  of  New  York  to  take  charge  of  the  agricul- 
tural department  of"  T/ie  Hearth  and  Hotiw" — 
an  illustrated  paper  published  by  Pettingill  & 
Bates,  and  of  which  both  Donald  G.  Mitchell  and 
Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  were  editors.  He  contin- 
ued with  this  paper  until  it  was  sold  to  another 
leading  NewYork  journal.  In  1873 ,  he  was  one  of  the 
projectors  of  the  "  Jewett  City  Sav-ings  Bank,"  and 


upon  its  organization  was  elected  its  president,  and 
has  been  reelected  at  each  annual  meeting  of  the 
corporation  since.  The  institution  is  one  of  the 
most  prosperous  in  the  state.  At  the  age  of  twen- 
ty-two he  united  with  a  Congregational  church. 
He  immediately  began  public  speaking  on  temper- 
ance, Sunday-schools,  and  on  specially  religious 
topics,  and  in  1S74  began  the  work  of  an  evangel- 
ist. His  labors  since  that  time  have  been  in  five  of 
the  New  England  states,  and  more  or  less  else- 
where, beside  stated  ministrations  for  indefinite 
times  to  a  large  number  of  churches. 

In  iSSo,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  "  compulsor}- 
temperance  teaching  in  ptiblic  schools."  He  in- 
troduced the  first  bill  into  the  legislature  of  Con- 
necticut for  a  public  act  to  this  end  that  was  ever 
presented  before  any  legislative  body.  He  pro- 
cured letters  commendatory  of  the  idea  from 
Noah  Porter,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  president  of  Yale 
College  ;  Hon.  Chief -Justice  John  D.  Park, 
D.D.,LL.D.,  of  this  state;  Leander  T.  Chamber- 
lain, D.D.,  at  that  time  pastor  of  Broadway 
church,  Norwich,  and  others,  which  he  published 
in  leaflet  form,  and  whose  wide  circulation  pre- 
pared the  way  for  the  subsequent  adoption  of  the 
idea  in  this  state  and  elsewhere.  In  1883,  he  trav- 
eled extensively  in  the  west  and  south  in  advocacy 
of  this  measure;  had  personal  interviews  with  the 
governors  of  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  Kansas,  Missouri, 
Arkansas,  and  other  states  ;  presented  the  matter 
to  legislative  committees,  and  through  the  columns 
of  western  papers  to  the  people,  sowing  the  seed 
that  afterwards  jaelded  a  harvest.  Subsequently, 
the  Woman's  Christian  Temperance  Union  took  up 
the  matter,  and  he  withdrew  for  work  in  other 
fields. 

Mr.  Reade  has  written  a  number  of  books  : 
"  Money,  and  How  to  Make  it  and  Use  it,"  600 
pages  ;  "Boys'  and  Girls'  Temperance  Text  Book  "; 
"  Reade's  Business  Reader  ";  "  Storj-  of  a  Heathen 
and  his  Transformation,"  and  others,  all  of  which 
have  had  and  are  having  a  wide  sale.  He  has 
been  a  large  contributor  to  the  secular  and  relig- 
ious press,  and  some  of  his  sketches  have,  with 
others  from  kindred  pens,  taken  permanent  forms. 
His  editorial  connection  with  Connecticut  journal- 
ism covers  many  years. 

Mr.  Reade  was  married  to  Faith  B.  Partridge  in 
1S67.  Having  no  children  of  their  own,  they  edu- 
cated a  girl  who  subsequently  became  a  mission- 
ary in  Japan;  and  recently  have  helped  to  educate 
a  Japanese  who  already  fills  a  high  place  in  his 
government,  and  whose  future  is  one  of  great 
promise,  both  in  secular  and  sacred  lines  in  the 
"  Sunrise  Empire." 

Mr.  Reade  is  a  republican  in  politics.  Was  as- 
sistant United  States  assessor  during  the  last  years 
of  the  war,  and  until  the  office  was  abolished. 


7S 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


C.    S.     HAMILTON. 


CHARLES  STORRS  HAMILTON,  New  Haven: 
Attorney-at-La\v. 

Charles  S.  Hamilton  was  born  Jan.  3,  1S46.  He 
is  descended  on  his  father's  side  from  the  famous 
family  of  which  Alexander  Hamilton  was  a  mem- 
ber. The  family,  which 
is  of  Scotch-Irish  extrac- 
tion, came  to  Rhode 
Island  in  1640,  and  went 
from  there  to  Norwich, 
Conn.  The  Storrs  family, 
from  which  Mr.  Hamilton 
takes  his  middle  name,  is 
connected  with  the  Ham- 
ilton family  by  marriage. 


On  his  mother's  side,  Mr. 
Hamilton's  ancestors 
were  of  German  descent, 
who  came  to  New  York 
about  the  year  1600,  his 
maternal  grandfather  being  a  direct  lineal  descend- 
ant of  Conrad  Gesner,  the  Zurich  scholar  and  phi- 
losopher. The  early  years  of  Mr.  Hamilton's  life 
were  spent  entirely  in  stud}-,  and  in  1869  he  gradu- 
ated from  college  with  high  honors.  He  has  never 
failed  in  his  love  for  the  classics,  and  still  reads 
Greek  and  Latin  as  a  pastime,  and  speaks  both 
French  and  German  fluently.  After  graduating, 
Mr.  Hamilton  went  to  Boston  and  commenced  the 
study  of  law  with  Congressman  Clarke,  and  entered 
the  Yale  Law  School  in  1872,  graduating  one  year 
later  on  account  of  advanced  standing.  He  also 
took  a  special  course  in  the  Yale  Medical  School,  to 
the  more  thoroughly  fit  himself  for  the  extensive 
practice  in  technical  cases  in  which  he  has  since 
been  so  successful.  The  following  winter  was 
spent  in  traveling  in  the  southern  states,  and  in 
May,  1874,  he  opened  an  office  in  the  Yale  Bank 
building,  which  he  still  occupies.  As  a  jury  lawyer 
he  has  been  peculiarly  successful,  and  an  inspection 
of  the  different  court  dockets  shows  that  he  ap- 
pears in  a  large  percentage  of  jury  cases.  He 
has  always  from  the  first  fought  his  cases  sin- 
gle-handed and  alone,  except  where  he  has  been 
called  in  to  act  as  senior  counsel  in  closely  con- 
tested cases.  Mr.  Hamilton's  success  at  the  bar  is 
due  to  his  superb  generalship  and  thorough  prepar- 
ation. He  is  never  surprised  by  an  adversary,  and 
never  fails  to  detect  the  weak  point  in  the  enemy's 
line,  and  take  advantage  of  it.  He  frequently  wins 
his  case  before  the  actual  trial,  by  outgeneraling 
the  other  party  in  the  preliminary  manoeuvering. 
He  is  a  "master  of  English,"  and  his  jury  ad- 
dresses are  fine  specimens  of  the  use  of  wit, 
pathos,  and  sarcasm.  An  announcement  that 
Mr.  Hamilton  is  to  speak  in  an  important  case 
never  fails  to  crowd  the  court  room  with  stu- 
dents and  fellow   members  of  the    bar.     In    poli- 


tics, Mr.  Hamilton  has  always  been  a  republi- 
can, but  has  seldom  accepted  office.  In  1888,  in 
response  to  the  urgent  request  of  the  residents  of 
the  western  part  of  the  city,  he  was  nominated  for 
councilman  of  the  second  ward,  and  was  elected  by 
a  handsome  majority,  although  the  ward  is  na- 
turallj'^  democratic.  In  1889  he  was  nominated  for 
alderman,  and  received  a  majority  of  no.  In  1S90 
he  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  con- 
vention for  state  senator,  and  succeeded  in  reducing 
the  usual  democratic  majority  by  several  hundred. 
In  the  year  1890  he  was  chairman  of  the  commis- 
sion to  compile  the  charter  and  revise  the  city  or- 
dinances of  the  city  of  New  Haven,  and  earned  the 
perpetual  gratitude  of  the  members  of  the  bar  and 
city  officials  bj-  the  thorough  and  discriminating 
manner  in  which  that  task  was  accomplished.  He 
takes  a  deep  interest  in  legislative  matters,  and  has. 
drafted  many  of  our  important  statutes. 

Mr.  Hamilton  has  a  charming  family,  consisting 
of  an  accomplished  wife  and  two  young  children. 
He  is  an  Episcopalian  in  religion,  and  is  a  member 
of  St.  Paul's  church.  He  has  been  for  many  years 
a  vestryman  of  that  church.  ]\Ir.  Hamilton  is  a 
Freemason,  and  a  member  of  Hiram  Lodge,  No.  i. 


DANIEL  KELEHER,  Pawcatuck  (Stonington): 
Granite  Cutter. 

Daniel  Keleher  holds  the  position  of  captain  in 
Company  B  of  the  Third  regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  and 
is  a  popular  officer.  He  enlisted  as  a  private  March 
4,  1875,  and  became  sec- 
ond lieutenant  March  23, 
1876.  He  resigned  Au- 
gust 9,  1S76,  but  re-en- 
listed as  a  private  in  De- 
cember, 1877.  He  was. 
commissioned  second  lieu- 
tenant August  18,  1879  ;. 
first  lieutenant  May  16, 
1SS2,  and  captain  July  28, 
1 886.  He  was  a  charter 
member  of  the  company. 
He  was  born  in  the 
County  of  Cork,  Ireland ^ 
August  20,  1 85 1,  and  re- 
ceived a  public  school  education.  Captain  Keleher 
is  a  granite  cutter  by  avocation.  His  work  has  led 
him  to  different  parts  of  the  country,  and  he  has 
resided  in  Rhode  Island,  New  Jersey,  and  Penn- 
sylvania. November  28,  1877,  he  married  Ellen 
Tuite  of  Leeds,  Greene  County,  N.  Y. ,  and  has  a 
family  of  five  children.  He  is  a  member  of  St. 
Michael's  Roman  Catholic  church  of  Stonington. 
In  politics  Captain  Keleher  is  a  democrat.  He  held 
the  office  of  assessor  in  1S87  in  the  town.  He  is  an 
officer  of  the   Pawcatuck  fire   district,   assessor  of 


DANIEL    KELEHER. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


79 


the  eighteenth  school  district,  and  is  in  other  ways 
connected  with  the  interests  of  the  communit}-.  He 
is  a  charter  member  of  Narragansett  Council, 
Knights  of  Columbus,  and  is  past  grand  knight. 
He  was  chairman  of  the  Stonington  delegation  to 
the  democratic  state  convention  September  i6,  1890. 


W.   E.   MOSES. 


WILLIAM    E.    MOSES,    W.^terbury  :    Publisher 

"  The  Connecticut  Guardsman." 

First  Lieutenant  William  E.  Moses  is  a  commis- 
sioned officer  in  the  Connecticut  National  Guard. 
He  first  saw  the  light  of  day  in  the  "  Hub,"  having 
been  born  in  Boston, 
Mass.,  March  12,  1S61,  in 
which  city  he  received  his 
education.  Upon  leaving 
the  public  schools,  he  took 
a  thorough  course  in  the- 
oretical bookkeeping  for 
the  purpose  of  becoming 
an  expert  and  consulting 
accountant.  Since  grad- 
uating from  commercial 
college,  he  has  performed 
expert  work  for  corpora- 
tions and  large  firms  en- 
gaged    in     nearly    every 

kind  of  business,  and  located  in  the  cities  of  Boston, 
New  York.  Providence,  Washington,  and  Baltimore. 
In  addition  to  this  work  he  has  found  time  to  de- 
sign and  copyright  several  books  and  devices,  used 
in  accounting,  which  are  meeting  with  a  sale  that  is 
highh"  gratifying.  He  is  at  present  cashier  of  the 
Connecticut  Indemnity  Association,  a  well-known 
life  insurance  corporation  of  W^aterbury,  with 
which  he  has  been  connected  for  the  last  five  years. 
Lieutenant  Moses  comes  of  a  military  family  —  one 
proud  of  its  records  made  in  all  the  wars,  from  In- 
dian to  Rebellion  —  and  has  served  eleven  years  in 
the  National  Guard  of  three  states.  He  is  the  pro- 
prietor of  a  publication,  entitled  The  Contiecticut 
Guardsman,  devoted  to  the  interests  of  the  national 
guard  of  the  United  States  and  enjoying  a  national 
circulation.  The  following  is  his  military  record  : 
Entered  the  service  as  private  in  Company  C,  First 
regiment,  Mass.  V.  M.,  March  19,  18S0  ;  discharged 
November,  1882,  to  engage  in  business  in  Washing- 
ton, D.  C.  Joining  Company  A,  \Vashington  Con- 
tinentals, as  a  private,  in  1S83,  he  held  the  several 
appointments  of  commissary-sergeant  and  sergeant- 
major,  and  in  May,  1S84,  was  elected  first  lieuten- 
ant and  adjutant,  which  commission  was  resigned 
August,  1885.  Enlisting  as  a  private  in  Company 
A,  Second  regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  March  2,  1SS7,  he 
was  appointed  corporal,  August  12,  1887  ;  commis- 
sioned second  lieutenant,  January  30,  1888,  and 
commissioned  first  lieutenant,  February  26,  1890. 


V^' 


W.    H.    POST. 


WILLIAM     HENRY    POST,    Hartford:     ]\Ier- 

chant. 

William  H.  Post  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh 
generation  from  Stephen  Post,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Hartford,  who  came  to  America  from 
Chelmsford,  England,  in 
1633,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  congregation  which 
Rev.  Mr.  Hooker  led 
through  the  wilderness  in 
1636  to  found  the  new 
colony  of  Connecticut. 
His  name  is  inscribed  on 
the  monument  in  the  an- 
cient cemetery  of  the  Cen- 
ter church,  erected  by 
the  citizens  of  Hartford 
in  memory  of  the  found- 
ers of  that  city.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 

born  in  Andover,  Tolland  county,  April  i,  1S33. 
He  received  his  education  at  the  ' '  little  red  school- 
house  "  in  Columbia,  and  divided  his  attention  be- 
tween study  and  filial  duties  at  his  father's  home- 
stead until  his  sixteenth  year,  when  he  went  to  the 
neighboring  village  of  Hebron  to  assume  the  duties 
of  clerk  in  a  country  store.  After  six  months'  ser- 
vice in  that  capacity  he  was  called  to  Hartford  to  a 
more  responsible  position  in  the  dry  goods  estab- 
lishment of  Talcott  &  Post, — his  brother  Amos 
being  junior  partner  in  the  firm.  Upon  the  death 
of  his  brother,  three  years  later,  he  took  the  vacant 
place  as  partner,  January  i,  1853,  and  was  con- 
nected with  the  firm  twenty -eight  years,  or  until 
its  dissolution  in  1S81.  In  April  of  the  j'ear  last 
named  he  opened  a  carpet  house  in  Hartford,  under 
the  firm  name  of  William  H.  Post  &  Company,  E. 
S.  Yergason  being  the  junior  partner.  This  estab- 
ishment  is  one  of  the  most  extensive  of  its  kind  in 
the  state,  and  stands  at  the  head  of  the  carpet 
houses  of  Hartford,  embracing  all  lines  of  interior 
decorations,  and  enjoying  a  reputation  of  national 
extent.  Mr.  Post's  business  ability  has  been  well 
evidenced  in  the  success  of  the  two  firms  of  which  he 
has  been  the  financial  and  managerial  head.  It  is 
further  illustrated  in  the  positions  of  trust  which 
he  has  been  called  by  his  fellow-citizens  to  occupy 
since  his  residence  in  Hartford.  He  is  a  director 
in  the  Hartford  National  Bank  and  the  Society'  of 
Savings  —  two  of  the  strongest  and  best  managed 
financial  institutions-  in  the  state;  and  is  on  the 
boards  of  management  of  many  other  enterprises 
of  which  Hartford  is  the  home.  He  takes  an  active 
interest  in  social,  educational,  and  religious  affairs. 
Lender  the  pastorate  of  Dr.  Horace .  Bushnell  he 
united  with  the  old  North  church  —  now  the  Park 
church  —  in  1852,  and  has  been  greatly  privileged 
in  having  that  distinguished  divine,  and  his  sue- 


8o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


cesser,  the  late  Dr.  Burton,  not  only  as  pastors, 
but  as  intimate  personal  friends.  Mr.  Post  married 
in  September,  1858,  Miss  Helen  Maria  Denslow, 
daughter  of  the  late  WiUiam  Judd  Denslow  of 
Hartford,  and  they  have  four  children  — one  son 
and  three  daughters.  Two  of  the  latter  are  mar- 
ried: Helen  Louise  is  Mrs.  Thomas  Brownell  Chap- 
man of  Hartford,  and  Alice  Maria  is  the  wife  of 
Frederick  Everest  Haight  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  The 
only  son,  Wilham  Strong  Post,  is  engaged  in  the 
New  York  house  of  W.  &  J.  Sloane,  and  the  juvenile 
member  of  the  family.  Miss  Anne  Wilson  Post, 
a  young  lady  of  twelve,  is  attending  school  in 
Hartford. 

ANTHONY  AMES,  Damelsonville:  Retired  Mer- 
chant and  Banker. 

Anthony  Ames  of  Danielsonville  was  a  member 
of  the  general  assembly  in   1SS9  and  served  A\'ith 
credit  on  the  republican  side  of  the  house.     On  ac- 
count  of    his   connection 


ANTHONY  AMES. 


with  the  state  board  of 
education,  his  influence 
was  of  great  importance 
in  the  lines  of  public 
school  improvement.  Mr. 
Ames  was  born  at  Ster- 
ling, Jan.  18,  1826,  and 
was  educated  in  the  West 
Killingly  academy  at  Dan- 
ielsonville. At  the  age  of 
18  he  commenced  teach- 
ing school  and  followed 
that  pursuit  for  six  years. 
When  he  was  28  years  of 
age,  he  engaged  in  the  dry  goods  business  at  Dan- 
ielsonville in  partnership  with  George  Leavens. 
Subsequently,  he  disposed  of  his  interest  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  business  of  a  merchant  tailor. 
In  1858  he  was  elected  town  clerk,  treasurer,  and 
registrar  of  births,  deaths,  and  marriages,  retaining 
the  position  for  twenty  years.  In  1878  he  was  ap- 
pointed treasurer  of  the  Windham  County  Savings 
Bank.  Ten  years  afterwards  he  was  compelled 
to  give  up  this  place  on  account  of  impaired 
health.  In  1889  he  represented  Killingly  in  the 
legislature,  serving  on  the  railroad  committee 
and  the  committee  on  education.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  school  board  at  Killingly 
for  30  years,  and  is  at  present  the  acting 
school  visitor.  Mr.  Ames  will  complete  his  third 
term  as  a  member  of  the  state  board  of  education 
in  July,  1892.  He  is  a  member  of  Moriah  Lodge, 
F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Danielsonville,  occupying  the  po- 
sition of  secretary.  The  lodge  is  one  of  the  largest 
and  most  influential  in  eastern  Connecticut.  The 
wife  of  Mr.  Ames,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss 
Abby  M.  Wheaton  prior  to  marriage.     There  are 


W.    H.    STEVENSON. 


no  children.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  most  fa- 
vorabl}'  known  throughout  the  State  in  which  he 
has  represented  the  best  interests  of  education  and 
citizenship. 

COL.  WILLIAM  H.  STEVENSON,  Bridgeport: 
Vice-President  ,and    General    Manager   of    the 
Housatonic  Railway  System. 
Colonel   Stevenson   was  born   in   Bridgeport   in 
1847,  and,  after  receiving  a  thorough  literary  train- 
ing and   education,   graduated   early  in   life   from 
Eastman's  National  Busi- 
ness College  with  the  de- 
gree   of    Master    of    Ac- 
coimts.  In  1 864  he  entered 
the  offices  of  the  Housa- 
tonic railway   in   Bridge- 
port and  remained   there 
for  several  years.  In  1872 
he  was  appointed  special 
agent  of   the   New  York 
(&   New   Haven   railroad, 
an  office  which   he   filled 
for  two   years,    when   he 
was  appointed  paymaster 
of  the  New  York  Central 
&  Hudson  River  railroad,  and  in   the  same  year 
was  made  superintendent  of  the  Shore  Line  road. 
This  line  he  brought  to  a  high  state  of  efficiency, 
placing  it  in  a  better  position  and  condition  than  it 
had  ever  before  attained,  and   as   a  consequence 
he  became  in  demand  by  several  lines,  and  in  1882 
accepted  the  office  of  superintendent  of  the  New 
York   division   of  the  New  York,    New   Haven  & 
Hartford  railroad.     In  this  position,  as  in  all  the 
offices  he  had  filled,  he  displayed  so  much  energy, 
ability  and  capacity  for  managing  and  controlling 
large  interests,  that  he  became  one  of  the  acknowl- 
edged railway  experts  of  the  east,  and  in  1885  was 
elected   president   of  the   association  of  American 
railroad  superintendents,  in  18S7  was  brought  back 
to  the  railroad  in  which  he  received  his  first  lessons 
in  railroading  and  was  made  vice-president  and 
general   manager  of  the   Housatonic   railway.     It 
would  scarcely  be  expected  that  a  man  who  gave 
so  much  attention  to  so  vast  a  subject  as  railroad- 
ing, and  who  had  by  great  application  and  ability 
risen  rapidly  to  the  head  of  a  prominent  sj'stem  in 
so  short  a  time,  could  have  given  mvich  thought  to 
anj-thing  else;  yet  Col.  Stevenson  has  found  time 
to   do  a  great  many   other  things  and  to  rise  to 
prominence  in  other  ways  as  well  as  in  the  great 
business  of  his  life.     In  1875  he  was  elected  coun- 
cilman in   Bridgeport   and   served  on  the   finance 
committee,  and  in  1876  he  was  returned  as  alder- 
man, and  in  1S77   was  reelected,  and  served  on  the 
most  important  committees  of  the  board.     During 
this   3-ear   he    was    honored   with   the   democratic 


BIOGRAPHY   (3F    CONNECTICUT. 


nomination  for  the  legislature,  against  Hon.  P.  T. 
Barnum.  In  1S7S  he  was  again  elected  alderman 
and  was  chairman  of  the  finance  committee  and 
also  the  committee  on  ways  and  means.  In  this 
j-ear  he  passed  the  required  examination  as  a  law- 
yer and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Fairfield  county. 
In  1881  he  was  nominated  by  the  democratic  party 
for  mayor,  and  in  1SS4  was  elected  president  of  the 
young  men's  democratic  Cleveland  and  Hendricks 
club  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  campaign  which 
resulted  so  favorabh'  for  his  party.  He  served  on 
the  democratic  state  committee  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1 888.  But  he  gave  attention  to  and 
attained  prominence  in  yet  another  field,  and  was 
appointed  aid-de-camp  with  the  rank  of  captain 
on  the  staff  of  Brigadier-General  S.  R.  Smith  of 
the  Connecticut  National  Guard  in  1879.  He  served 
as  captain  tintil  1SS4,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the 
office  of  brigade  commissary,  with  the  rank  of 
major,  on  the  staff  of  General  Smith.  In  the  same 
year  he  was  again  promoted,  acting  as  aid-de- 
camp with  the  rank  of  colonel  on  the  staff  of  Gov- 
ernor Thomas  M.  Waller.  He  was  the  third  presi- 
dent of  the  old  Eclectic  Club  of  Bridgeport,  which 
was  for  ten  years  one  of  the  most  popular  social 
institutions  in  the  city.  In  1884  he  was  elected 
grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge  of  Independent 
Order  of  Odd  Fellows  for  the  state  of  Connecticut, 
and  in  the  following  year  was  sent  as  representa- 
tive to  the  sovereign  grand  lodge  I.  O.  O.  F.  bj'  the 
grand  lodge  of  Connecticut,  at  which  time  he  was 
elected  grand  marshal  of  the  sovereign  grand 
lodge.  In  1886  he  was  appointed  general  aid, 
with  the  rank  of  colonel,  on  the  staff  of  Lieut. - 
General  Underwood  of  the  military  branch  of 
patriarchs  militant  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Masonic  order,  and  in 
1885  was  chosen  exalted  ruler  of  the  Bridgeport 
order  of  Elks.  In  1887  he  was  elected  director  and 
president  of  the  New  York,  Rutland  &  Montreal 
railroad,  and  also  a  director  in  the  New  York  & 
New  England  railroad.  In  the  following  ^-ear  he 
was  made  president  of  the  New  Haven  &  Derby 
railroad.  He  is  also  a  director  in  the  Danbury  & 
Norwalk  railroad  and  a  director  in  the  West  Stock- 
bridge  railroad.  One  of  his  projects,  which  has 
been  successfully  carried  throtigh,  was  the  extension 
of  the  New  Haven  &  Derby  railroad  to  the 
Housatonic  railroad,  the  latter  road  building  a 
branch  to  meet  it,  which  was  completed  in  Novem- 
ber, 1S8S,  and  opened  with  great  enthu.siasm  on  the 
part  of  the  general  public,  because  of  its  making  a 
new  and  independent  route  from  New  Haven  to 
the  west.  Under  the  able  management  of  Col. 
Stevenson  the  Housatonic  railroad  is  fast  becoming 
one  of  the  leading  railway  systems  of  New  Eng- 
land. Recently  Col.  Stevenson  was  elected  one  of 
the  directors  and  vice-president  of  the  Shepaug, 
6 


E.    E.    BRADLEY. 


Litchfield  &  Northern  railroad.  In  1S90  he  was  a 
leading  figure  in  the  political  campaign  and  was 
the  choice  of  a  large  portion  of  the  democratic 
party  for  governor,  but  he  declined  to  be  considered 
a  candidate,  his  business  interests  demanding  all 
his  attention. 

GENERAL  EDWARD  E.  BRADLEY,  New 
Haven:  President  New  Haven  Wheel  Company 
and  Boston  Buckboard  and  Carriage  Company. 
General  Edward  E.  Bradley  occupies  a  foremost 
place  among  the  business  men  of  New  Haven, 'be- 
ing at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  and  most  mi- 
portant  industries  in  that 
city.  His  standing  as  a 
public  representative  is 
equally  notable.  The 
General  was  born  in  New 
Haven  January  5,  1845, 
and  received  a  thorough 
public  school  education. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
engaged  in  the  employ  of 
the  New  Haven  Wheel 
Company,  beginning  as 
shipping  clerk.  He  is 
now  the  president  of  the 
corporation,     which     has 

business  relations  throughout  the  world,  its  trade 
extending  to  most  European  and  South  American 
countries.  General  Bradley  is  also  the  president  of 
the  Boston  Buckboard  and  Carriage  Company.  He 
has  but  few  superiors  in  his  section  of  the  state  as 
a  business  manager,  and  the  rapid  promotions 
which  he  has  met  wnth  in  life  have  been  deserved. 
In  1 861  he  became  a  member  of  the  New  Haven 
Grays,  one  of  the  celebrated  military  companies  of 
the  state  at  that  time.  The  soldierly  traits  and 
instincts  which  he  manifested  at  the  outset  attracted 
attention,  opening  the  way  for  the  brilliant  series  of 
advancements  in  the  service  that  awaited  him.  He 
was  placed  at  the  head  of  the  company  and  became 
a  field  officer  in  the  Second  Regiment  within  a 
dozen  years  from  the  date  of  his  enlistment  as  a 
private  in  the  Grays.  Under  the  administration  of 
Governor  R.  D.  Hubbard  he  was  made  paymaster- 
general  with  the  rank  of  brigadier  in  the  service. 
General  Bradley  represented  the  town  of  Orange 
in  the  general  assembly  during  the  years  of  18S3 
and  1 8  84,  his  career  in  the  house  proving  him  to  be 
a  legislator  of  decided  capability  and  leadership. 
The  constitutional  amendment  providing  for  bien- 
nial sessions  was  introduced  in  the  house  by  General 
Bradlej"  during  the  session  of  1SS3  and  was  ordered 
published  in  the  laws  of  that  year.  The  amend- 
ment that  had  been  submitted  to  the  people  in  1879 
had  been  overwhelmingh-  rejected  and  it  was  feared 
at  the  beginning  that  General  Bradlej^'s  renewal  of 


82 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


the  idea  would  prove  ineffective.  But  the  General's 
influence  was  an  important  factor  in  getting  the 
proposed  amendment  incorporated  in  the  session 
laws.  In  1884  the  legislature  ordered  the  submis- 
sion to  the  people  for  ratification  and  it  was  adopted 
at  the  October  election  in  that  year.  General 
Bradley  was  elected  a  member  of  the  senate  from 
the  seventh  district  in  1SS5  and  ably  served  in  that 
body  through  the  session  of  1886.  The  democratic 
state  convention  of  1886  was  held  in  New  Haven 
and  resulted  in  the  selection  of  General  Bradley  for 
the  second  place  on  the  state  ticket,  the  Hon.  Ed- 
ward S.  Cleveland  of  Hartford  being  the  candidate 
for  the  governorship.  The  superb  enthusiasm  with 
which  the  general's  nomination  was  received  in  the 
convention  was  the  most  complimentary  of  tributes 
to  his  popularity.  His  total  vote  at  the  polls  was 
larger  than  that  of  his  chief  and  exceeded  by 
1,979  the  total  received  by  the  republican  candidate 
for  the  governorship.  General  Bradley  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Haven  Park  Commission  and 
of  the  New  Haven  Chamber  of  Commerce.  He 
is  also  a  director  in  the  New  Haven  County  Na- 
tional Bank,  and  president  of  the  New  Haven 
Grays  Veteran  Association.  He  is  a  communi- 
cant of  St.  Paul's  Church  in  that  city  and  is  a 
gentleman  of  the  most  exemplary  personal  char- 
acter. His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  three 
daughters.  The  former  was  Miss  Mary  E. 
Kimberly  prior  to  her  marriage  with  General 
Bradlev. 


EDWARD    DEACON,     Bridgeport  :     Secretary 

Consolidated  Rolling  Stock  Company. 

Edward  Deacon  was  born  in  England  in  1S40, 

descended  from  an  old  Bedfordshire  family  of  that 

name.     He  completed  his  education  at  Liverpool 

College ;    Very   Reverend 

Dean  Howson  (now  Bish- 


op of  Chester),  Principal. 
Shortly  afterwards  he 
came  to  this  country  with 
other  older  members  of 
the  family,  who  settled  in 
Howard  county,  Iowa. 
Leaving  the  farm  he  en- 
tered mercantile  life  in 
1864,  in  the  service  of 
Captain  "Diamond  Jo" 
Reynolds  of  Mississippi 
steamboat  fame,  in  his 
then  immense  grain  and 
pork  business  at  McGregor,  Iowa,  and  soon  proved 
himself  so  capable  that  large  financial  interests 
were  entrusted  to  his  care.  Subsequently  he 
assisted  in  the  construction  of  the  Milwaukee  & 
St.  Paul  Railroad  in   1866-7,  being  paymaster  for 


EDWARD    DEACON. 


the  contractors.  Judge  Greene  of  Iowa,  Alexander 
^Mitchell  of  Milwaukee,  and  Russell  Sage  of  New 
York.  In  this  capacity  it  became  his  duty  to  pur- 
chase and  pay  for  large  supplies  for  the  army  of 
men  and  horses,  which  was  strung  along  the  un- 
broken prairie,  at  that  time  almost  entirely  unset- 
tled and  unknown.  With  one  attendant  and  well 
armed,  he  would  drive  over  the  prairies  from  sec- 
tion to  section  between  Austin,  Minn.,  and  Ossian, 
Iowa,  carrying  forty  to  fifty  thousand  dollars,  pay- 
ing the  men  by  day  upon  the  estimates  of  the 
engineers,  and  sleeping  at  night  in  the  tents  and 
shanties  of  the  workmen  with  his  cash  box  under 
his  head. 

In  1868  he  started  for  himself  in  the  wholesale 
agricultural  implement  business,  with  headquarters 
at  McGregor,  Iowa,  and  established  agencies  for 
the  sale  of  threshers  and  reapers  in  nearly  every 
county  of  southern  Minnesota,  northern  Iowa,  and 
western  Wisconsin.  In  this  he  was  fairly  success- 
ful, but  the  hard  times  in  the  West  antecedent  to 
the  panic  of  1873  compelled  him  to  close  up  his 
business  and  remove  to  Detroit,  Mich.,  where  he 
married  and  accepted  a  position  in  the  First 
National  Bank  of  that  city.  A  few  years  later  he 
engaged  with  the  great  seed  house  of  D.  M.  Ferry 
&  Co.,  in  which  he  became  a  stockholder,  and  re- 
mained with  them  several  years. 

Having  had  some  previous  knowledge  of  the 
rolling  stock  business,  upon  the  organization  of  the 
Consolidated  Rolling  Stock  Company  of  Bridgeport 
Mr.  1  )eacon  was  tendered  the  office  of  secretary  of 
the  company,  which  he  accepted  and  removed  with 
his  family  to  that  city  in  18S6.  This  company, 
whose  capital  stock  is  $4,000,000  (four  millions), 
owns  many  thousand  freight  cars,  and  maintains 
three  shops,  located  in  the  west,  for  the  building 
and  repair  of  its  rolling  stock.  These  shops  are 
t:nder  the  management  of  Mr.  Deacon,  who  acts  as 
purchasing  agent  and  superintendent  for  the  com- 
pany. Mr.  Deacon  is  a  director  of  the  Detroit 
Rolling  Stock  and  other  similar  companies.  He 
married,  in  Detroit,  Miss  Eliza  Stoddard,  daughter 
of  Rodman  Stoddard  of  Connecticut,  the  fifth  in 
descent  from  Rev.  Solomon  Stoddard,  the  first 
librarian  of  Harvard  College,  who  was  grandfather 
of  the  celebrated  Jonathan  Edwards,  and  was  also 
the  ancestor  of  Aaron  Burr  and  General  W.  T. 
Sherman.  The  result  of  this  union  is  a  son  and 
daughter,  who  are  both  living. 

Mr.  Deacon  has  neither  sought  nor  held  public 
office,  his  tastes  rather  inclining  to  a  literary  turn. 
He  is  the  possessor  of  a  fairly  well  filled  library, 
and  enjoys  the  privileges  which  membership  in  the 
Fairfield  County  Historical  Societ)^  and  the  Bridge- 
port Scientific  Society  brings  to  him.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Presbyterian  church  and  a  repub- 
lican. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


83 


J- 


JOHN  N.  NEAR,  Bridgeport  :  Mercantile  Printer 

and  Publisher. 

John  N.  Near  was  born  in  Rhinebeck,  N.  Y., 
June  15,  1S37,  of  Diitch  ancestry,  the  name  being 
orii^inally  spelled  Neher.  At  fourteen  years  of  age 
he  entered  the  office  of  the 
A  liter  it  an  Mechanic  in 
that  place  as  an  appren- 
tice. In  1855  he  left  there 
to  accept  a  position  on  the 
Berkshire  Coicnty  Eagle 
at  Pittsfield,  leaving  there 
in  1 8 56  to  accept  the  fore- 
manship  of  the  Daily 
Fanner  at  Bridgeport, 
Conn.  In  1857  he  left  this 
position  on  a  trip  to  better 
his  fortunes,  but  after  an 
absence  of  several  weeks 
he  returned  to  Bridge- 
port, and  took  the  foremanship  of  the  City  Steam 
Printing  House.  At  this  time  he  engaged  in  active 
politics,  and  was  elected  town  and  city  treasurer. 
The  printing  house  soon  after  went  into  a  joint 
stock  concern,-  and  after  a  few  years  the  owners 
sold  the  business  to  young  Near,  without  the  pay- 
ment of  a  dollar  down. 

From  this  time  forth  he  withdrew  from  all  active 
participation  in  politics,  refusing  to  accept  any 
office,  though  often  tendered,  preferring  to  devote 
his  entire  time  to  the  business,  having  a  laudable 
desire  to  pay  off  his  obligations,  and  become  in  fact, 
as  well  as  in  name,  the  owner  of  the  property. 
After  several  years  of  hard  work  and  personal 
supervision  of  the  business  he  has  the  satisfaction 
of  seeing  his  hopes  realized  and  himself  in  posses- 
sion of  the  largest  job  printing  business  in  Bridge- 
port. The  office  now  no  longer  requiring  all  his 
attention,  being  in  charge  of  his  sons,  and  being 
again  drawn  into  politics,  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  council,  and  president  of  the  board  in  1885- 
6.  In  1886,  and  again  in  1887,  he  was  the  candi- 
date of  his  party  for  mayor.  Each  time  he  was  de- 
feated, owing  to  the  active  opposition  of  the  saloon 
element  in  his  party.  They  had  been  allowed  to 
keep  their  places  open,  not  only  after  12  o'clock  at 
night,  but  also  on  Sundays,  and  it  was  published 
that  if  he  were  elected  the  laws  would  be  enforced. 
Although  defeated  for  mayor,  yet  when  he  came 
before  the  people  as  a  candidate  for  representative 
in  1SS8,  he  was  elected  by  over  five  hundred  ma- 
jority. 

Mr.  Near  married  Miss  Sarah  F.  Barnum  of 
Bridgeport,  and  has  two  children.  He  is  a  demo- 
crat, and  as  such  has  held  the  offices  of  town  and 
city  treasurer,  city  councilman,  and  president  of  the 
board,  representative  in  the  general  assembly,  and 
is  now  chairman  of  the  board  of  fire  commission- 


ers. He  is  a  member  of  the  Universalist  church, 
and  of  the  order  of  Knights  of  Pythias.  He  is  em- 
phatically a  "  self-made  man,"  having  by  dint  of 
strict  business  methods  and  unswerving  integrity 
won  an  honorable  position  in  the  business  and 
social  world,  and  a  competence  at  the  same  time. 
It  is  a  pardonable  boast  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  that,  starting  with  nothing,  he  has  never 
seen  the  time  when  he  was  absolutely  in  want 
of  a  dollar.  His  credit  has  always  been  unlim- 
ited, for  the  reason  that  he  never  has  failed  to 
pay  when  promised.  To-day,  the  business  which 
he  has  established  ranks  as  the  second  largest 
in  this  line  in  the  state. 


S.   V.   ST.  JOHN. 


SELLECK  Y.  ST.  JOHN,  New  Canaan:  Banker. 
S.  Y.  St.  John  was  born  at  South  Salem,  in  the 
state  of  New  York,  February  10,  1819.  His  educa- 
tion was  obtained  in  district  schools  and  academies, 
where  was  laid  the  solid 
foundation  upon  which 
his  successes  in  business 
pursuits  have  since  been 
constructed.  He  was  en- 
gaged in  mercantile 
affairs  for  many  years, 
but  his  connections  have 
been  chiefly  with  banking  ■ 
and  other  financial  institu- 
tions. He  was  treasurer 
of  the  New  Canaan  Sav- 
ings Bank  for  seventeen 
years  from  its  organiza- 
tion in  1859,  and  has  been 
cashier  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  that  place 
since  it  was  organized  under  the  national  banking 
law  in  1865.  He  has  been  director  of  the  New 
Canaan  Railroad  for  a  number  of  years,  and  was 
president  of  the  company  from  1876  to  1878.  He  is 
also  president  of  the  New  Canaan  Cemetery  Asso- 
ciation, and  has  held  a  number  of  local  offices  in 
that  town,  including  that  of  town  clerk  for  nine 
years,  and  justice  of  the  peace  for  even  a  much 
longer  term.  Mr.  St.  John  is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics, and  as  such  was  elected,  successively  in  1879, 
1S81,  and  18S2,  to  represent  New  Canaan  in  the 
general  assembly  of  the  state,  where  he  rendered 
important  service  to  his  constituents  and  the  state. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  prominent  citizen  of 
his  town,  deeply  and  actively  interested  in  all  public 
affairs,  and  highlj^  esteemed  by  all  who  know  him. 
He  married  December  i,  1S40,  Miss  Mary  A.  Sey- 
mour, daughter  of  Holly  Seymour  of  New  Canaan, 
and  they  have  had  two  children,  neither  of  whom 
is  now  living.  A  granddaughter,  who  is  un- 
married and  resides  with  them,  is  their  only 
representative. 


84 


AX   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


ANER    SPERRY. 


ANER  SPERRY,  Hartford:    Trustee   in  Settle- 
ment of  Estates. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Russia,  Herkimer  County,  New  York,  Februaiy 
5,  1S12.  For  a  great  many  years  he  was  in  active 
business  in  Hartford,  and 
well-known  throughout 
the  city  and  county.  He 
practically  retired  3-ears 
ago,  and  has  since  devoted 
his  attention  to  the  settle- 
ment of  estates.  His 
erect  form  is  still  a  famil- 
iar one  on  the  streets  of 
Hartford;  and,  although 
nearly  eighty  years  of 
age,  his  step  is  firm  and 
his  eye  bright.  He  has 
personally  prepared  a 
sketch  of  his  life,  which  is 
printed  verbatim  below,  and  will  be  read  by  his 
acquaintances  with  greater  reli.sh  than  anything 
which  the  editor  could  offer  in  its  place. 

Mr.  Sparry  writes:  "  M^-  father  and  mother  went 
from  New  Haven  to  Russia,  N.  Y.,  in  the  year 
1800,  and  settled  on  a  farm  in  the  wilderness. 
They  had  then  one  datighter,  Laura;  they  con- 
structed a  log  house  in  which  they  lived  several 
years,  but  the  family  increased  and  a  larger  house 
was  required.  It  was  built  at  the  foot  of  a  small 
hill,  of  logs,  and  in  this  house  I  was  born.  I  take 
great  pleasure  in  visiting  the  spot  where  the  old  log 
house  stood,  and  looking  at  the  little  babbling 
brook  near  by  where  I  have  taken  so  much  comfort 
in  wading  in  the  water,  building  dams,  and  after 
school  filling  my  fish  basket  with  speckled  trout,  or 
picking  twelve  quarts  of  blackberries  and  carrying 
them  to  '  the  corners,'  one  and  a  half  miles  away. 
I  could  generally  get  two  cents  per  quart,  but  if 
the  market  was  dull  Esq.  Frink  would  take  them 
and  give  me  a  yard  of  cotton  cloth  that  was  worth 
one  York  shilling.  IMother  could  alwa3^s  find  use 
for  it,  as  I  had  five  sisters  and  two  brothers.  The 
school -house  was  one  and  a  half  miles  away,  and  I 
did  not  spend  much  time  there.  Father  was  a 
tailor  and  spent  most  of  the  winters  in  '  whipping 
the  cat,'  and  that  left  the  chores  and  wood-chopping 
for  me  to  do.  The  old  bay  mare  '  Cub  '  was  a  great 
help  to  me  in  getting  up  the  wood;  she  also  carried 
us  to  mill  and  to  meeting.  We  had  about  three 
acres  of  orchard  and  I  remember  the  names  of 
nearly  every  tree.  Father  built  a  frame  barn  and 
one  of  our  neighbors  had  a  frame  house;  he  died 
one  day  and  father  bought  the  house  for  fifty  dollars, 
and  the  neighbors  that  had  oxen  came  and  moved 
the  house  to  our  place  and  we  dug  a  cellar  under  it 
and  that  made  us  a  very  good  home.  It  was  a  hard 
struggle  for  our  parents  to  clear  up  the  land  and 


raise  so  large  a  family.  We  were  all  brought  up  in 
the  Methodist  faith  and  the  fear  of  hell  was  before 
our  eyes;  but  I  '  did  not  see  it.'  Our  advantages 
for  knowing  what  was  in  the  future  were  very 
limited.  The  answer  to  any  and  all  questions  was 
'  faith.'  Our  farm  was  very  hilly  and  it  made  lots 
of  hard  work.  The  soil  was  good.  A  brook  ran 
through  the  south  part  of  it,  and  a  spring  supplied 
the  north  part;  Ave  had  a  good  sugar  biish.  Our 
neighbors  were  kind  and  agreeable.  I  took  lots  of 
comfort  attending  singing  school. 

' '  At  the  age  of  sixteen  I  left  home  and  went  to 
live  with  John  Graves  in  the  fall,  and  did  chores 
for  my  board  and  went  to  school.  Perhaps  some 
of  the  sixteen-year-old  boys  of  the  present  day 
would  like  to  know  what  chores  I  had  to  do.  Well, 
the  first  was  to  get  out  of  bed  at  four  o'clock  a.  m.  , 
dress  and  go  to  the  barn  and  milk  six  cows,  feed 
forty  cows,  two  oxen,  and  five  horses,  then  go  to 
another  barn  and  feed  twenty  calves  and  fort)'' 
sheep ;  then  go  to  a  haystack  half  a  mile  away  and 
feed  five  colts,  shovel  away  the  snow  and  cut  a  hole 
in  the  ice  for  them  to  drink,  feed  six  hogs, —  all  of 
which  must  be  done  before  daylight.  Who  can 
guess  how  much  hay  has  been  handled?  Now 
breakfast  is  ready.  After  eating  in  a  hurry  the 
cows  are  all  turned  out  to  water,  and  put  back  if 
stormy,  horses  led  out  to  water,  and  all  of  the 
stables  cleaned  out;  now  comes  wood-sawing  and 
filling  the  woodbox  in  the  kitchen,  and  then  I  am 
now  ready  for  school.  At  twelve  I  must  hurry 
home  and  feed  all  the  cattle,  and  get  back  to  school 
for  the  afternoon.  As  soon  as  it  is  closed  I  am  seen 
running  home  to  do  the  chores,  which  are  not  fin- 
ished until  about  eight  o'clock;  then  when  supper 
is  over  I  am  soon  between  the  sheets.  This  is 
repeated  every  day  until  spring  arrives.  I  then  go 
to  work  for  seven  dollars  per  month.  This  is 
followed  up  for  five  years;  the  last  summer  the 
wages  reach  ten  dollars  per  month.  My  father 
takes  all  of  my  wages  for  the  five  years.  I  then 
arrive  at  the  age  of  twenty-one.  During  my  boy- 
hood, when  at  home,  my  father  gave  me  a  small 
patch  of  ground  on  which  I  raised  watermelons 
and  sold  them  at  general  trainings  and  picked  up  a 
little  money  of  my  own.  I  enlisted  into  the  artillery 
company,  Twenty-sixth  regiment,  N.  Y.  S.  artillery 
under  David  Joy.  Dr.  Walter  Booth  commanded 
the  company  afterward,  and  our  general  trainings 
were  held  at  Herkimer.  F.  E.  Spinner  was  colonel, 
he  who  was  afterwards  L^nited  States  treasurer. 
On  the  26th  of  July,  1830,  I  was  appointed  corporal 
of  the  company  and  received  my  warrant  from 
Colonel  Spinner  on  that  day.  Our  uniform  was  blue , 
trimmed  with  gilt  braid,  bell-crowned  caps  made  of 
patent  leather  and  brass  trimmed,  with  tall  red 
feather,  sword,  and  belt.  I  enlisted  when  I  was 
seventeen.     When  I  became  twentv-one  I  was  sick 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


85 


of  farming  and  decided  to  look  for  some  other  busi- 
ness. Father  said  '  If  j^ou  will  stay  hei'e  and  take 
care  of  me  and  mother,  when  we  get  through  you 
shall  have  all  that  is  left.'  I  thanked  him  for  his 
very  kind  and  generous  offer,  and  said  to  him, 
'  You  have  worked  all  of  your  life  so  far  and  got  to- 
gether a  farm  of  fifty  acres,  and  it  is  well-stocked 
and  worth  about  $1,500.  Now  I  shall  decline  the 
offer  for  two  reasons:  first,  I  have  brothers  and 
sisters,  and  would  not  take  it  all;  second,  I  think  I 
can  do  better.'  I  was  then  twenty-one  and  had 
thirty  dollars  in  my  pocket.  I  left  Russia  about 
the  4th  of  April,  1S33,  for  New  Haven,  by  stage; 
could  not  get  work,  and  my  thirty  dollars  was  re- 
duced to  one  dollar  and  seventy-five  cents.  Left 
New  Haven  at  eight  a.m.,  arrived  in  Hartford  at 
four  P.M.,  having  walked  thirty-six  miles;  applied 
at  the  Retreat  for  work  without  success;  went  to 
Mr.  Johnson's  house  near  by  and  staid  over  night; 
told  him  my  situation,  and  he  gave  me  my  supper, 
lodging,  and  breakfast,  and  it  was  valued  higher 
than  any  gift  that  I  ever  received.  Next  morning 
went  over  to  the  Retreat  and  obtained  a  situa- 
tion. Was  employed  in  the  house  for  .six  months; 
then  went  outside  and  drove  the  team  seven  and 
one-half  years.  My  stay  there  was  very  pleasant 
and  agreeable.  I  had  fifteen  dollars  per  month  for 
two  years  and  twenty  dollars  per  month  for  six 
years.  The  managers  made  me  a  present  of  fifty 
dollars  when  I  left.  Dr.  Todd  was  superintendent 
and  Phineas  Talcott  steward  when  I  went  there, 
and  Dr.  Brigham  was  superintendent  and  Virgil 
Cornish  steward  when  I  left.  The  boys  there 
wanted  to  use  their  money  faster  than  they  earned 
it,  and  I  lent  them  money  every  month  at  a  large 
interest.  I  saved  my  money  and  the  big  interest 
helped  me  out.  I  spent  but  very  little.  I  attended 
dancing  school  two  winters.  The  first  thousand 
dollars  that  I  earned  I  put  into  the  grocery  trade 
M'ith  a  partner,  who  managed  the  business  two 
years  and  then  left  with  all  of  the  funds.  I  left  the 
Retreat  in  the  spring  of  1841,  and  manufactured 
root  beer  for  five  months;  cleared  $875.  Then  I 
formed  a  copartnership  with  Frederick  F.  Taylor. 
We  bought  out  Solomon  Smith's  livery  stable, 
price  $2,500.  I  had  $2,200,  and  Mr.  Tajdor  had 
$300.  We  were  located  on  Front  street.  Mr. 
Smith  still  owned  the  office,  which  we  afterwards 
bought  for  $700.  Then  we  bought  of  Christopher 
Colt  a  barn  for  $1,200;  then  bought  of  Griffin  Sted- 
man  a  house  on  Talcott  street  for  $1,500;  then  sold 
the  whole  to  Daniel  Buck  for  an  advance  of  $500. 
We  then  bought  of  Wm.  Kellogg  a  barn  corner  of 
Front  and  Talcott  streets  for  $4,000.  On  this 
ground  I  built  my  first  house;  it  was  a  neat  little 
house  of  four  rooms.  August  iS,  1844,  I  was  mar- 
ried to  Nancy  B.  Miller;  she  was  from  East  Hamp- 
ton, N.  Y.;  she  was  six  years  younger  than  myself. 


We  were  married  at  the  ]Methodist  Church.  I 
played  the  bass  viol  there  five  years.  I  think 
Nancy  was  the  best  housekeeper  in  the  wide  world. 
We  lived  together  thirty-nine  years;  she  died 
August  31,  J 883.  Mr.  Taylor  and  myself  bought, 
in  the  spring  of  1847,  the  old  Goodwin  livery  stable 
in  rear  of  the  Exchange  Bank,  State  street,  for 
$13,200.  Mr.  Taylor's  health  failed  in  1850  and  I 
bought  him  out  and  paid  him  $8,000.  I  continued 
the  business  until  1S59.  I  had  ten  hacks  and 
twenty-five  single  teams,  and  generally  kept  fifty 
horses  and  attended  to  most  of  the  funerals.  I  ein- 
ploj'ed  fifteen  men  and  had  a  large  run  of  business. 
Kept  my  own  books.  My  hacks  cost  generally  from 
$1,200  to  $1,500;  I  had  one  that  cost  $2,000,  and 
Mrs.  Sigourney  had  the  first  ride  in  it.  I  lost  over 
fifty  horses,  the  value  of  which  was  at  least  $10,000, 
and  bad  debts  on  my  books  $10,000.  My  barn  was 
burned  and  the  loss,  over  the  insurance,  Avas  $8,000. 
I  gave  Geo.  K.  Reed  $5,000,  Mrs.  Sharp's  family 
$2,300,  Geo.  W.  Loveland  $3,100,  Frederick  S. 
Sperry  $300,  Philena  Fithian  $250,  PoUa  Osborn 
$250,  and  many  other  smaller  gifts,  also  S.  A.  L. 
$2,200.  Lost  by  endorsements  and  otherwise  over 
$20,000.  The  aggregate  amount  of  losses  and  gifts 
$70,000.  The  interest  added,  this  amount  Avould, 
at  this  time,  make  the  whole  amount  considerably 
over  $100,000. 

"  I  bought  ten  hacks  here,  three  in  New  Haven, 
thirty-five  in  Bridgeport.  My  livery  property 
would  generally  inventory  about  $30,000.  When  I 
commenced  the  business,  our  capital  being  but 
$2,500,  I  was  obliged  to  have  some  credits.  I  got 
Robert  Buell  to  endorse  for  me.  He  was  on  my 
paper  most  of  the  time.  I  gave  him  what  riding 
he  wanted,  which  amounted  to  about  one  hundred 
dollars  per  j-ear.  I  have  been  interested  in  the 
hack  business  outside  of  my  own  business  with 
James  Givin,  Mr.  Boyington,  Mr.  Briggs,  John 
White,  E.  P.  Cottrell,  James  Tehan,  C.  B.  Board- 
man,  Geo.  Goyt,  I.  A.  Chamberlain,  and  Merrick 
Freeman.  I  finally  wound  up  by  selling  out  to 
Freeman.  I  took  a  house  of  him  on  Pleasant 
street  and  lived  there  one  year;  changed  that  for 
a  farm  on  Windsor  avenue.  In  the  spring  of  1S60 
I  bought  my  house  on  Ann  street.  During  1859 
and  1S60  I  was  out  of  business,  and  it  was  the  two 
hardest  years'  work  that  I  have  ever  done.  At 
that  time  Hewett  &  Rogers  failed  in  the  livery 
business,  and  theirs  was  the  first  estate  that  I  ever 
settled;  but  I  have  followed  the  business  ever  since, 
and  my  list  numbers  now  175.  My  fees  will  amount 
to  about  $17,000. 

"  When  I  first  started  out  to  take  care  of  myself 
the  main' object  was  to  provide  for  myself  a  good 
home.  I  have  denied  myself  many  things  in  my 
youth  that  would  have  been  pleasant  to  enjo}-,  but 
by  so  doing  I  have  accomplished  my  object.      I 


86 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


I-".   S.   STEVENS. 


have  got  my  long-desired  good  home,  although  in 
getting  it  I  have  passed  through  many  storms ;  but 
the  storms  are  over  and  the  sun  shines  bright." 

Since  the  above  sketch  was  prepared,  Mr.  Sperry 
has  married.  May  6,  1S91,  Mrs.  Emily  J.  House  of 
Hartford. 

FREDERICK  S.  STEVENS,  Bridgeport:  Whole- 
sale and  Retail  Druggist. 

Frederick  S.  Stevens  comes  of  a  long  and  illustri- 
ous line  of  Connecticut  ancestry,  being  of  the  sev- 
enth generation  from  Thomas  Stevens,  who  died  in 
Stamford  in  1658;  a  great- 
grandson  of  Lieutenant 
Ezra  Stevens  of  Revolu- 
tionary fame;  and  grand- 
son of  Zadoc  Stevens,  an 
honored  representative  of 
his  native  town  of  Dan- 
burv  in  the  legislature 
of  I S  24-5.  Oliver  Wol- 
cott  was  then  governor 
and  Ralph  I.  Ingersoll 
speaker  of  the  House. 
The  men  who  were  sought 
for  legislative  honors  in 
those  days  were  the  lead- 
ing men  of  Connecticut;  and  of  the  gentlemen  who 
served  with  Zadoc  Stevens  one  became  a  United 
States  senator,  six  became  governors  of  Connecti- 
cut, six  members  of  congress,  one  L^nited  States 
minister  to  the  court  of  Russia,  and  thirty-four  oth- 
ers obtained  high  places  in  the  administration  of 
state  affairs.  Israel  Coe  of  Waterbury  is  to-day  the 
only  surviving  member  of  the  distinguished  legisla- 
ture of  1824-5. 

F.  S.  Stevens  Avas  born  in  Danbury,  1S4S,  and 
removed  to  Knoxville,  Illinois,  when  quite  young. 
The  public  schools  of  Knoxville  and  two  years  in 
Knox  College,  Galesburg,  111.,  completed  his  edu- 
cational advantages.  For  about  twenty  years 
he  has  been  engaged  in  the  drug  trade  in  Bridge- 
port, which  city  has  honored  him  with  various 
positions  of  trust.  He  was  one  of  the  twenty-five 
originators  of  the  Connecticut  State  Pharmaceuti- 
cal association.  He  was  five  years  on  Colonel  Wat- 
son's staff,  C.  N.  G.  4th  Regt.  He  was  elected  last 
fall  to  represent  Bridgeport  in  the  general  assem- 
bly, as  a  democrat.  He  is  secretary  and  a  director 
of  the  Masonic  Temple  Association  of  Bridgeport,  a 
past  master  of  Corinthian  Lodge,  No.  104,  F.  &  A. 
M.,  a  prominent  member  of  the  board  of  trade,  the 
Seaside  Club,  and  of  Christ  Protestant  Episcopal 
church.  He  was  married  in  1876  to  Anna  May, 
only  daughter  of  Edward  L.  Gaylord,  ex-president 
of  the  Eagle  Lock  Company  of  Terryville.  His 
family  consists  of  four  children.  Mr.  Stevens  is  a 
quiet,  genial  gentleman,  and  a  thorough  business 


man,  whose  sound  sense,  sterling  integrity,  and 
good  judgment,  have  always  forced  him  into  the 
front  rank  of  his  fellow-citizens  and  his  party. 


WILLIAM  I.  LEWIS,  Grove  Beach,  Westhrook. 
Mr.  Lewis  was  born  at  New  Canaan,  in  this  state, 
in  1840,  the  son  of  Isaac  Hayes  Lewis,  and  nephew 
of  John  Lewis,  for  whom  the  town  of  Lewisboro, 
Westchester  county,  N. 
Y. ,  is  named.  He  is  de- 
scended from  the  old 
French  Huguenot  familj' 
of  Hayes,  who  settled 
New  Rochelle,  N.  Y.,  and 
from  the  old  Connecticut 
family  of  Lewis.  He  was 
solidly  educated  at  the 
New  York  public  schools 
and  free  academy.  He 
studied  law  three  years 
in  the  office  of  Lawyer 
Sherman    in    New    York 

W.    I.    LEWIS.  .  ^  , 

city,  and  two  3'ears  at  the 
Columbian  University,  Washington,  D.  C.  His 
life  has  been  a  varied  and  busy  one  :  in  the  army, 
in  manufacturing  and  mercantile  pursuits,  and  at 
times  holding  several  important  offices  of  trust 
under  the  government.  In  the  early  part  of  the 
war  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  the  20th  Connecticut 
volunteers,  and  being  a  rapid  and  fine  penman,  he 
was  soon  placed  on  detailed  service  with  Captain 
John  P.  Green,  now  vice-president  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vania railroad,  and  in  the  field  with  the  fearless 
General  Thomas  L.  Kane,  brother  of  the  famous 
Arctic  explorer,  and  while  on  this  duty  was  with 
the  general  day  and  night,  of  whom  it  was  said 
"  He  never  slept."  Mr.  Lewis  was  captured  by 
the  famous  guerilla  chief  Mosbj-  and  incarcerated 
in  Castle  Thunder  and  Libby  prisons.  Before  the 
close  of  the  war  he  was  made  the  general  account- 
ant of  the  military  railroads,  U.  S.,  which  was 
organized  by  Thomas  A.  Scott,  the  great  president 
of  the  Pennsylvania  railroad,  and  he  undertook  and 
successfully  accomplished  the  work  of  classifying, 
arranging,  and  tabulating  the  multifarious  reports 
of  the  thirty-five  railroads  operated  by  the  govern- 
ment throughout  the  rebellious  states  into  one 
volume  or  tabulated  statement,  comprising  over 
200  folios,  which  is  on  file  in  the  archives  of  the 
state  department  at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  it  is 
said  to  be  the  finest  and  most  elaborate  and  com- 
plete statistical  report  of  its  kind  in  existence.  He 
was  for  three  years  in  the  office  of  the  secretary  of 
the  treasury,  and  while  there  originated  and  estab- 
lished the  system  of  accounting  and  rules  now  in  use, 
governing  the  expenses  of  collecting  the  revenue 
from  customs  throughout  the  United  States, 
wherebv  the  secretarvof  the  treasurv  controls  these 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


87 


expenditures,  and  which  has  resulted  in  saving 
miUions  of  dollars  to  the  government.  His  knowl- 
edge of  public  men  is  large,  having  been  connected 
with  the  treasury  and  for  the  past  seven  years 
associated  wdth  the  sergeant-at-arms  of  the  U.  S. 
senate  at  Washington.  ]Mr.  Lewis  has  always  risen 
in  the  estimation  of  those  with  w'hom  he  has  been 
associated  by  simjale  force  of  his  ability  and  charac- 
ter. Shortly  after  the  war  he  married  Isadora, 
daughter  of  Mr.  William  D.  Winship  of  George- 
town, D.  C.  Three  sons  and  three  daughters  are 
the  fruit  of  this  union.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Presbyterian  church  and  with  his  good  wife  founded 
a  mission  church  of  that  denomination,  while 
sojourning  in  Washington.  He  is  also  a  free 
mason  and  in  politics  has  always  been  a  pronounced 
republican.  He  believes  in  progression  and  takes 
great  interest  in  everything  pertaining  to  the  wel- 
fare of  Connecticut;  especially  is  he  interested  in 
all  improvements  in  his  own  locality.  He  is  an  enter- 
prising citizen  of  the  town  of  Westbrook.  He  has 
resided  at  Grove  Beach,  between  the  villages  of 
Clinton  and  Westbrook,  with  his  family  since  1872. 
He  is  a  verj'  nervy,  tireless  worker  at  whatever  he 
undertakes,  as  shown  by  his  energy  in  causing  the 
opening  of  the  new  and  beautiful  shore  highway 
running  through  Grove  Beach  and  connecting  the 
towns  of  Clinton  and  Westbrook,  and  in  his  un- 
tiring and  persistent  work  for  the  breakwater  im- 
provement at  Duck  Island  Harbor  on  the  sea  front 
of  these  towms.  He  is  the  founder  of  Grove  Beach, 
and  the  improvements  and  wonderful  growth  of 
this  place  in  the  past  few  years  is  due  to  him  more 
than  to  an}^  other  person  for  his  enterprise  and 
push  in  developing  this  charming  summer  resort. 


JOSEPH  PIERPONT,  North  Haven,  Merchant. 
Joseph  Pierpont  was  born  in  North  Haven  March 
II,  1853,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
and  at  Cheshire  academy,  providing  him  with  a 
thorough  equipment  for 
business.  He  is  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits  and 
is  a  careful  and  judicious 
manager.  Mr.  Pierpont 
is  a  member  of  St.  John's 
Episcopal  church  at 
North  Haven,  occupying 
the  position  of  junior 
warden.  In  politics  he  is 
a  republican.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of 
school  visitors,  his  present 
term  expiring  in  1892. 
IVIr.  Pierpont  has  a  wife 

and  three  children.     The  former  was  Miss   Hattie 
B.  Brockett  prior  to  her  marriage. 


^C^fSS'^^^V 


W.    W.    E.\TON. 


JOSEI-H      I'lERrONT. 


HON.  W.  W.  EATON,  H.^rtford;  Ex-Congress- 
man. 

Wilham  W.  Eaton  was  born  at  Tolland,  October 
II,  1 8 16,  and  received  a  public  school  education 
there,  preparing  him  for  business  life.  His  father, 
Hon.  Luther  Eaton,  was 
a  man  of  notable  honesty 
and  integrity,  possessing 
the  fullest  confidence  and 
respect  of  the  community 
in  which  he  resided.  He 
was  also  a  man  of  politi- 
cal influence  and  control, 
at  one  time  representing 
the  old  twentieth  district 
in  the  state  senate.  Mr. 
Eaton  inherited  the  strict 
probity  and  independence 
of  conviction  of  his  father, 
and  from  the  earliest  pe- 
riod of  his  life  his  course  has  been  one  of  fearless 
adherence  to  what  he  has  beheved  to  be  right.  On 
arriving  at  his  majority  he  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  at  Columbia,  S.  C,  and  spent  three  or  four 
years  there  in  business.  The  strong  individual 
views  which  characterized  his  subsequent  course  in 
public  affairs  were  established  in  part  at  least  by 
his  residence  at  the  South.  At  the  conclusion  of 
his  commercial  career,  which  lasted  upwards  of 
four  vears,  he  returned  North  and  commenced  the 
study  of  law  at  his  old  home  in  Tolland,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Tolland  county.  In  1847  he 
was  elected  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  house  of 
representatives  from  Tolland,  and  was  returned  the 
following  year  from  that  town.  From  that  time 
until  now  he  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in  Con- 
necticut politics.  In  1 8 50  he  was  elected  to  the 
state  senate  from  the  old  twentieth  district.  At  the 
end  of  the  session  of  the  general  assembly  that  3-ear 
Mr.  Eaton  removed  to  Hartford,  and  has  since 
been  a  resident  here.  He  received  the  appointment 
of  clerk  of  the  Hartford  county  court,  and  proved 
himself  a  thoroughly  competent  official.  In  1S53 
he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  house  from  Hart- 
ford and  w^as  chosen  speaker,  a  position  for  which 
he  was  amply  qualified  both  by  reason  of  ability 
and  experience.  Mr.  Eaton  was  also  a  member  of 
the  house  from  Hartford  during  the  sessions  of 
1863,  '68,  '70,  '71,  '73,  and  '74.  In  1873  he  was 
elected  speaker  for  the  second  time,  and  discharged 
the  duties  of  the  position  with  characteristic  effi- 
ciency and  success.  Mr.  Eaton  possesses  special 
adaptation  for  the  legislative  function,  and  his 
career  in  the  general  assembly  was  marked  b}^  the 
highest  personal  integrity  and  uprightness.  During 
the  session  of  1874  he  w^as  elected  LTnited  States 
senator  from  Connecticut,  succeeding  Hon.  William 
A.  Buckingham,  whose  term  expired  March  4,  1S75. 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Upon  the  death  of  Senator  Buckingham  in  February, 
1875,  Mr.  Eaton  was  appointed  United  States  sena- 
tor, filling  the  vacancy  caused  by  Mr.  Bucking- 
ham's death,  and  assumed  the  duties  of  the  office 
February  13,  1875.  Commencing  his  full  term  on 
the  4th  of  March  following,  he  remained  in  Wash- 
ington during  the  succeeding  six  years,  establish- 
ing for  himself  a  record  in  which  the  state  might 
experience  a  just  sense  of  pride.  During  the  con- 
cluding years  of  his  senatorial  life  he  was  senate 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  foreign  relations,  one 
of  the  most  important  in  congress.  He  was  opposed 
to  the  appointment  of  the  electoral  commission  by 
which,  in  1876,  the  election  of  President  Hayes  was 
ratified,  and  was  the  only  democrat  in  the  senate 
who  voted  against  the  measure.  Mr.  Eaton  was 
one  of  the  strongest  advocates  of  tariff  reform  dur- 
ing his  term  in  congress,  and  was  the  author  of  an 
important  measure  providing  for  the  appointment 
of  a  tariff  commission.  His  term  expired  March  3, 
1881,  before  his  bill  could  be  made  a  law,  but  the 
subsequent  congress  enacted  a  measure  covering 
the  main  provisions  of  Mr.  Eaton's  act.  He  was  a 
hard-money  democrat,  and  held  positive  views  with 
regard  to  the  greenback  controversy  which  agitated 
the  country  a  few  years  ago.  In  the  fall  of  1SS2  he 
received  the  democratic  nomination  for  congress 
from  the  first  district,  and  was  elected  by  a  hand- 
some majority.  At  the  close  of  his  term  he  retired 
from  active  political  life,  though  his  voice  is  still 
heard  and  his  influence  felt  in  the  councils  of  his 
party. 

HARVY    GODARD,    North    Granby  :     Farmer 
and  jMiller. 

Harvy  Godard  was  born  in  North  Granby, 
March  15,  1823,  and  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools,  preparing  him  for  a  useful  and  successful 
life.  In  1S73  he  was  a 
member  of  the  general 
assembly  from  the  town 
of  Granby,  and  was  mas- 
ter of  the  state  grange 
from  1875  until  1879.  He 
has  held  most  of  the  of- 
fices within  the  gift  of  his 


town,  and  is  an  active 
and  influential  citizen  of 
Granby.  He  is  a  demo- 
crat in  politics.  Mr.  God- 
ard has  devoted  his  life  to 
agricultural  pursuits.  He 
is  a  member  of  St.  Mark's 
Lodge,  No.  36,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Tariffville.  He 
has  always  lived  in  North  Granby,  where,  in  addi- 
tion to  his  farming  occupations,  he  has  carried  on  a 
sawmill  and  gristmill.  One  of  his  yearly  pastimes 
is  to  distill  a  small  quantity  of  cider  brandy  in  the 


IIARVY  GODARD. 


old-fashioned  way.  Mr.  Godard  has  a  wife  and 
five  sons.  The  former  was  Miss  Sabra  L.  Beach 
prior  to  'her  marriage.  His  only  daughter,  Grace 
M.,  died  in  1878,  aged  three  years. 


'F~^ 


g      ^'^ 


N.    C.    STILES. 


NORMAN  C.    STILES,    Middletown:  Manufac- 
turer of  Machinery. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  like  very  many  other 
persons  who  have  risen  to  prominence,  and  who 
have  been  largely  instrumental  in  building  up  great 
enterprises,  was  a  poor 
boy,  but  possessed  with 
energy  and  push,  and 
succeeded  in  establishing 
one  of  the  most  import- 
ant industries  in  the  coun- 
trv,  from  which  he  retired 
in  December  last,  leaving 
his  son,  E.  S.  Stiles,  in  his 
place.  He  was  born  at 
Feeding  Hills,  a  village 
of  Agawam,  Mass.,  June 
iS,  1S34.  Through  mis- 
fortunes to  thjg  father,  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
deprived  of  the  educational  advantages  enjoyed  by 
most  boys  of  his  age.  He  early  developed  invent- 
ive genius  and  remarkable  mechanical  ability,  and 
various  devices  were  constructed  by  him,  previous 
to  the  age  of  sixteen,  when  he  removed  to  Meriden 
and  engaged  with  his  brother,  Doras  A.  Stiles,  in 
the  manufacture  of  tinware;  but  this  gave  him  no 
opportunity  to  develop  his  mechanical  tastes,  and 
he  soon  after  became  connected  with  the  American 
Machine  Works,  at  Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he 
remained  until  he  attained  his  majority.  Soon 
after  he  returned  to  Meriden,  Conn.,  and  entered 
the  employ  of  Messrs.  Snow,  Brooks  &  Co. ,  now 
known  as  Messrs.  Parker  Brothers.  He  was  em- 
ployed in  making  dies  aM  other  small  work, 
requiring  great  skill  and  ingenuity.  He  subse- 
quently entered  the  employ  of  Messrs.  Edward 
Miller  &  Co.  of  Meriden,  where  he  remained  until 
1857,  when  he  concluded  to  "  paddle  his  own 
canoe,"  and  began  the  manufacture  of  presses  and 
dies.  His  business  increased  at  a  rapid  rate  and 
required  additional  facilities,  and  Mr.  Stiles  selected 
Middletown  as  a  good  place  for  wider  operations, 
removed  there,  and  has  remained  there  ever  since. 
Previous  to  removing  to  Middletown,  Mr.  Stiles 
made  several  improvements  in  his  punching  press, 
among  others  an  eccentric  adjustment,  which  was 
a  great  improvement  on  other  punching  presses 
then  in  use,  and  far  superior  to  what  was  known  as 
the  Fowler  press.  This  device  he  patented  in  1864. 
Parker  Bros,  of  Meriden,  who  were  engaged  in 
manufacturing    the    Fowler    press,    adopted    Mr. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


89 


Stiles'  eccentric  adjustment,  which  involved  a  long 
and  expensive  litigation,  resulting  finally  in  a  com- 
promise and  the  organization  of  the  Stiles  &  Parker 
Press  Co. ,  in  which  Mr.  Stiles  held  the  controlHng 
interest.  In  1S73  Mr.  Stiles  attended  the  Vienna 
exposition,  through  which  he  obtained  a  foreign 
market  for  his  goods.  His  presses  are  used  in  the 
armories  and  navy  yards  of  the  United  States,  as 
well  as  those  of  Germany,  Austria,  Prussia, 
Sweden,  Tm-key,  Egj^at,  France,  and  Mexico.  He 
has  interested  himself  in  the  public  affairs  of 
]\Iiddletown,  and  served  several  years  as  a  member 
of  the  boards  of  councilmen  and  aldermen.  He 
married,  March  23,  1864,  Sarah  M.,  daughter  of 
Henry  Smith  of  iliddletown.  They  have  three 
children,  Doctor  Henry  R.,  Edmund  S.,  secretary 
and  superintendent  of  the  Stiles  &  Parker  Press 
Company-,  and  JNIilly  B.  Mr.  Stiles  is  a  member 
of  the  church  of  the  Holy  Trinity  (Episcopal), 
of  Jliddletown  ;  of  the  society  of  Mechanical  Engi- 
ineers  and  Engineer's  Club  of  New  York,  and  of 
the  Knights  Templar  of  ]\Iiddletown.  In  politics 
he  is  a  republican. 


\ 


.^ 


GEORGE   E.   JONES,   Litchfield:  Cashier  First 

National  Bank. 

George  Eaton  Jones  was  born  in  Litchfield, 
March  31,  1S49,  and  received  a  thorough  common 
school  and  business  education.  He  is  engaged  in 
banking  and  farming, 
being  the  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of 
Litchfield  for  sixteen 
years  and  one  of  the  best- 
known  breeders  and  im- 
porters of  Jersey  stock  in 
the  state.  He  is  the  vice- 
president  and  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Connecti-  ^t 
cut  Jersey  cattle  breeders 
association,  treasurer  of 
the  Litchfield  county  ag- 
ricultural society,  treasu- 
rer of  Litchfield  county, 
founder  and  director  of  the  Litchfield  Water  Co. , 
and  the  treasurer  of  Darius  Chapter,  No.  16,  R.  A. 
M.  He  is  also  past  master  of  St.  Paul's  Lodge  of 
Litchfield  and  member  of  Buell  Council,  M.  E.  M. 
Mr.  Jones  is  a  member  of  the  Reform  Club  of  New- 
York  city  arid  a  staunch  democrat  in  politics.  He 
has  held  the  positions  of  burgess  and  warden  of  the 
borough  of  Litchfield.  He  belongs  to  St."  Michael's 
Episcopal  church  in  Litchfield.  The  wife  of  Mr. 
Jones,  M'ho  was  Eva  Freelon  Colvocoresses  prior  to 
her  marriage,  died  in  1875.  There  is  one  daugh- 
ter, the  fruit  of  this  union.  Mr.  Jones  formerly  re- 
sided in  Hartford,  spending  six  years  in  this  city. 


E.    JONES. 


WATROUS. 


WILLIAM     HENRY     WATROUS,    H.^rtford; 
President,  Treasurer,   and   General  Manager  of 
the  Wm.  Rogers  Manufacturing  Company. 
Wilham  H.  Watrous  was  born  July  18,  1841,  in 

Hartford;  received  his  education  under  Mrs.  M.  M. 

Perry  in  the  Arsenal  school;  attended  the  Hartford 

Public   High   school    one 

year;  and  in  1855,  at  the 

age  of  14  years,  began  to 

learn  the  trade  of  electro- 
plating in  the  factory  of 

his  uncles,  Rogers  Broth- 
ers,  who   built   the   shop 

foot  of   Trumbull  street, 

now  occupied   by   Jewell 

Belting      Company.       In 

1859  he  was  engaged  with 

Rogers,  Smith  &   Co.   on 

Mechanics  street.    In  1861 

he  was  among  the  first  to 

enlist   in   Rifle   Company 

A,  First  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  and 
served  under  Captain  Joseph  R.  Hawley,  now 
LTnited  States  senator.  In  1S62  he  re-entered  the 
United  States  service  as  first  sergeant  of  Company 

B,  Twenty-fourth  Regiment,  C.  V.,  being  after- 
wards promoted  to  second  lieutenant  of  the  same 
company.  In  1865  he  was  with  WilHam  Rogers 
when  the  latter  organized  the  Wm.  Rogers  Manu- 
facturing Company  at  the  corner  of  Front  and 
Grove  streets.  In  1S6S  he  removed  to  Waterbury, 
where  he  had  charge  of  the  plating  department  of 
Rogers  &  Brother.  In  1870  he  returned  to  Hart- 
ford, and  founded  the  Rogers  Cutlery  Company 
with  his  uncle,  Asa  H.  Rogers.  They  commenced 
business  on  Asylum  street  with  onlj-  two  em- 
ployes. Soon  after  Mr.  Rogers  withdrew,  and  the 
business  was  moved  into  a  factory  in  rear  of  the 
Fourth  church  on  North  Main  street.  In  1879  he 
purchased  one-half  of  the  stock  of  the  Wm.  Rogers 
^Manufacturing  Company,  and  moved  the  Rogers 
Cutlery  Company  into  their  factory,  corner  of 
Front  and  Grove  streets,  when  he  became  presi- 
dent, treasurer,  and  general  manager  of  both  com- 
panies, in  which  positions  he  has  since  continued. 
In  1SS7  he  bought  the  Kohn  silk  mill  property  on 
Market  street,  and  moved  the  Rogers  companies 
into  the  buildings  which  they  now  occupy.  They 
employ  150  hands,  and  sell  over  $600,000  worth  of 
goods  per  year.  In  18S9  he  made  a  contract  with 
a  factory  in  Taunton,  Mass.,  to  make  hollow-ware, 
and  over  100  hands  are  kept  busy  in  making  blanks 
for  the  Rogers  companies.  In  1890  he  bought  the 
Wickersham  property  in  Norwich,  in  this  state,  and 
commenced  the  manufacture  of  solid  steel  handle 
knives,  carvers,  fruit  knives,  etc.  One  hundred 
hands  are  employed,  and  2,000  dozens  of  knives  are 
made  each  week.    The  secret  of  the  transition  of  Mr. 


90 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


Watrous  from  the  condition  of  a  poor  boy  to  a  suc- 
cessful businessman,  worth  many  thousands  of  dol- 
lars and  emplopng  hundreds  of  hands,  has  been  his 
strict  business  integrity  and  the  undeviating  quality 
of  goods  manufactured,  —  always  selling  a  better 
quahty  of  goods  than  his  competitors  for  the  same 
money,  —  his  thorough,  practical  mechanical  knowl- 
edge, and  his  daily  personal  supervision  of  every 
detail  connected  with  the  business,  and  his  interest 
in  employes,  many  of  whom  have  been  constantly 
in  his  employ  for  from  ten  to  fifteen  years.  He  is 
a  strong  republican,  a  member  of  Robert  O.  Tyler 
Post,  G.  A.  R.,  a  member  of  Hartford  Lodge  of 
Free  Masons,  and  a  member  of  Washington  Com- 
mandery.  Knights  Templar. 


M^ 


WILLIAM     ROGERS. 


WILLIAM  ROGERS,  Hartford:    Manufacturer 
of  electro-plated  ware. 

William  Rogers  was  born  in  Hartford,  Nov.  15, 
1833,  and  was  educated  in  the  Hartford  grammar 
school,  at  the  same  time  with  Senator  Joseph  R. 
Hawley,   Hon.   Henry  C. 
'»*..        ~"^\  Robinson,    Hon.    Charles 

\  J.  Hoadly,  LL.D.,  of  the 

state  library,  Charles  E. 
Perkins,  and  ex-]\Iayor 
Charles  R.  Chapman. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  liv- 
ing, was  Miss  Lucy  J. 
Ramsey,  the  soprano  of 
the  famous  Christ  Church 
choir.  One  son,  a  lad  of 
ten  years,  is  the  fruit  of 
this  marriage.  Mr.  Rog- 
ers is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics, but  has  not  held  pub- 
lic office  of  any  kind.  He  is  engaged  in  the  manu- 
facture of  electro-plated  ware,  and  is  at  present  con- 
nected with  Simpson,  Hall,  Miller  &  Co.,  at  Walling- 
ford,  in  this  state,  under  a  contract  that  gives  him  ab- 
solute control  of  the  mantifacture  and  quality  of  the 
goods  that  bear  his  name,  being  made  by  the  orig- 
inal Rogers  plan,  as  taught  him,  and  as  practiced 
by  his  father.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  con- 
nected from  boyhood  with  the  original  Rogers 
Brothers  in  Hartford,  his  father  being  the  senior 
member.  He  was  afterwards  connected  with  the 
Rogers  Brothers,  in  a  contract  for  120  months  with 
the  Meriden  Britannia  Company  at  Meriden,  super- 
vising and  controlling  the  quality  of  goods  then 
stamped  Rogers  Brothers.  He  is  the  only  survivor 
of  the  four  Rogers  of  the  original  Rogers  family, 
who  established,  upheld,  and  retained  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  Rogers  name  upon  electro-jDlated  goods. 
The  Rogers  were  the  first  successful  electro-platers. 
This  involved  the  first  successful  electro  battery, 
and  preceded  bj-  many  years  the   great  electrical 


JAMES    SHEPARD. 


improvements  of  late  years.  In  fact,  it  was  the 
first  step  in  these  wonderful  developments.  Mr. 
Rogers  resides  on  Ann  street  in  this  city,  and  is 
widely  known  throughout  the  country. 


JAMES  SHEPARD,  New  Britain  :  Solicitor  of 
Patents  and  Expert  in  Patent  Causes. 
Mr.  Shepard  is  a  descendant  of  the  eighth  genera- 
tion of  Edward  Shepard,  who  came  from  England, 
and  was  settled  at  Cambridge,  Mass.,  in  1639;  and 
of  the  seventh  generation 
of  John  Shepard  of  Cam- 
bridge, who  settled  in 
Hartford,  Conn.,  about 
1666.  On  his  mother's 
side  he  is  a  descendant  of 
the  eighth  generation  of 
Thomas  Alcott,  who  came 
from  England  in  1630, 
and  settled  at  Charles- 
town,  Mass.  He  was 
born  at  Southington, 
Conn.,  May  16,  1838,  and 
received  a  common  school 
and  academic  education. 
On  September  25,  1S59,  he  married  Celia  A.  Curtis 
of  Bristol,  and  their  only  child  is  a  daughter.  In 
1862,  they  removed  to  Bristol,  where  they  resided 
for  twelve  years.  In  1866  he  began  the  business  of 
soliciting  patents  and  has  followed  it  ever  since. 
Prior  to  that  time  he  had  been  employed  as  a 
machinist.  He  opened  an  office  in  New  Britain  in 
1868,  dividing  his  time  between  that  place  and 
Bristol  until  1S76,  when  he  abandoned  his  Bristol 
office  and  changed  his  residence  to  New  Britain. 
About  1873  he  began  to  testify  as  an  expert  before 
the  United  States  circuit  courts,  in  causes  apper- 
taining to  patents.  He  has  now  had  a  successful 
experience  of  twenty-five  years  in  soliciting  patents, 
and  ranks  among  the  best  and  most  skillful  patent 
solicitors  in  the  country.  As  an  expert  in  mechan- 
ics, he  is  widely  known  among  manufacturers  and 
patent  lawyers,  having  testified  in  several  hundred 
causes,  and  his  testimony  having  been  used  in  all 
parts  of  the  United  States,  from  California  and 
Oregon  on  the  west,  to  Pennsylvania  and  Maine  on 
the  east,  and  from  Wisconsin  on  the  north  to  Louis- 
iana on  the  south. 

In  religion  he  is  a  Congregationalist,  and  in  poli- 
tics a  republican.  When  in  Bristol,  he  was  one  of 
the  leaders  of  his  party,  but  made  his  change  of 
residence  to  New  Britain  the  occasion  to  withdraw 
from  all  such  outside  matters  as  would  be  liable  to 
interfere  with  his  regular  business.  For  recreation 
he  frequents  the  fields  and  woods,  "  hunting  with- 
out a  gun  "  and  "  fishing  without  a  hook,"  for  he 
and  his  family  are  all   great  admirers  of  nature, 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   COXXECTICUT. 


91 


-with  no  desire  to  kill  or  catch.  He  is  president  of 
the  New  Britain  Scientific  Association,  and  an  oc- 
casional writer  on  scientific  subjects,  botan^^  min- 
eralogy, archaeology,  and  conchology  being  the 
branches  to  which  he  has  paid  most  attention. 
\'aluable  contributions  have  been  made  by  him  to 
the  Peabody  INIuseum  of  Yale  College,  and  to  the 
National  Museum  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution, 
for  which  he  has  received  special  public  acknowl- 
edgment. He  is  also  an  enthusiastic  amateur 
photographer,  and  within  the  last  six  years  has 
carried  a  camera  over  twentv  thousand  miles. 


I).    M.    READ. 


HON.  DAVID  M.  READ,  Bridgeport  :  Manufac- 

facturer  and  ^Merchant. 

Hon.  David  j\I.  Read  of  Bridgeport,  at  present 
democratic  state  senator  from  the  fourteenth  dis- 
trict, is  one  of  the  leading  manufacturers  and  mer- 
chants of  New  England. 
He  was  born  in  Hoosic 
Falls,  N.  Y.,  October  12, 
1S32.  After  the  ordinary 
educational  advantages  of 
the  district  school,  he  at- 
tended Drury  academy  at 
North  Adams,  Mass.  In 
1 85 5,  he  married  Helen 
Augusta  Barnum,  daugh- 
ter of  Philo  F.  Barnum  of 
Bridgeport.  They  have 
two  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter. Mr.  Read  was 
chosen     a    representative 

from  Bridgeport  to  the  general  assembly  of  18S1, 
and  served  upon  the  committee  on  military  affairs. 
He  was  a  delegate  to  the  National  convention  in 
Chicago  in  18S4.  He  has  been  councilman  and 
first  alderman  of  Bridgeport,  and  is  vice-president 
of  the  Savings  Bank  and  a  director  of  the  National 
Bank.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  board  of 
trade  and  was  for  fifteen  years  its  president.  His 
superior  business  training  is  shown  in  the  success 
he  has  achieved.  He  is  president  of  the  D.  M. 
Read  Company,  and  treasurer  and  selling  agent  of 
the  Read  Carpet  Company,  the  New  York  ofltice 
of  which  is  at  934  Broadway.  He  served  for 
several  years  as  commissary  of  our  Connecticut 
brigade  of  the  National  Guard,  and  under  Gov- 
ernor IngersoU,  in  1S76,  the  centennial  year,  he 
was  induced  to  accept  the  position  of  acting 
commissary-general.  Senator  Re£(d  has  always 
exercised  great  influence  in  matters  legislative. 
He  was  elected  to  the  senate  of  18S9,  returned  to 
that  body  in  1S91;  was  president  pro  tt'/npore  of 
the  senate  of  1891,  and  performed  with  signal 
ability    the    difficult   duties    devolving   upon    him 


during  that  remarkable  session.  Has  been  prom- 
inently mentioned  as  an  available  candidate  for 
governor. 

HON.    ALLAN   WALLACE    PAIGE,   Huxting- 

TON  :    Attorney-at-Law. 

Allan  W.  Paige  was  born  in  the  town  of  Sher- 
man, February  28,  1S54  ;  graduated  from  the  Yale 
Law  School  in  1881  ;  and  subsequently  became  the 
partner  of  the  late  David 
B.  Booth  of  Danbury. 
His  classmates  in  the  law 
school  included  Messrs. 
Frank  E.  Hyde  of  Hart- 
ford, John  C.  Gallagher  of 
New  Haven,  ex-senate 
clerks  Charles  P.  Wood- 
bury and  Clinton  Spen- 
cer, and  Sidney  E.  Clarke 
of  Hartford.  j\Ir.  Paige 
pursued  a  preparatory 
college  course  at  General 
Russell's  Militarj-  School  a.  w.  paige. 

and  the  Hopkins  Gram- 
mar School  in  New  Haven,  being  a  student  at  the 
former  institution  with  Mr.  John  Addison  Porter  of 
the  Hartford  Post.  In  1S82,  Mr.  Paige  was  elect- 
ed a  member  of  the  house  from  Sherman,  and  was 
assigned  to  the  chairmanship  of  the  state  prison 
committee  by  Speaker  John  j\I.  Hall.  In  that  po- 
sition he  performed  excellent  service  for  the  state. 
In  1883,  he  was  elected  assistant  clerk  of  the  house, 
clerk  in  18S4,  and  senate  clerk  in  1885.  For  several 
j-ears  ]Mr.  Paige  was  a  member  of  the  republican 
state  committee,  and  in  1884  was  its  secretary.  In 
addition  to  his  law  practice  in  Connecticut,  Mr. 
Paige  is  associated  with  the  firm  of  Duncan  & 
Paige  of  120  Broadway,  New  York.  At  the  No- 
vember election  in  1S90,  Mr.  Paige  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  house  from  the  town  of  Hunting- 
ton, receiving  a  majority  of  228,  the  largest  major- 
ity ever  given  to  any  candidate  in  the  town,  and 
on  the  assembling  of  the  legislature  in  January  re- 
ceived the  unanimous  nomination  for  the  speaker- 
ship from  the  republicans.  He  was  elected  Janu- 
ary 7,  receiving  the  total  vote  of  his  party  in  the 
house.  With  one  exception,  that  of  Hon.  Augus- 
tus Brandegee  of  New  London,  he  is  the  youngest 
speaker  the  house  has  ever  had,  and  the  third  repul:)- 
lican  speaker  in  continuous  sticcession  from  Fair- 
field county, —  Col.  H.  W.  R.  Hoyt  of  Greenwich 
being  speaker  in  1SS7,  and  Judge  John  H.  Perry  of 
Fairfield  in  1SS9.  His  unanimous  selection,  in 
spite  of  geographical  objection,  was  due  to  his 
large  legislative  experience,  and  knowledge  of 
parliamentary  law,  both  essential  accomplishments 
for  the  speakership.  And  it  is  generally  con- 
ceded   that    at     no    time     within    the    historv    of 


92 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


the  state,  not  even  during  the  war,  have  party  Hnes 
been  so  closely  drawn,  and  the  duties  of  the  speak- 
er so  difficult  of  successful  execution  as  during  the 
session  of  the  house  for  the  winter  of  1S91.  Mr. 
Paige  proved  himself  fully  equal  to  the  occasion, 
fertile  in  parliamentary  knowledge  and  resources, 
quick  in  execution  and  firm  in  decisions.  His  po- 
sition was  a  most  difficult  and  trjnng  one,  but 
his  administration  of  the  office  was  such  as 
to  win  for  him  the  unwavering  and  enthusiastic 
support  of  every  member  of  his  party  m  the  house, 
and  the  admiration  and  plaudits  of  the  republican 
press  and  his  party  in  the  state.  Speaker  Paige  is 
a  gentleman  of  interesting  and  attractive  personal 
qualities,  and  has  met  with  marked  success  in  Con- 
necticut politics.  His  career  has  been  the  result  of 
his  own  eiforts  and  energy,  and  shows  what  a  man 
of  spirit  and  perseverance  can  accomplish. 

The  wife  of  Speaker  Paige  is  the  daughter  of 
the  late  Nelson  Downs,  who  previous  to  his  death 
was  a  prominent  manufacturer  in  Birmingham,  and 
one  of  the  leading  citizens  of  the  Naugatuck  valley. 


CHARLES   E.    OSBORNE,    Stepney  (Monroe): 
Merchant. 

Charles  Edward  Osborne  represented  the  town 
of  Monroe  in  the  general  assembly  of  1887,  and  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  special  committee,  of 
which  Senator  Coffin  was 
the  chairman,  to  erect  a 
memorial  tablet  in  the 
main  hall  of  the  capitol 
in  honor  of  John  Fitch  of 
Connecticut,  the  first  to 
apply  steam  power  in 
navigation.  Representa- 
tives Higgins  and  Wood 
were  associate  members 
of  the  committee  from 
the  ho^ise.  Mr.  Osborne 
has  been  a  member  of 
the  board  of  relief,  col- 
lector of  taxes,  and  is  at 
justice  of  the  peace,  secretary  of  the 
board  of  school  visitors,  and  acting  school  visitor. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  democratic  party,  and  is  an 
active  participant  in  its  management  locally.  He 
was  born  in  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  June  5,  1849,  ajid  was 
educated  at  the  Connecticut  Literary  Institute  in 
Suffield,  and  Wesleyan  University,  entering  but 
not  continuing  the  college  course.  He  has  resided 
at  Southport,  Bridgeport,  Bethel,  Watertown,  and 
Southbury.  In  1876  he  was  married  to  Miss  Martha 
E.  Burritt.  There  are  three  children,  all  daughters. 
Mr. Osborne  is  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits,  being 
a  dealer  in  pianos,  organs,  and  sewing-machines  at 
Stepney,  which  is  located  in  the  town  of  Monroe. 


C.    E.    OSnoKNE. 


present 


p.    CHANDLER. 


REV.  FREDERICK  DELLMAR  CHANDLER, 
Eastford  :  Congregational  Clergyman. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Pawlet, 
Rutland  County,  Vermont,  June  21,  1S42.  His 
father,  Thomas  Jefferson  Chandler,  of  English 
lineage,  was  a  stalwart 
abolitionist,  and  a  man 
highly  respected  for  his 
sterling  Christian  charac- 
ter. Noted  for  his  atti- 
tude toward  slavery,  he 
was  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  noble  band  of 
men  whose  lives  formed 
a  part  of  that  thrillingly 
interesting  historic  period, 
and  to  whose  conscien- 
tious efforts  are  indirectly 
attributable  the  fate 
which  American  negro 
slavery  met  at  the  hands  of  this  government 
through  the  emancipation  proclamation  of  Presi- 
dent Lincoln  in  1863.  The  son  inherited  largely 
the  traits  of  character  which  distinguished  the 
father.  Himself  a  strong  anti-slaver}'-  man,  it  is 
related  of  him  that  the  first  money  he  ever  pos- 
sessed (forty-nine  cents)  was  invested  by  him  when 
he  was  nine  years  of  age  in  a  pocket  Bible;  the 
next  money,  earned  and  owned  by  him,  was  ex- 
pended for  a  copy  of  "  Helper's  Impending  Crisis." 
^Ir.  Chandler  inherited  from  his  mother, —  a  noble 
Christian  woman, — a  strong  character  and  an  in- 
tensely religious  nature,  his  religious  convictions, 
manifested  at  a  very  early  age,  showing  the  trend 
of  his  mind  toward  the  calling  whxh  in  after  years 
he  chose  for  his  life  work.  Like  many  another 
ambitious  son  of  a  kind  but  poor  father,  he  had  to 
fight  a  very  unequal  battle  with  poverty  in  his  at- 
tempt to  gain  an  education  in  the  common  and 
select  schools  of  his  native  town.  In  early  life  he 
was  noted  for  his  studious  habits  and  unconquer- 
able energy,  always  standing  at  the  head  of  his 
class;  and  never, —  but  once,  and  then  unjustly, — 
losing  a  prize,  if  one  Avas  offered,  in  any  competi- 
tion in  which  he  had  the  opportimity  to  join.  He 
attended  several  terms  at  Castleton  Seminary,  then 
under  the  wise  management  of  Dr.  S.  N.  Knowl- 
ton.  Finally  he  established  a  high  school  in  the 
town  of  Middletown,  but  was  induced  to  go  to  an- 
other seemingly  more  advantageous  opening  at 
Poultney.  From  thence,  under  the  auspices  of  the 
M.  E.  Church,  he  went  to  one  of  their  theological 
seminaries,  which  was  then  located  at  Concord,  N. 
H.,  but  about  that  time  became  a  part  of  Boston 
University.  It  should  be  stated  here  that  before 
entering  the  imiversity,  and  while  engaged  in 
teaching,  ]\Ir.  Chandler  began  the  study  of  law, 
thinking  it  would  be  his  life  avocation;  but  under 


BIO(tRAPHY    of   CONNECTICUT. 


93 


other  and  stronger  influences  his  mind  was  turned 
toward  the  ministry.  After  lea\nng  the  Methodist 
institution  above  specified,  finding  that  he  was  not 
in  all  points  in  accord  with  that  denomination,  he 
united  with  the  Congregationalists,  and  served  ac- 
ceptably and  with  good  success  the  churches  in 
Hampton,  N.  H.,  Kensington,  Alton,  and  East 
Hardwick,  Vt. ,  city  of  Frankfort,  INIich.,  and  East- 
ford  and  West  Woodstock,  in  this  state.  Mr. 
Chandler  is  an  earnest  and  effective  speaker,  an 
eas)^  and  fluent  writer,  and  has  rendered  good  ser- 
vice in  the  cause  of  temperance  wherever  he  has 
resided,  always  being  found  in  the  front  ranks  of 
earnest  workers  for  that  most  important  of  moral 
reforms. "  He  is  in  politics  a  republican  of  the  stal- 
wart type,  believing  that  whatever  of  lasting  good 
has  been  accomplished  for  the  temperance  cause 
has  been  through  the  influence  and  agency  of  the 
republican  party.  He  is  the  friend  of  the  poor 
man,  and  in  sympathy  closely  allied  to  their  inter- 
ests, which  he  makes  his  own.  He  has  held  several 
important  local  offices,  including  that  of  justice  of 
the  peace  of  Grafton  county,  N.  H.,  under  the  ad- 
ministration of  Governor  Walter  Harriman,  and  a 
state  justice  under  Governor  Cheney. 

Mr.  Chandler  was  married  October  25,  1S6S,  to 
Miss  Julia  E.  Howe,  daughter  of  Samuel  Howe  of 
Haverhill,  N.  H.,  a  graduate  of  old  Newbury  (Ver- 
mont) Seminary.  He  has  no  children  living. 
Mrs.  Chandler  is  an  excellent  musician  and  teacher, 
and  has  been  an  able  and  successful  worker  in  her 
husband's  calling. 

HENRY  A.  WARNER,  New  Haven:  Iron  Manu- 
facturer and  Sewer  Pipe  Dealer. 
Henry  A.  Warner  was  born  in  Waterville,  town 

of  Waterbury,  March   10,  1842,  and  was  educated 

in  the  private   and  public  schools  of  New  Haven, 

where  he  has  lived  since 

he  was  six  years  of  age. 

He  was  formerly  an  iron 

manufacturer  and  is  now' 

a    dealer    in    drain    and 

sewer  pipe.      He  resides 

on  Orange  street  in  New 

Haven    and    is    also  the 

proprietor     of       Warner 

Hall    on    Chapel    street. 

Mr.    Warner    has  served 

in    the   second    company 

of    Governor's    Horse 

Guard  and  is  a  member 

of       the      New      Haven 

Republican  League.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Col- 
lege Street  Congregational  church  in  New  Haven. 

He  has  not  held  public  office.  Mr.  Warner  is  mar- 
ried,  his   wife   being   Miss   Gertrude   E.    Morton. 

Thev  have  no  children. 


A.     WARNER 


EDWARD    S.    CLEVELAND. 


HON.      EDWARD      SPICER      CLEVELAND, 

Hartford:  State  Senator. 

Edward  S.  Cleveland  was  born  at  Hampton,  in 
this  state,  Maj^  22,  1825,  and  received  a  common 
school  education.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  left 
home  to  engage  in  mer- 
cantile life  in  Hartford. 
In  1S48  he  was  chosen 
assistant  clerk  of  the  Con- 
necticut house  of  repre- 
sentatives, and  two  years 
later  he  was  appointed 
engrossing  clerk  of  the 
lower  house  of  congress 
at  Washington,  being  as- 
sociated with  John  Galpin 
of  New  Haven.  In  1854 
he  was  a  delegate  to  the 
democratic  state  conven- 
tion and  secured  the 
adoption  of  resolutions  averse  to  the  repeal  of  the 
Missouri  Compromise,  then  pending  in  the  cele- 
brated Kansas-Nebraska  bill  before  congress.  Mr. 
Cleveland  continued  to  act  with  the  democratic  party 
until  the  attempt  was  made  to  force  upon  Kansas 
the  Lecompton  pro-slavery  constitution.  He  was 
instinctively  opposed  to  slavery,  and  would  not  go  a 
step  with  any  political  organization  which  proposed 
its  extension.  In  i860,  he  entered  the  field  for  Lin- 
coln on  the  anti-slavery  extension  issue,  and 
stumped  a  number  of  the  states  in  support  of  the 
republican  ticket.  Soon  after  the  inauguration  of 
President  Lincoln  he  was  appointed  postmaster  at 
Hartford,  and  occupied  the  office  for  eight  years, 
proving  himself  one  of  the  ablest  officials  of  the 
government  in  the  state.  Under  his  administra- 
tion the  highest  business  principles  were  enforced, 
and  it  is  due  to  Mr.  Cleveland  that  the  post-office 
in  Hartford  was  made  one  of  model  efficiency  and 
excellence.  He  was  a  firm  friend  of  the  Union 
cause,  and  gave  without  stint  of  his  time  and  means 
for  the  support  of  the  government.  Toward  the 
union  soldiers  he  has  always  been  a  true  friend. 
After  the  war  Mr.  Cleveland  found  himself  in  har- 
mony with  the  democratic  party  on  the  restoration 
of  the  union  and  the  rehabilitation  of  the  states 
which  had  participated  in  the  rebellion.  In  1875 
and  also  in  1S76,  he  was  elected  representative  from 
Hampton  on  an  independent  ticket,  carrying  the 
town  each  year  by  a  large  majority.  For  a  num- 
ber of  years  back  he  has  taken  an  active  interest 
in  Hartford  affairs,  having  resumed  his  residence 
there  in  1876. 

Mr.  Cleveland  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  Connecticut  politics  during  the  past  twenty- 
five  years,  and  is  one  of  the  best-known  citizens  of 
the  state.  In  1886  he  was  one  of  the  leading  mem- 
bers of  the  senate  from  the  first  district,  having  the 


94 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  insurance,  be- 
fore which  were  many  important  measures.  In  the 
fall  of  the  same  year  he  had  the  honor  of  being 
nominated  for  governor  by  the  democrats.  He  was 
returned  to  the  senate  in  1888,  retaining  the  un- 
questioned leadership  of  his  party  in  that  body 
throughout  the  session.  He  was  again  returned  to 
the  senate  for  its  succeeding  term,  and  in  the 
memorable  transactions  of  that  body  occupied  a 
conspicuous  position  not  entirely  in  harmony  with 
the  majority  of  his  political  associates,  though 
highly  commended  and  approved  by  his  constituents 
and  personal  friends. 

Mr.  Cleveland's  social  and  domestic  relations 
have  always  been  exceedingly  pleasant,  and  his 
hospitahty  is  proverbial.  He  has  a  large  circle  of 
acquaintances  and  friends,  while  his  amiable  and 
cordial  ways  give  him  added  popularity  with  the 
people,  among  whom  rather  than  with  any  class  or 
party  he  always  prefers  to  be  assigned,  and  for 
whose  welfare  it  is  his  highest  ambition  to  labor 
effectively  in  whatever  official  position  he  is  called 
to  occupy. 

REV.  REUBEN  E.  BARTLETT,  Lebanon: 
Pastor  of  the  First  Baptist  Church. 
Reuben  E.  Bartlett  was  born  at  Shutesbury, 
Mass.,  May  25,  1S43,  and  was  educated  at  Madigon 
University.  During  the  war  he  served  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Thirty-seventh 
Massachusetts  Volun- 
teers, belonging  to  Com- 
pany F  of  that  command, 
from  July,  1S62,  until  the 
conclusion  of  hostilities  in 
1865.  His  pastorates  have 
been  in  the  states  of  Del- 
aware, Kansas,  N  e  w 
Hampshire,  and  North 
Dakota.  Prior  to  his  settle- 
ment in  Lebanon  he  was 
engaged  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Home  Mission 
Societ}',  in  North  Dakota 
and  Montana.  He  became  the  pastor  of  the  Leb- 
anon Church  in  October,  i8go.  In  politics  he  is  a 
republican.  The  courage  and  heroism  exhibited 
by  the  subject  of  this  sketch  on  the  battlefield  has 
entitled  him  to  membership  in  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  in  which  he  is  an  honored  representa- 
tive. He  was  distinguished  for  gallantry  at  the 
battle  of  Winchester,  Sept.  19,  1864.  Mr.  Bartlett 
has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wnfe,  Josephine 
Moore,  died  in  18S2;  the  second,  Lydia  M.  Dyer, 
was  the  daughter  of  the  late  C.  H.  Dyer  of  Boston, 
Mass.  The  latter  marriage  occurred  April  4,  1SS4. 
There  are  seven  children  by  the  first  wife,  all  of 
whom  are  now  living. 


E.    B.ARTLETT. 


HON.    EZRA  BREWSTER  BAILEY,  Windsor 

Lucks  :    Secretary  and  Treasurer  and  Mana\;er 

of  the  E.  Horton  &  Son  Company;  Collector  of 

Customs  for  the  Port  of  Hartford. 

Hon.   E.    B.   Bailey   is  a  native   of  the  town  of 

Franklin,   in   New  London    county,  where  he  was 

born  March  29,  1S41.     He  is  of  the  sturdiest  New 

England  stock,  his  earh^ 

ancestry    through      both 

branches        representing 

prominent      families      of 

both     the     i-evolutionary 


K.     K.\ILEY. 


and  puritanic  periods  in 
our  country's  history, 
who,  Avith  their  descend- 
ants, have  been  distin- 
guished for  physical  vigor 
and  intellectual  attain- 
ments, as  well  as  for  in- 
flexible integrity  and  pa- 
triotism. He  is  a  son  of 
Aaron  and  Eliza  (Brews- 
ter) Bailey  of  Franklin,  and  through  the  maternal 
line  is  ninth  in  direct  descent  from  Elder  William 
Brewster  of  the  Mayflower  through  the  eldest 
son,  Jonathan  Brewster,  who  joined  the  Connecti- 
cut colonists  in  his  early  manhood  and  settled  be- 
low Norwich.  Mr.  Bailey's  paternal  ancestors  were 
the  Baileys  of  Groton,  whose  lineage  through  the 
Puritans  establishes  theirs  as  among  the  most  an- 
cient of  English  families.  It  may  be  mentioned 
here,  although  out  of  chronological  order,  that  Miss 
Katie  E.  Horton,  who  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  E. 
B.  Bailey  in  1871,  is  a  descendant  in  the  eighth  gen- 
eration from  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  (Mullens) 
Alden,  prominent  characters  in  Puritanic  history; 
thus  in  the  present  generation  mingling  several 
strains  of  ancient  English  blood  which  have  separa- 
tely quickened  the  best  subjects  of  American  his- 
tory. The  Hortons  of  Windsor  Locks  represent 
one  of  the  oldest  and  best  of  New  England  fami- 
lies which,  since  colonial  times,  has  contributed 
numerous  and  distinguished  names  to  the  country's 
service  and  history. 

Mr.  Bailey's  early  life  in  Franklin  was  spent  on 
the  ancestral  farm  (of  which  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  now  the  proi^rietor),  where  he  was 
nurtured  in  habits  of  industry,  and  acquired 
at  the  district  school  the  elementary  education 
which  is  the  basis  of  all  literary  accomplishments. 
His  daily  toil  in  the  hayfield  or  cornfield,  in  the 
woods  and  meadows,  or  at  the  old  mill  where  his 
father  made  the  shingles  which  supplied  the  cover- 
ing for  the  roofs  of  all  the  houses  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, gave  the  boy  a  rich  experience  of  the  hard- 
ships and  the  pleasures  of  farm  life,  and  sharpened 
his  appetite  for  the  healthy  farmer's  fare  on  which 
he   throve   end   grew  to   the   stature   of   vigorous 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    CONNECTICUT. 


95 


manhood.     Here    he    laid    the    foundation    of    his 
future  success,  while  he  imbibed  inspiration  from 
the  precept  and  example  of  his  God-fearing  parents 
and    deported    himself    in   a   way   to    secure    the 
respect  and  esteem  of  his  associates  and  neighbors. 
The  breaking  out  of  the  rebellion  in  1861  found 
Mr.  Bailey  still   in  his  minority,  but  his  patriotic 
impulses  impelled  him  to  enlist  for  the  defense  of 
his    country,   and    he   joined   Company   B  of   the 
Twenty-sixth    Connecticut    regiment,    going    into 
camp  September  5,  1862.    While  in  camp,  however, 
he  was  prostrated  by  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid 
fever,  and  was  taken  home,  still  in  a  critical  condi- 
tion, on  the  fifth  of  the  following  November.     Al- 
though he  was  for  a  long  time  unable  to  rally  from 
this  attack,  his  health  gradually  returned,  but  at  no 
time  thereafter  during  the  progress  of  the  war  was  he 
in  a  condition  for  active  service,  and  his  patriotic 
designs  were  of  necessity  abandoned.     As  soon  as 
able  to  perform   any  laborious  work  he  again  en- 
gaged in  farm  duties  with  his  father,  and  remained 
at  the  old  homestead  until  1867,  when  he  removed 
to  Windsor  Locks,  and  for  one  year  carried  on  a 
farm  there,  devoting  considerable  attention  to  the 
raising  of  tobacco.     He  then  was  made  assistant 
postmaster  at  Windsor   Locks,   and  in  connection 
therewith  had  charge  of  a  store  for  two  or  three 
years,  and  held  a  general  agency  for  various  publi- 
cations  sold  on  subscription    by    canvassers.     He 
afterwards    made    an    engagement    with    W.    J. 
Holland   &   Co.,  a   large   subscription   book    pub- 
lishing firm  of  Springfield,   Mass.,   and   exercised 
the  prerogative  of   a  supervisor   of   agencies.     In 
the  discharge  of  the  duties  of  this  position  he  trav- 
eled extensively,  visiting  nearly  every  town    and 
village  in  the  Northern  States,  Canada,  and  the  pro- 
vinces, having  charge  of  most  of   the  company's 
outdoor  work  for  four   years,  and    building  up  a 
very  large  and  profitable  business.     In  1S73,  upon 
the  organization  of  the  firm  of  E.  Horton  &  Son 
of  Windsor  Locks  as  a  joint  stock  company,  under 
the  corporate  name  of  The  E.  Horton  &  Son  Com- 
pany, manufacturers  of  The  Horton  Lathe  Chuck, 
he  became  its  secretary  and  treasurer,  continuing 
in  the  position  for  three  years.     In  1876  he  severed 
the  connection,  and  removed  to  his  farm  in  Frank- 
lin,—  a  delightful  country  place,  whose  attractions 
include   some   of   the   most   romantic   spots   to  be 
found  in  the  state,  the  shady  vales  and  hillsides  of 
which  have  become  of  late  favorite  resorts  for  picnic 
and  excursion  parties.     Here  he  devoted  his  time  to 
agricultural  pursuits  and  the  raising  of  Jersey  stock 
until  1880,  when  he  was  called  to  assume  control  of 
The  E.  Horton  &  Son  Company  at  Windsor  Locks; 
since  which  time  he  has  remained  its  secretary,  treas- 
urer, and  general  manager.  Heis  also  connected  with 
other  important  business  enterprises,  being  presi- 
dent and  director,  as  well  as  an  incorporator,  of  The 


Windsor  Locks  Electric  Lighting  Company,  in 
the  establishment  of  which  he  was  intimately  con- 
cerned ;  a  director  in  The  Windsor  Locks  Savings 
Bank;  also  in  The  Connecticut  River  Company,  an 
important  corporation  which  owns  the  Enfield  and 
Windsor  Locks  water  power,  and  furnishes  water 
power  for  all  the  mills  in  Windsor  Locks;  a  director 
in  The  Dwight  Slate  Machine  Company  of  Hartford, 
manufacturers  of  fine  tools  and  special  machinery; 
director  and  one  of  the  original  incorpora- 
tors and  a  prominent  promoter  of  The  Windsor 
Locks  Water  Company,  which  furnishes  the  village 
with  water  for  domestic  purposes;  and  a  director  in 
The  J.  R.  Montgomery  Company,  manufacturers  of 
warps  and  fancy  yarns,  recently  re-organized  as  a 
joint  stock  corporation,  with  a  large  capital,  doing 
a  large  and  profitable  business,  and  at  the  head  of 
all  enterprises  of  its  class  in  the  country. 

Mr.  Bailey  is  an  ardent  and  active  republican, 
and  as  such  has  been  elected  to  various  positions 
of  public  trust.  He  has  held  the  office  of  select- 
man, and  is  now  a  member  of  the  school  board  and 
acting  school  visitor.  He  was  elected  to  the  legis- 
lature from  Franklin  in  1879  and  from  Windsor 
Locks  in  1882,  carrying  the  former  town  by  the 
largest  majority  any  candidate  ever  received,  and 
carrying  Windsor  Locks  by  a  majority  of  thirteen, 
although  it  is  naturally  heavily  democratic.  Dur- 
ing the  session  of  1S83  he  was  on  the  committee  on 
incorporations,  and  did  essential  service  for  the  in- 
corporation of  The  Windsor  Locks  and  Warehouse 
Point  Bridge  Company.  He  was  elected  state 
senator  in  1887,  running  ahead  of  his  ticket 
in  seven  towns  of  his  district,  and  as  chair- 
man of  the  fisheries  committee  and  of  the  com- 
mittee on  education  carried  through  a  number 
of  important  measures.  He  was  active  and  promi- 
nent in  support  of  the  measure,  in  the  senate,  giv- 
ing to  towns  the  control  and  management  of  school 
district  affairs,  his  efforts  in  this  reform  giving  him 
favorable  notoriety  among  the  friends  of  edu- 
cation all  over  the  state.  He  was  appointed 
United  States  Collector  of  Customs  for  the  port 
of  Hartford  in  iSgo,  for  which  position  he  was 
warmly  endorsed  by  both  Senator  Hawley  and 
Congressman  Simonds,  the  duties  of  which  office 
he  performs  with  characteristic  ability  and  fidelit}'. 
Mr.  Bailey's  social  connections  include  member- 
bership  with  the  American  Society  of  Mechanical 
Engineers,  an  "  organization  for  promoting  acquisi- 
tion of  that  knowledge  which  is  necessary  to  the 
mechanical  engineer  to  enable  him  most  effectively 
to  adapt  the  achievements  of  science  and  art  to  the 
use  of  mankind,"  with  whose  high  reputation  all 
are  familiar;  the  Law  and  Order  League,  of  Wind- 
sor Locks,  whose  object  is  the  enforcement  of  laws 
relative  to  the  sale  of  intoxicants;  the  Connecticut 
Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution ;  and. 


96 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


in  the  Masonic  fraternity,  with  Euchd  Lodge,  No. 
109,  F.A.M.  of  Windsor  Locks, Washington  Chapter, 
No.  30,  R.A.M.,  of  Suffield,  Washington  Command- 
ery,  No.  i,  K.  T.,  stationed  at  Hartford,  and  Pyra- 
mid Temple,  A.  A.  O.  N.  M.  S.,  at  Bridgeport.  His 
social  instincts  and  tastes  are  strong;  he  engages 
with  enthusiasm  in  all  the  activities  of  the  various 
organizations  Avith  which  he  is  connected.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  Ecclesiastical  So- 
ciety of  Windsor  Locks,  and  a  liberal  supporter  of 
its  institutions  and  charities.  He  is  an  excellent 
representative  Connecticut  citizen,  and  always 
equal  to  his  opportunity  whenever  it  comes.  He 
has  been  successful  in  whatever  he  has  under- 
taken, and  occupies  an  important  and  influential 
position  in  business,  politics,  and  social  alTaiis. 

As  already  mentioned,  Mr.  Bailey  was  married, 
December  14,  1S71,  to  Miss  Katie  E.  Horton  of 
Windsor  Locks,  daughter  of  Eli  Horton,  celebrated 
as  the  inventor  of  the  Horton  Lathe  Chuck.  They 
have  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter;  the 
former,  Philip  Horton  Bailey,  in  his  eighteenth 
year,  is  a  member  of  the  senior  class  at  the  Hart- 
ford Pubic  High  School;  the  latter,  Helena  Ells- 
worth Bailey,  in  her  fifteenth  year,  is  at  school  in 
Windsor  Locks. 


years  ;  and  long  a  director  in  the  Dime  Savings 
Bank  of  Hartford.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Pearl 
Street  Congregational  church.  His  military  con- 
nection was  formerly  with  the  Connecticut  National 
Guard,  as  Lieutenant-Colonel  of  the  First  regiment. 


DAVID  A.  ROOD,  Hartford  :  Retired  ;  former- 
ly Proprietor  L^nited  States  Hotel. 
Col.  D.  A.  Rood  is  one  of  Hartford's  best-known 
citizens,    whose  name  has  been  familiar  with  the 
public  as  the  long-time  proprietor  of  one  of  Hart- 
ford's best-esteemed  and 
ancient  hostelries.     Colo- 
nel  Rood    was    born    in 
Sheffield,  Berk'shire  coun- 
ty, Mass.,  Sept.   2S,  1S17. 
His   education  was  liber- 
al   for   the    times,    being 
gained    at    the    excellent 
public  schools  of   Massa- 
chusetts.     His    life    has 
been   spent   in    Sheffield, 
Mass.,  Winsted  and  New 
Hartford  in  this  state,  but 
largely  in  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford,   where  he  was  pro- 
prietor of  the  United  States  Hotel  for  about  thirty- 
eight  years.     He  has  been  twice  married  ;  first  to 
Miss  Maria  W.  Woodford,  who  died  Jan.  25,  1SS3  ; 
and  afterwards  to  his  present  wife,  who  was  Abbie 
F.   Carroll   prior   to   their   union.     There  are   two 
sons  and  a  daughter  by  the  first  marriage.     Colo- 
nel Rood  is  a  consistent  republican  in  politics,  hav- 
ing been  identified  with  that  party  since  1S56,  and 
often  honored  bj-  offices  within  its  gift.     He  was  on 
the  Hartford  board  of  police  commissioners  for  ten 
years  ;  treasurer  of  the  Brown  School  for  fourteen 


V.   A.   ROOD 


JOHN  F.   GAFFEV 


JOHN    FRANCIS  GAFFEY,   New  Haven  :  Pro- 
prietor Gafljey's  Business  School. 
John  F.  Gaffey  was  born  in  Hartford,  Feb.  15, 
1S62,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the 
L^'niversity  City.  He  was  employed  at  the  Winchester 
Repeating  Arms  Compa- 
ny's establishment  for  six 
years,  and   saved  money 
enough   to    educate  him- 
self for  the  special  line  of 
work  that    has    engaged 
his    attention  for  several 
years     past.       While     at 
Winchester's    he    patent- 
ed   a     combination    rifle 
sight  ;  sporting,  military, 
and      wind-gauge      com- 
bined. 

During  the  Blaine  cam- 
paign he  was  private  sec- 
retary to  the  republican  state  central  committee, 
of  which  Hon.  Lynde  Harrison  was  the  chairman. 
In  the  campaign  of  18SS,  he  was  secretary  of  the 
Connecticut  republican  state  league ;  managed 
the  headquarters  at  New  Haven,  and  also  the  doc- 
ument bureau  for  the  state  central  committee,  and 
organized  123  clubs  in  the  state.  He  was  in  the 
city  council  for  one  term,  and  refused  a  second  in 
order  to  become  deputy  collector  of  internal  reve- 
nue under  Col.  John  I.  Hutchinson,  which  office  he 
held  for  one  year,  and  resigned  last  November  to 
give  his  whole  time  to  his  business.  While  deputj^ 
collector,  he  had  charge  of  eighteen  towns,  and 
made  many  arrests  for  violation  of  the  internal 
revenue  laws. 

He  has  been  running  his  school  of  shorthand  and 
typewriting  for  nearly  tefli  years,  and  has  recently 
added  penmanship  and  book-keeping  ;  also  has  a 
stenographic  and  copying  department  and  furnishes 
supplies  for  typewriters  of  all  makes,  and  stenog- 
raphers' supplies,  all  over  the  country.  He  is  the 
author  of  "  Gaffey's  Helps  to  Cogswell's  Com- 
pendium," and  has  made  many  improvements  in 
the  shorthand  and  typewriting  business,  espe- 
cially in  teaching.  For  two  years  he  had  nine 
schools  in  as  many  different  cities,  and  in  four  dif- 
ferent states,  but  he  is  now  giving  his  whole  time  and 
attenlion  to  the  New  Haven  business  (having  sold 
out  all  the  other  schools),  pupils  coming  to  him  to 
New  Haven  from  almost  every  state  in  the  Union. 
Prof.  Gaffey  has  resided  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  Phil- 
adelphia (Frankfort),  Pa.,  and  Bridgeport,  being  at 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


97 


H.   W.    R.    HOYT. 


present  a  resident  of  New  Haven.  His  wife,  who 
is  still  living,  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Martin  prior  to 
her  marriage.  There  are  no  children  living  in  the 
family.  

HEUSTED  W.  R.  HOYT,  Greenwich:  Attorney- 

at-Law. 

H.  W.  R.  Hoyt,  who  won  marked  distinction  in 
legislative  circles  and  throughout  the  state  by  his 
admirable  discharge  of  the  important  duties  of 
speaker  of  the  house  of 
representatives  during  the 
session  of  that  body  in 
1SS7,  was  born  in  Ridge- 
field,  in  this  state,  on  the 
ist  of  November,  1842. 
He  studied  in  the  common 
school  and  the  academy, 
and  entered  Cohimbia 
College,  New  York  city, 
but  about  the  middle  of 
his  first  term  was  seized 
with  a  severe  and  pro- 
tracted illness,  and  could 
not   continue.     Upon  his 

recovery  he  immediately  began  the  study  of  the 
law  in  New  York  city,  and  for  the  period  of  about 
two  years  was  secretary  of  the  United  States  prize 
commissioners  for  the  district  of  New  York.  He 
was  admitted  to  practice  in  1865.  He  is  an  attor- 
ney and  counselor-at-law,  and  has  served  the  town 
as  its  counsel,  and  the  borough  as  attorney. 
Among  other  important  litigation  in  which  he  has 
been  engaged,  he  was  sole  counsel  for  the  late 
William  M.  Tweed  in  a  suit  brought  against  him 
by  James  H.  Ingersoll  in  the  Connecticut  superior 
court,  in  which  over  $160,000  was  claimed  by  plain- 
tiff, and  successfully  defended  his  client.  He  is 
trustee  and  attorney  for  the  Greenwich  Savings 
Bank,  and  a  director  in  The  Byram  Land  Improve- 
ment Company.  He  is  also  attorney  for  the  Belle 
Haven  Land  Company  and  other  large  corpora- 
tions. His  public  life  has  been  quite  marked.  In 
1869  and  1873  he  was  in  the  state  senate;  in  the 
former  year  chairman  of  the  committees  on  mili- 
tary affairs  and  engrossed  bills;  in  the  latter  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  incorporations.  In  1886 
he  was  a  representative  from  Greenwich,  and  occu- 
pied the  leading  position  upon  the  floor  and  in  the 
committee-room,  being  house  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  the  judiciary.  He  was  returned  to  the 
house  in  1887,  and,  as  before  intimated,  was  called 
to  preside  over  the  deliberations  of  that  body  as  its 
speaker,  discharging  the  duties  of  the  office  with 
signal  ability  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  all 
parties.  Mr.  Hoyt  is  a  staunch  republican,  an  able 
debater,  quick  and  effective  at  repartee,  and  an 
affable  man.     In  everj^  measure  presented  or  dis- 

7 


cussed  he  manifested  a  lively  interest,  and,  whether 
in  the  chair  or  on  the  floor,  always  commanded 
respect  and  wielded  an  important  influence  in  legis- 
lative affairs.  His  nomination  for  speaker  by  the 
republican  party  was  by  acclamation,  and  his  elec- 
tion by  the  house  was  by  more  than  the  republican 
majority. 

Mr.  Hoyt's  legal  practice  is  extensive,  his  stand- 
ing before  the  bar  and  the  public  being  such  as  to 
secure  for  him  a  numerous  and  profitable  clientage. 
He  is  judge  of  the  borough  court  of  Greenwich, 
and  in  addition  to  his  professional  duties  is  often 
called  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  Greenwich  to  fill 
local  positions  of  public  trust. 


JAMES    HOYLE. 


JAMES    HOYLE,    Willixgton:    Woolen    Manu- 
facturer. 

James  Hoyle  was  born  in  Bradford,  Yorkshire, 
England,  April  3,  1830.  His  early  education  was 
received  from  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
town.  In  1856,  then  a 
young  man  of  twenty-six, 
he  emigrated  to  America. 
On  arriving  in  this  coun- 
try, he  went  to  Paterson, 
N.  J.,  where  he  spent  a 
year  engaged  in  his  trade 
of  wool-sorting.  He  af- 
terwards went  to  Nor- 
wich, Conn.,  and  worked 
a  year  at  the  same  trade, 
and  subsequently  t  o 
Webster,  Mass.,  where  he 
engaged  with  Nelson 
Slater.  He  followed  his 
chosen  avocation  in  several  places  in  the  Bay  State 
until  1863,  when  he  settled  in  Worcester,  where  for 
ten  years  he  was  engaged  as  foreman  of  the  wool- 
sorting  department  of  the  Adriatic  Mills,  then  run 
b)^  Jordan,  Marsh  &  Co.  of  Boston.  In  1873  he  re- 
moved to  Willington,  Conn.,  and  bought  a  half  in- 
terest in  the  Daleville  Woolen  Mills,  then  owned 
and  run  by  James  J.  Reagan.  The  business  was 
carried  on  two  years  under  the  firm-name  of  Rea- 
gan &  Hoyle,  when  the  latter  purchased  the  prop- 
erty and  continued  the  business  with  two  partners, 
under  the  name  of  Hoyle,  Smith  &  Co.  He  shortly 
after  bought  out  his  partners'  interests,  since  which 
time  he  has  carried  on  the  manufacturing  business 
alone  and  quite  successfully.  During  his  fifteen 
years'  proprietorship  of  the  Daleville  Mills,  im- 
provements in  the  little  hamlet  and  in  the  mills 
have  been  steadily  going  on.  He  is  a  man  of  ster- 
ling integrity  and  good  business  qualities,  and  is 
held  in  high  esteem  by  his  fellow-townsmen  for  his 
enterprise  and  moral  worth.  He  has  never  sought 
for  office,  but  allowed  the  use  of  his  name  as  a  can- 
didate of  the   republicans   of   his   town  for  repre- 


98 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


sentative,  at  the  fall  election  of  1SS4,  to  which  posi- 
tion he  was  chosen  by  a  good  majority,  and  where 
he  performed  valuable  service  for  his  constituents 
and  the  state. 

Mr.  Hovle  is  married  and  has  one  child. 


AUGUSTUS    C.    WILCOX,    Xew    Haven  :    Dry 
Goods. 

Augustus  C.  Wilcox  was  born  in  East  Guilford, 
now  the  town  of  Madison,  Aug.  22,  1S12,  and 
received  an  academic  education.  He  is  the 
founder  of  the  firm  of 
Wilcox  &  Co.  of  New 
Haven  and  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  dry  goods 
business  since  March  i, 
1836.  Through  his  long 
business  career  his  finan- 
cial liabilities  have  been 
promptly  met  and  dis- 
charged. The  record  is 
deserving  of  mention  as 
it  covers  three  of  the  most 
disastrous  financial  eras  in 
the  historv  of  the  countrv. 

A.    C.    WILCOX. 

Mr.  Wilcox  IS  one  of  the 
clearest-headed  business  managers  in  New  Haven. 
He  was  formerly  connected  with  the  state  militia 
and  held  a  first  lieutenant's  commission  in  the 
Madison  Light  Artillery  at  the  time  of  his  removal 
from  that  town  to  New  Haven.  He  was  honor- 
ablv  discharged  from  the  service  by  Gov.  Henry 
W.  Edwards.  In  1S71  Mr.  Wilcox  was  a  member 
of  the  general  assembly  from  IMadison,  represent- 
ing that  town  on  the  democratic  side  of  the  house. 
Two  years  afterwards  he  was  elected  to  the  senate 
from  the  old  sixth  district,  his  colleagues  including 
Hons.  Geo.  M.  Landers  of  New  Britain,  Allen 
Tenny  of  Norwich  and  Wm.  T.  Elmer  of  Middle- 
town,  ex-Judge  Stoddard  of  New  Haven  and  ex- 
Speaker  Hoyt  of  Greenwich.  Mr.  Wilcox  has  also 
taken  an  active  part  in  New  Haven  politics  and  has 
served  as  a  member  of  the  common  council  and  of 
the  board  of  selectmen.  In  all  of  these  public  po- 
sitions his  judgment  and  thorough  knowledge  of 
affairs  have  been  of  great  value,  enabling  him  to 
render  the  city  and  state  the  best  of  service.  Mr. 
Wilcox  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  Madison  and  is  a  most  exemplary  representative 
of  religious  thought  and  principle.  He  has  been 
married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Catherine 
Amelia  Cruttenden  of  Madison.  The  second  was 
Miss  Bertha  C.  Payne  of  West  Haven.  In  busi- 
ness, political,  and  social  life  Mr.  Wilcox  has  ex- 
erted an  important  influence  from  the  outset,  and 
is  regarded  with  the  sincerest  esteem  and  honor  by 
all  who  know  him. 


ARTHUR  F.   EGGLESTON,    Hartford:  Attor- 
ney-at-Law. 

Judge  Eggieston  was  born  at  Enfield,  Conn.,  Oc- 
tober 23,  1S44.  He  graduated  from  Williams  Col- 
lege in  the  class  of  1868,  and  after  preparation  by 
legal  study  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  Hartford 
county  and  opened  an 
office  for  legal  practice  in 
this  city  in  1872.  During 
the  war  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  the  Forty-sixth 
Massachusetts  regiment, 
and  served  until  honor- 
ably discharged.  During 
his  residence  in  Hartford 
he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  court  of  common 
council  and  president  of 
the  board;  has  held  the 
office  of  judge  of  the  police  court  for  several  terms; 
and  is  now  treasurer  of  Hartford  county,  and 
state's  attorney.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  Club.  He  is  associated  professionally 
with  Hon.  John  R.  Buck,  the  law  firm  being  Buck 
&  Eggieston.  Judge  Eggleston's  standing  before 
the  bar  and  the  public  is  that  of  an  able  and  con- 
scientious lawyer,  and  his  career  has  been  one  of 
great  usefulness  and  honorable  distinction. 


F.    EGGLESTON. 


ROBERT   R.    SMITH,   New   Hartford:    Agent 
Greenwoods  Company. 

Robert  R.  Smith   was  born   in   New  Hartford, 
April   15,  1S43,  and  received  a   thorough  business 
education.     At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  became  a  clerk 
in    a   Chicago    hardware 
establishment,  where    he 
remained  until    sufficient 
experience   had   been  ac- 
quired to  prepare  him  for 
travel  through  the  west- 
ern  states   as  the   repre- 
sentative   of    the    house. 
Returning    home     for    a 
visit  in   1865    he   became 
engaged  in   the  building 
of  the  Greenwoods  Scj^the 
Company's     works,   and 
ROBERT   R.    SMITH.         was  afterwards  persuaded 
to  remain  as  manager  of 
the  concern.     He  continued  in  that  position  until 
1870,  when,  upon  the  death  of  his  father,  he  found 
himself  in  charge  of  Greenwoods  Company,  Green- 
woods Scythe  Company,  the  New  Hartford   Car- 
riage Company,  and  an  interest  in  what  was  known 
as  ' '  the  brick  store. "     From  that  time  to  the  present 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


99 


his  occupation  has  been  in  connection  with  these 
different  concerns,  two  of  which  have  become  ex- 
tinct. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  director  in  a  number  of  corpora- 
tions, and  is  a  gentleman  of  superior  business  qual- 
ifications. He  was  married  in  1S67,  his  wife  being 
Miss  ]\Iinnie  M.  Simmons  of  Canaan.  She  died  in 
1S90,  leaving  three  children.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  has  strenuously  opposed  the  acceptance  of 
public  office.  The  only  place  he  has  ever  accepted 
has  been  that  of  pound  keeper,  his  reelection  hav- 
ing taken  place  annually  for  the  past  twenty  years, 
and  there  have  been  a  good  many  jovial  occasions 
over  the  fact.  He  is  a  member  of  the  North  Con- 
gregational Ecclesiastical  society,  and  also  of  Amos 
Beecher  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  New  Hartford, 
together  with  two  or  three  other  secret  organiza- 
tions. Mr.  Smith  is  held  in  thorough  regard  and 
esteem  in  the  community  where  he  lives. 


HON.  WILLIAM  COTHREN,    Woodbury:   At- 

torney-at-Law. 

William  Cothren,  son  of  William  and  Hannah 
Cothren,  was  born  at  Farmington,  Me.,  Nov.  28, 
18 19.  In  his  ancestral  lines  he  is  the  descendant  of 
a  soldier  in  King  Philip's 
war,  1676;  a  soldier  in  the 
war  between  England  and 
France,  1744-5;  a  lieuten- 
ant in  the  war  of  the  rev 
olution;  and  a  sergeant 
in  the  war  of  1812.  He 
prepared  for  college  at 
Farmington  academy, 
and  graduated  at  Bow- 
doin  College  in  1843.  He 
received  his  second  de- 
gree, in  course,  at  the 
same  college,  in  1846,  and 
the  degree  of  Master  of 
Arts,  ad  eundeni,  at  Yale  LTniversity,  in  1847.  He 
studied  law  under  the  direction  of  Hon.  Robert 
Goodenoughof  Farmington,  Me.,  and  Hon.  Charles 
B.  Phelps  of  Woodbury,  in  this  state.  He  settled 
in  Woodbury  in  1844,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  Litchfield  county  in  October,  1845.  He  entered 
upon  a  large  and  successful  practice  at  Woodbury, 
and  has  continued  in  practice  thei-e  ever  since.  He 
ranks  among  the  leading  lawyers  of  the  state.  As 
a  citizen  he  has  ever  been  public  spirited  and  gen- 
erous. He  has  lent  his  voice  and  pecuniary  aid  to 
every  monument  or  other  public  improvement  dur- 
ing his  time.  He  was  elected  a  county  commis- 
sioner for  Litchfield  county  in  1851.  In  1S55  he 
was  elected  senator  for  the  old  sixteenth  district,  by 
the  face  of  the  returns,  received  his  certificate,  and 
took  his  seat  in  the  senate.     During  the  session  his 


WILLIAM    COTHREN. 


seat  was  successfully  contested  by  his  opponent,  on 
a  ground  which  ever  since  has  been  held  universally 
untenable,  both  in  Congress  and  in  the  several 
states  where  the  question  has  been  raised.  He 
served  as  a  mem.ber  of  the  lower  house  in  1SS2.  In 
April,  1856,  he  was  admitted  an  attorney  and  coun- 
selor of  the  United  States  circuit  court,  and  on  the 
8th  of  March,  1865,  he  was  admitted  an  attorney 
and  counselor  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  elected  corresponding  member  of 
the  New  England  Historic-Genealogical  Society,  at 
Boston,  Mass.,  May  5,  1847,  and  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  Historical  Society,  Nov.  23,  1852,  of 
which  for  many  years  he  was  a  vice-president;  an 
honorary  member  of  the  Old  Colony  Historical 
Society,  at  Plymouth,  Mass.,  April  24,  1854;  a  cor- 
responding member  of  the  Wisconsin  Historical 
Society,  Jan.  17,  1855;  a  corresponding  member  of 
the  Vermont  Historical  Society,  Feb.  3,  i860;  a  cor- 
responding member  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society, 
Sept.  18,  1861;  elected  worshipful  master  of  King 
Solomon's  Lodge,  No.  7,  of  F.  and  A.  M.,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1852,  which  office  he  held  two  years;  a  member 
of  the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  Society,  Alpha  of  Maine, 
Sept.  20, 1873 ;  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution  in  18S9;  and  a  member  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational church  in  Woodbury,  July  7,  1850.  Pie 
has  held  the  offices  of  justice  of  the  peace  and 
notary  public  during  all  his  professional  life.  On 
the  3d  of  September,  1849,  he  was  married  to  Mary 
Jane  Steele,  a  descendant  of  Hon.  John  Steele,  first 
secretary  of  the  colony  of  Connecticut,  and  of  Rev. 
Benjamin  Colton  of  West  Hartford,  a  descendant 
of  George  Colton,  the  first  of  the  name  in  Connec- 
ticut. They  have  had  one  child,  who  died  young. 
He  was  one  of  the  organizers  of  the  republican 
party,  and  has  been  somewhat  active  in  its  inter- 
ests, but  has  never  been  a  chronic  office-seeker. 
During  the  civil  war  he  was  a  zealous  and  active 
supporter  of  the  Union  cause,  giving  a  large  share 
of  his  time,  and  more  of  his  means  than  he  could 
well  afford.  He  was,  during  the  whole  contest,  a 
member  of  the  committees  for  the  enlistment  of 
men,  and  the  care  of  their  families,  and  was  emi- 
nently the  soldier's  friend,  and  has  so  continued 
ever  since.  From  the  twentieth  year  of  his  age  he 
has  been  a  contributor,  in  prose  and  verse,  to  the 
press  and  magazines  of  the  daj'.  A  short  time 
after  his  settlement  in  Woodbury  he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  the  collection  of  the  historical  data  of  the 
town,  the  result  of  which  has  been  the  publication 
of  an  elaborate  history  of  the  town,  in  three  vol- 
umes of  twenty-five  hundred  pages.  The  first  vol- 
ume was  issued  in  1854,  and  was  the  pioneer  work, 
in  its  scope  and  completeness,  as  a  full  history  of  a 
New  England  town,  that  had  been  issued.  He  has 
also  published  numerous  legal  and  historical  pam- 
phlets. 


100 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


H.    N.    WALES. 


HENRY    N.    WALES,   Willimantic:    Judge    of 
Probate. 

Judge  Wales  is  a  native  of  the  town  of  Windham. 
He  was  born  August  lo,  1837.  He  hved  and  was 
employed  on  a  farm  with  his  father  until  he  became 
twent5'-one  years  of  age, 
availing  himself  in  his 
childhood  of  such  educa- 
tional advantages  as  the 
pi:blic  schools  of  Wind- 
ham offered.  He  was  in 
the  employ  of  William  C. 
Osgood  in  Norwich  in  the 
meat  business  from  No- 
vember, 1858,  till  the  early 
part  of  1862.  From  1S62 
to  1867  was  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  at 
South  Windham  and  Wil- 
limantic, being  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  Webb  &  Wales.  From  1867  to  1873 
Avas  in  the  employ  of  George  H.  Norman,  con- 
tractor, of  Newport,  R.  L,  in  superintending  the 
construction  of  public  water-works  in  Waterbury, 
Conn.,  New  Bedford,  Medford,  Charlestown,  and 
Lowell,  Mass.  In  1873  and  1S74  was  employed  by 
the  city  of  Manchester,  N.  H.,  as  superintendent 
of  the  construction  of  their  water-works.  In  1875 
and  1876  was  employed  by  Frye  &  Kitridge,  con- 
tractors, of  Lowell,  Mass.,  to  superintend  the  con- 
struction of  a  portion  of  the  Boston  water-works. 
In  1887  he  returned  to  Willimantic,  and  engaged  in 
the  pork-packing  business  two  years ;  then  entered 
the  employ  of  Hyde  Kingsley  of  Willimantic, 
dealer  in  lumber,  coal,  and  building  supplies,  as 
bookkeeper  and  manager;  continued  in  that  capac- 
ity until  1882;  from  March,  1883,  acted  as  his  busi- 
ness agent  by  power  of  attorney  till  his  death  in 
February,  1886.  Mr.  Wales  occupied  the  position 
of  town  clerk  and  treasurer  in  1880,  1882,  1S83,  and 
1884.  Was  elected  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the 
Natchaug  school  in  1883,  and  has  continued  to  hold 
the  ofifice  since.  He  was  elected  in  borough  meeting 
chairman  of  a  committee  to  ascertain  the  best 
method  of  introducing  water  in  the  borough  of 
Willimantic  in  July,  1882;  also  chairman  of  a  com- 
mittee to  draft  a  charter  for  the  introduction  of 
water  and  petition  the  general  assembly  for  such 
charter.  In  1883  he  was  elected  water  commis- 
sioner for  three  years  from  January  i,  1S84.  Was 
appointed  postmaster  by  President  Cleveland  De- 
cember 19,  1885;  took  possession  of  the  oilfice  Jan- 
uary I,  1886,  and  served  four  years  and  two  months, 
to  March  i,  1890.  He  was  elected  judge  of  probate 
for  the  district  of  Windham  November  4,  i8go,  and 
still  holds  the  office.  In  these  numerous  and  varied 
positions  of  public  trust  Mr.  Wales  has  made  a 
record  of  honorable,  faithful,  and  able  service,  to 


which  his  fellow-citizens  bear  ready  testimony. 
His  important  services  to  the  borough  of  Williman- 
tic, in  connection  with  the  introduction  of  the  sys- 
tem of  water-works  there  in  1885,  is  a  matter  of 
history,  and  has  placed  the  citizens  of  that  thriving 
community  under  lasting  obligation  to  him. 

Mr.  Wales  was  married  October  31,  1 871,  to  Miss 
Euphemia  A.  Tanner,  daughter  of  Warren  Tanner 
of  Willimantic.  She  died  August  18,  1889,  leaving 
no  children. 

APOLLOS    FENN,    Plainville  ;    Deputy   Jailer 
Hartford  County  Jail. 

ApoUos  Fenn  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth 
Januaiy  12,  1820,  and  was  educated  in  the  common 
school  of  Litchfield  county.  His  early  years  were 
spent  in  the  clock  indus- 
try. In  1864  he  repre- 
sented the  town  of  Farm- 
ington  in  the  general  as- 
sembly, being  elected  by 
the  republicans  by  one  of 
the  largest  majorities  ever 
given  a  representative 
from  that  town.  Through 
the  war  period  he  held  the 
office  of  provost-marshal 
under  Marshal  L.  G. 
Goodrich,  and  was 
brought  into  contact  in 
numerous  ways  with  the 
troops  at  that  time.  After  the  war  he  removed  to 
Hartford  and  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  police 
commissioners  in  1874.  He  was  also  a  member  of 
the  council  from  the  second  ward.  He  has  been 
deputy  sheriff  in  Hartford  county  for  thirty  years 
and  has  held  the  position  of  jailer  for  twent}-,  being 
the  senior  officer  in  the  state  in  that  line  of  service. 
During  this  period  he  has  had  upwards  of  1,700 
prisoners  under  his  charge.  His  experience  as  a 
detective  extends  over  a  period  of  thirty-five  years, 
commencing  with  the  arrest  of  the  notorious  horse 
thief.  Herring,  who  was  sentenced  and  died  in  State 
Prison.  He  was  the  successor  of  Colonel  Henry 
Kennedy  in  the  office  of  jailer,  and  retained  the 
position  iintil  the  new  jail  on  Seyms  street  was 
completed.  During  the  term  of  Sheriff  O.  D.  Sey- 
mour he  was  displaced.  The  accession  of  Sheriff 
Spaulding  to  the  shrievalty  resulted  in  the  restora- 
tion of  Jailer  Fenn  to  his  old  place,  which  he  has 
since  held  for  ten  years.  As  a  detective  deputy 
sheriff  Fenn  has  been  entrusted  wuth  important 
business,  being  commissioned  for  special  service  by 
Governors  Buckingham  and  Hubbard,  Sheriffs 
Westell  Russell  and  O.  D.  Seymour,  and  by  L.  G. 
Goodrich  of  Simsbury  and  Wm.  Hamersley  of 
Hartford.  He  w^as  commissioned  by  the  late  Gov- 
ernor Chauncey  F.  Cleveland  as  the  captain  of  an 


APOLLOS    FENN. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   COXXECTICUT 


lOI 


independent  rifle  company  in  Litchfield  when  a 
youno-  man.  Deputy  Sheriff  Fenn  has  had  a  family 
of  fo^urteen  children,  six  of  whom  are  living. 
Among  the  latter  is  General  Wallace  T.  Fenn  of 
Governor  Bulkeley's  staff.  His  wife  was  Ameha 
C  Clark  of  Plainville.  He  is  connected  with  the 
Congregational  society  at  Plainville  and  has  also 
been  associated  with  the  Park  church  in  this  city. 
At  one  time  he  resided  in  New  Haven,  but  the 
most  of  his  life  has  been  spent  in  Farmington, 
Plainville,  and  Hartford.  In  each  of  these  towns 
he  is  held  in  the  highest  esteem.  A  quarter  of  a 
million  dollars  has  passed  through  his  hands  during 
the  period  in  which  he  has  been  in  active  life  and 
not  one  cent  has  been  lost  or  misappropriated. 
Absolute  personal  integrity  has  been  the  watchword 
of  his  career. 


LEWIS  WORDEN,   Danielsonville:    Hotel  Pro- 
prietor. 

Lewis    Worden,    the   veteran   proprietor   of   the 
Attawaugan  hotel  in  the  borough  of  Danielsonville, 
was  born  in  Charlestown,  R.  I.,  September  3,  181S, 
where   he  spent  his  boy- 
hood and  attended  school 
until  fifteen  years  of  age. 
Since  leaving  Charlestown 
he   has   resided  tempora- 
rily in  several  places,  be- 
ing    fourteen      years    in 
Brooklyn,   two    years    in 
Plainfield,    and   one  year 
in  Providence,  R.  I.     He 
removed  to  Danielsonville 
forty  years  ago,  engaging 
in  the  livery  business;  and 
it    is    said    that    he   has 
owned  some  of  the  finest 
teams  in  eastern  Connecticut, 
proprietor  of  the  Attawaugan  house,  the  principal 
hotel  in  the  borough,  which   he   has   owned   and 
managed  uninterruptedly  up  to  the  present  time,  a 
period  of  more  than  thirty-two  years.     He  is  also 
the  owner  of  a  fine  farm  a  short  distance  outside 
the  borough  limits,  to  which  he  devotes  his  per- 
sonal attention.     Mr.  Worden  has  been  twice  mar- 
ried; first  to  Miss  OHve  S.  Cox,  M-ho  died  neariy 
forty-five  years  ago;  second  to  Miss  Sarah  Darby, 
whose  death  occurred  in  1889.     One  son,  the  fruit 
of  his  first  marriage,  died  in  the  military  service 
during  the  late  war.     Mr.  Worden  is  a  member  of 
the  Westfield  Congregational  church  of  Danielson- 
ville, and  of  the  republican  party.     He  has  been 
identified   with    the    business    and    social    affairs 
of  the  borough  for  more  than  a  generation,  and  is 
generally  esteemed  as  an  upright   and   honorable 
citizen. 


LEWIS  WORDKN. 


In  1S59  he  became 


CURTIS   THOMPSON. 


CURTIS    THOMPSON,    Bridgeport;    Attorney- 

at-Law.  ,         . 

The  ancestors  of  Curtis  Thompson  were  ot  Puri- 
tan stock,  and  among  the  eariy  settlers  and  planters 
of  the  old  town  of  Stratford,  Conn.     He  was  born 
in     Trumbull,     Oct.     30, 
1835,  where   his  parents, 
George     Thompson    and 
Lucy     A.     Curtis,    were 
temporarily  residing.    He 
was  educated  at  the  Strat- 
ford school  and  academy, 
and  Harvard  University; 
admitted    to   the    bar  in 
Fairfield  County  in  1864. 
He    has    since    practiced 
law  at  Bridgeport,  resid- 
ing, most  of  the  time,  in 
Stratford   or   Bridgeport. 
Stratford  honored  him  by 

an  election  to  the  general  assembly  during  the 
years  1S65,  '66,  and  '67,  where  he  served  on  the 
judiciary,  incorporation,  and  other  committees.  In 
1868  and  '69,  and  '72,  he  was  deputy  judge  of  the 
city  court  of  Bridgeport.  In  1S74,  '75-  and  '76,^ he 
was  councilman  and  alderman.  In  1879,  '82,  '86, 
and  '87,  he  was  city  attorney,  and,  in  1883,  town 
attorney.  Since  1872  he  has  been  an  active  trustee 
of  the  Bridgeport  Savings  Bank,  and  he  is  an 
officer  or  attorney  of  many  other  corporations. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  South  Congregational 
church  and  society,  is  connected  with  the  Seaside 
club,  and  with  the  masonic  fraternity.  He  received 
the  degree  of  M.A.  from  Yale  College  in  1871. 

He  married  in  1867  M.  Louise  Willcox,  daughter 
of  James  Willcox,  then  president  of  the  Willcox  & 
Gibbs  Sewing  Machine  Company,  and  Katharine 
Barry  of  New  York  city;  is  of  EngUsh,  Irish,  and 
Dutch  stock.  They  have  two  living  children, 
James  Willcox  Thompson,  a  graduate  of  Yale,  '90, 
and  now  a  member  of  the  bar  at  Knoxville,  Tenn., 
and  Katharine  Barry  Thompson. 

An  early  experience  of  four  years  in  the  probate 
court  laid  the  foundation  of  a  large  and  extensive 
practice  in  the  settlement  of  estates  and  litigation 
growing  out  thereof.  His  general  practice  in  all 
branches  has,  however,  been  wide,  and  especially 
in  real  estate,  corporation,  and  banking  law.  He 
possesses  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the  best 
citizens,  and  for  many  years  was  the  trusted 
counsellor  of  Hon.  P.  T.  Barnum.  He  has  tried 
many  very  important  criminal  and  civil  cases. 
Believing  it  to  be  the  duty  of  every  citizen  to  actively 
participate  in  the  management  of  pubHc  affairs  he 
has  always  voted,  and  promoted  the  success  of  the 
repubUcan  party.  He  is  the  friend  of  temperance, 
and  is  often  found  contending  against  the  establish- 
ment of  new  saloons.      In  municipal  affairs  he  has 


I02 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


had  much  to  do  as  attorney  for  many  towns  and 
communities.  In  1888-89  he  was  the  mover,  and 
the  chairman  of  the  committee,  in  procuring  the 
consohdation  of  the  city  and  town  government  of 
Bridgeport;  which  gi-eat  measure  has  resulted  in 
giving  to  Bridgeport  not  only  the  most  economical 
but  also  the  most  efficient  local  government  in  the 
state.  It  is  his  purpose  to  be  always  found  on  the 
right  side  of  ever}'  moral,  civil,  and  religious  ques- 
tion, and  to  be  read}'  to  help  and  advance  it  with 
such  means  as  he  can  command. 


NATHAN  DOUGLAS  SEVIN,  Norwich;  Phar- 
macist. 

N.  Douglas  Sevin,  senior  member  of  one  of  the 
best  known  drug  firms  in  New  London  county, 
was  born  at  Bozrah,  June  i,  1S42.  His  educa- 
tion was  obtained  at 
public  schools,  with  eigh- 
teen months  in  a  private 
school  at  Norwich.  He 
became  identified  with  the 
drug  trade  as  early  as 
1S59,  having  in  that  year 
begun  a  clerkship  in  one 
of  the  oldest  Norwich 
houses,  with  which  he  re- 
mained until  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  firm  of 
Lanman  &  Sevin  in  1S65. 
^.    .,    t,,-,.,v  The   business    was    thus 

.N.     IJ.     SE\  IN . 

conducted  until  1S79, 
when  ]\Ir.  Sevin  bought  his  partner's  interest  and 
became  sole  proprietor.  Later  his  son  was  taken 
into  the  business  and  the  firm  name  changed  to  N. 
D.  Sevin  &  Son.  During  the  civil  war  Mr.  Sevin 
served  in  the  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Volunteer 
Infantry  as  hospital  steward,  and  was  with  Banks's 
expedition  to  Port  Hudson.  He  is  now  a  prominent 
member  of  Sedgwick  Post,  No.  i,  G.  A.  R.,  the  first 
grand  army  post  established  in  this  state.  He  has 
long  been  identified  with  the  masonic  order,  and  is 
past  commander  of  Columbian  Commandery, 
Knights  Templar  ;  past  high  priest  Frankhn  Chap- 
ter, No.  4,  and  has  reached  the  thirty-third  degree, 
Scottish  rite.  He  is  a  member  of  and  also  has  held 
the  office  of  president  of  the  state  board  of  phar- 
macy, and  for  many  years  has  been  a  vestryman  in 
Trinity  Church.  In  1S82  he  was  elected  on  the 
democratic  ticket  to  represent  Norwich  in  the  state 
legislature,  and  his  eminent  popularity  is  clearly 
demonstrated  by  the  fact  that  he  was  the  first  dem- 
ocratic legislator  elected  in  Norwich  since  1859. 

Mr.  Sevin  united  in  marriage  with  Miss  Anna  M. 
Jennings  of  Norwich,  by  whom  he  has  had  one  son, 
the  young  man  who  is  now  associated  whh  him  in 
business  as  a  partner. 


J.    C.    WEBSTER. 


JOHN    C.    WEBSTER,    Harti-urd;    Vice-Presi- 
dent u3itna  Life  Insurance  Company. 
John  C.   Webster  was   born  at   Kingfield,   Me., 
May   24,    1839,   and  received  a  thorough   English 
education,  completing  the  course  at  the  High  School 
in    Concord,    N.    H.     He 
acquired      the      printer's 
trade     at    Concord,    and 
was  at  the  head  of  one  of 
the  largest  offices  in  that 
city  before  he  was  twen- 
ty-two years  of  age.     In 
1864  he  became  the  gen- 
eral agent   of   the  ^tna 
Life  in  New  Hamp.shire, 
and  made  rapid  advance- 
ment    in    that    capacity, 
displaying  from  the  out- 
set marked  adaptation  for 
the    life    insurance   busi- 
ness.    In  1S73  he  was  appointed  superintendent  of 
agencies  for  the  company,  and  removed  from  Con- 
cord to  Hartford.     He  was  elected  vice-president 
in  July,  1S79.  and  has  since  retained  that  position, 
discharging    the  duties  of    the   office  with   excep- 
tional ability  and  success.     During  the  past  twelve 
years  Mr.   Webster  has  been  the  editor    of     T/te 
j-Etna,  a  quarterly  publication  devoted  exclusively 
to  the  interests  of  the  ^tna  Life.     His  writings 
have    commanded    wide    attention     in     insurance 
circles,  giving  the  paper  a  standing  that  could  have 
been  attained  in  nt^"  other  way.     Mr.   Webster  is 
also  a  member  of    the  board   of    trustees   of    the 
^Hartford  Trust  Company,  one  of  the  largest  insti- 
tutions of  the  kind  in  the  state.     He  was  one  of  the 
founders   of    the   Hartford    Horticultural    Society, 
which  was  organized  in  April,    18S7,  and  incorpo- 
rated by  the  legislature  in  May,  1889,  Mr.  Webster 
being   the  president  of   the  society  at  that  time. 
The  Horticultural  Society  has  been  an  organization 
of  great  infiuence  in  Hartford  count}',  and  its  ex- 
hibitions have  not  been  surpassed  in  Connecticut 
for  years.     The  work  that  it  has  accomplished  is 
due  largely  to  the  leadership  of  Mr.  Webster.     The 
Gentlemen's  Driving  club  of  Hartford,  an  organiz- 
ation that  comprises  the  names  of  many  of  Hart- 
ford's worthiest  citizens,   has  borne   the  name   of 
Mr.  Webster  on  its  roll  of  membership  and  list  of 
directors  for  a  number  of  years.     In  politics  he  is  a 
republican.      He  is  connected  with  the  First  Uni- 
tarian Congregational  Society  of  Hartford,  and  is 
a  member  of  the  executive  committee.     With  the 
exception  of   one  year,   1S56,  which  was  spent  at 
Lawi'ence,   Mass.,  the  active  business  life  of  Mr. 
Webster  has  been  passed  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  and  in 
Hartford,  Conn.     His  home,   however,   is  in  West 
Hartford,  being  within  a  short  distance  of  the  citv 
boundar}-.     His  pulilic  spirit  has  done  a  great   de^d 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


103 


towards  the  development  and  prosperity  of  that 
town.  Mr.  Webster  has  been  twice  married.  His 
first  wife,  who  was  Miss  Sarah  B.  Norton  of  King- 
field,  Me.,  died  in  1868.  The  second  wife,  Mary 
E.  L.  Abbott,  was  of  Concord,  N.  H.  She  is  still 
living.  There  are  no  children.  While  Vice-Presi- 
dent Webster  has  steadily  declined  public  office 
and  position,  he  regards  public  affairs  with  great 
interest,  and  is  one  of  the  most  patriotic  and 
public-spirited  of  citizens. 


DAVID    GINAND. 


DAVID  GINAND,  Bridgeport;  Cutler. 

Mr.  Ginand  was  born  in  Spire,  Germany,  October 
18,  1837,  where  he  received  a  public  school  educa- 
tion. For  the  past  thirty  years  he  has  resided  at 
Bridgeport  and  is  one  of 
the  leading  German  citi- 
zens of  that  city.  In  1S75 
he  was  president  of  the 
German  School  Coi-pora- 
tion,  a  society  organized 
in  Bridgeport  for  the  pro- 
motion of  the  study  of 
German  and  took  an  active 
part  in  the  agitation  in 
that  city  for  school  district 
consolidation.  IniSyGhe 
was  elected  a  member  of 
the  first  board  of  educa- 
tion there  on  a  non-par- 
tisan ticket,  and  has  been  re-elected  regularly  to 
the  office  since.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics. 
Mr.  Ginand  is  a  member  of  the  leading  German 
societies  in  Bridgeport,  including  the  Concordia 
and  the  Turner  organizations.  He  has  represented 
the  latter  in  the  North  American  Ttxrnerbund  at 
its  biennial  assemblies  in  Indianapolis,  Newark, 
Davenport,  Boston,  Chicago,  and  New  York.  For 
the  last  ten  years  he  has  represented  the  Connecti- 
cut societies  in  these  national  gatherings  of  the 
Germans.  He  removed  to  the  United  States  in 
185 1  and  lived  in  Waterville  and  Naugatuck  until 
the  war  broke  out,  when  he  removed  to  Bridgeport 
and  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  arms.  From 
1S64  until  1868  he  was  employed  in  the  Wheeler  & 
Wilson  works.  He  then  established  himself  in 
business  and  has  since  carried  on  a  cutlerj^  business. 
Mr.  Ginand  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No. 
3,  F.  and  A.  M.  of  Bridgeport,  and  formerly  be- 
longed to  the  German  Reformed  Church,  but  re- 
signed his  membership  on  account  of  differences 
with  the  societ}-.  He  is  a  man  of  marked  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  action  and  thoroughly' 
6  elieves  in  the  right  of  personal  judgment.  His 
wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Christiane  Land- 
schulz  prior  to  her  marriage.  There  are  five  child- 
ren in  the  familv,  two  of  whom  are  sons. 


'-^1 


/;-/ 


C.    S.    BUSHNELL. 


CORNELIUS  S.  BUSHNELL,  Madison:  Mer- 
chant, Ship  Builder,  Railroad  Builder  and  IMan- 
ager. 

Cornelius  S.  Bushnell,  vice-president  of  the  Erics- 
son Coast  Defense  Company  of  New  York,  was 
born  in  Madison,  July  18,  1828,  and  received  a  pub- 
lic school  education.  Mr. 
Bushnell  resides  in  Madi- 
son through  the  winter, 
spending  the  summer  in 
New  York.  He  was  for- 
merly a  resident  of  New 
Haven,  and  represented 
that  city  in  the  legislature 
of*  1862,  being  a  member 
of  the  house.  It  is  neces- 
sary in  delineating  the 
public  services  of  Mr. 
Bushnell  to  speak  at  some 
length  of  the  general  as- 
sembly of  1862,  in  which 
he  was  a  leading  and  distinguished  figure.  It  con- 
tained many  of  the  prominent  men  of  the  state, 
including  Josiah  M.  Carter  of  Norwalk  (who  was 
elected  speaker),  John  S.  Rice  of  Farmington, 
Abijah  Catlin  of  Harwinton,  Thomas  Clark  of 
North  Stonington,  Abner  L.  Train  of  Milford, 
John  P.  Elton  of  Waterbury,  Erastus  S.  Day  of 
Colchester,  Amos  S.  Treat  of  Bridgeport,  Henry 
G.  Taintor  of  Hampton,  Bartlett  Bent,  Jr.,  of 
Middletown,  Charles  Chapman  of  Hartford,  and 
Alvan  P.  Hyde  of  Tolland.  Mr.  Bushnell  was  one 
of  the  sti-ongest  supporters  of  the  war,  and  when 
the  capture  of  the  national  capital  was  threatened 
in  1862  he  was  identified  with  the  best  measures 
presented  in  the  legislature  providing  for  the  organ- 
ization and  equipment  of  troops  for  the  front.  He 
was  the  heartiest  of  co-operators  with  Governor 
Buckingham,  one  of  the  foremost  and  most  pa- 
triotic of  the  New  England  war  governors,  and  sus- 
tained his  hands  in  every  effort  that  was  made  to 
furnish  the  government  %\ath  troops.  The  legisla- 
ture of  1862  held  two  sessions,  the  exigencies  of  the 
period  demanding  a  session  in  December.  The  de- 
mand that  the  soldiers  in  the  field  should  be  al- 
lowed to  vote  for  state  and  national  officers  became 
a  memorable  issue  of  the  legislative  year.  Mr. 
Bushnell  took  an  active  interest  in  all  the  questions 
that  the  war  forced  upon  public  attention,  and  was 
a  trusted  leader  on  the  republican  side.  His  most 
important  ser\nce  in  connection  with  the  war,  how- 
ever, related  to  the  adoption  of  the  Monitor  that 
was  designed  by  Ericsson,  Mr.  Bushnell  being  one 
of  the  principal  colaborers  with  the  great  inventor 
in  the  eft'ective  presentation  of  the  new  and  -mar- 
velous enginery  that  was  to  revolutionize  naval 
warfare.  He  is  the  vice-president  of  the  noted 
Ericsson  Coast  Defense  Company,   and  his  name 


I04 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


will  be  permanently  associated  with  the  war  period. 
He  was  with  C.  M.  Clay's  battalion  for  the  tlefense 
of  Washington  during  the  conflict,  and  is  a  member 
of  Admiral  Foote  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  in  New  Haven. 
Mr.  Bushnell  has  been  a  prominent  railroad  builder 
and  manager,  and  at  one  period  was  the  controlhng 
power  in  the  Shore  Line  road.  He  has  also  been 
extensively  interested  in  commerce,  merchandise, 
and  ship-building.  He  has  spent  most  of  his  life 
in  New  Haven  and  New  York.  His  church  rela- 
tions are  with  the  Dwight  Place  Congregational 
church  in  New  Haven,  and  his  family  consists  of 
a  wife  and  eight  children.  He  has  been  married 
three  times,  his  present  wife,  Elizabeth  Maxwell, 
being  the  widow  of  E.  C.  Ford,  of  Cleveland,  O., 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage.  Mr.  Bushnell  is  an 
honored  citizen  of  Connecticut,  deserving  in  every 
way  the  place  which  he  holds  in  the  respect  and 
admiration  of  the  republic. 


''l/#ip^i 


A.    WELLS    CASE,    MA^x■HESTER  :  Paper  Manu- 
facturer. 

A.  Wells  Case  and  A.  Willard  Case  are  twin 
brothers  and  constitute  the  well-known  firm  of  Case 
Brothers,  manufacturers  of  papers  at  Highland 
Park,  in  the  town  of  Man- 
chester. They  operate  the 
Highland  Mills,  the  Chap- 
lin Mills,  and  the  LTnion- 
ville  Mills.  They  are  al- 
so proprietors  of  the  fa- 
mous mineral  springs  at 
Highland  Park,  where 
are  bottled  the  Rock  and 
Tonica  waters,  the  latter 
of  which  has  acquired  a 
deserved  reputation  by  its 
successful  employment  for 
A.  w.  CASE.  the  relief  and  cure  of  many 

diseases  of  the  blood.  A. 
Wells  Case,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in 
Manchester,  October  30,  1840,  and  received  his  edu- 
cation in  the  public  schools  of  that  town;  his  vaca- 
tions being  passed  on  his  father's  farm.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  entered  the  employ  of  the  then 
well-known  firm  of  ^lessrs.  W.  &  E.  Bunce,  paper 
manufacturers.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  left 
home  and  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  with  suc- 
cess. Later  on  he  associated  himself  with  his 
brother  in  business,  as  above  stated.  Mr.  Case  is 
an  inventor  of  some  note,  which  talent  he  has 
turned  to  good  account  in  his  manufactories.  He 
is  a  republican  and  represented  Manchester  in  the 
legislature  in  1S89.  He  has  been  an  influential 
temperance  man  for  years,  and  is  held  in  high 
esteem  by  his  townsmen  as  an  honorable  and  use- 
ful citizen. 


CHARLES  E.  PERKINS,  Hartford  :  Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Charles  E.  Perkins  is  descended  from  a  noted 
fine  of  jurists,  his  father,  Thomas  C.  Perkins,  and 
grandfather,  Enoch  Perkins,  being  in  their  time 
among  the  foremost  law- 
yers of  the  state.  Enoch 
Perkins  graduated  from 
Yale  College  in  17S1  and 
was  afterwards  a  tutor  in 
that  institution.  He  be- 
came a  leader  of  the  bar 
in  Hartford  county.  His 
death  occurred  in  1828. 
Thomas  C.  Perkins,  the 
father  of  Charles  E.  Per- 
kins, graduated  from  Yale 
in  I  Si  8,  the  late  Governor 
Henry  Button  of  New 
'-'•  ^--  PERKINS.  Haven  being  one  of   his 

classmates.  i\Ir.  Perkins  became  the  successor  of 
his  father,  Enoch  Perkins,  as  a  leading  lawyer  in 
this  city,  being  the  foremost  practitioner  here  for 
3'ears.  He  died  in  1870,  half  a  century  after  his 
graduation  from  Yale,  honored  and  revered  by  the 
entire  community.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  this  city,  March  24,  1S32,  and  was  educated 
at  the  Hartford  high  school  and  Williams  College, 
graduating  from  the  latter  in  1853.  He  adopted  the 
legal  profession  and  has  been  for  twenty  years  one 
of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  in  Northern  Connec- 
ticut. He  has  devoted  his  attention  principally  to 
civil  and  patent  suits  and  is  an  influential  counsel, 
not  only  in  the  courts  of  Connecticut,  but  also  in 
the  United  States  supreme  court  at  Washington. 
One  of  his  two  sons,  Mr.  Arthur  Perkins,  who  is  a 
graduate  of  Yale,  is  associated  with  him  in  busi- 
ness. The  remaining  son,  Mr.  Thomas  C.  Perkins, 
is  an  electrical  engineer.  Mr.  Perkins  is  a  republi- 
can in  politics,  but  is  not  in  the  least  sense  of  the 
word  a  politician.  The  only  public  offices  which  he 
has  held  have  been  the  city  attorneyship  and  the 
position  of  water  commissioner.  At  no  time  in  the 
city's  history  has  the  municipality  received  abler 
service  than  during  Mr.  Perkins's  term  as  legal  ad- 
viser and  counsel  concerning  its  interests.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church, 
and  is  held  in  the  utmost  respect  and  regard 
throughout  the  community.  The  famil}-  of  Mr. 
Perkins  consists  of  a  wife  and  five  children  —  two 
sons  and  three  daughters.  Mrs.  Perkins,  who  was 
Miss  Lucy  M.  Adams  of  Boston  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage, is  a  descendant  of  Presidents  John  Adams 
and  John  Quincy  Adams.  Mr.  Perkins  is  a  gentle- 
man of  exceptional  modesty  and  reticence,  both  in 
his  home  and  among  business  associates.  His  pro- 
fessional career  from  the  outset  has  been  character- 
ized by  the   highest  personal  honor  and  integrity. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


105 


YERGASON. 


EDGAR  SMITH  YERGASON,  Harti-ord:  Mer- 
chant. 

E.  S.  Yergason  was  born  in  the  town  of  Windham 
on  the  loth  day  of  September,  1S40.  He  remained 
in  his  native  town  in  attendance  upon  the  district 
school  and  at  the  Pine 
Grove  Seminary  in  South 
Windham,  until  he  had 
fully  completed  his  educa- 
tion, and  in  1859  went  to 
Hartford  and  engaged  in 
service  as  a  clerk  with  the 
dry  goods  firm  of  Talcott 
&  Post.  His  connection 
with  the  house  continued 
twenty-two  years,  during 
which  period  he  acquired 
a  most  thorough  and 
practical  knowledge  of  the 
business    in    all    its 

branches.  During  the  presidential  campaign  of 
i860,  Mr.  Yergason  was  one  of  the  thirty-six  young 
republicans  of  Hartford  who  on  the  evening  of  March 
7th,  organized  the  original  "  AVide  Awake"  club, 
an  organization  which  spread  over  the  whole  coun- 
try, and  undoubtedly  elected  Abraham  Lincoln 
President  of  the  United  States.  Mr.  Yergason  as  a 
young  man  was  an  ardent  republican  and  patriot, 
and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
he  early  enlisted  and  served  as  a  private  in  Com- 
pan}'  B,  of  the  Twenty-second  regiment,  Connecti- 
cut Volunteers.  At  the  expiration  of  his  term  of 
service  he  returned  to  the  store  and  remained  in 
the  employ  of  Talcott  &  Post  until  the  two  partners 
separated  in  1 8 So,  when  he  joined  the  last  named 
gentleman  in  the  formation  of  the  firm  of  William  H. 
Post  &  Company,  whose  extensive  establishment  in 
the  line  of  carpets  and  interior  house  decorations,  in 
the  city  of  Hartford,  has  a  reputation  co-extensive 
with  the  country  itself.  As  a  professional  decorator 
Mr.  Yergason  is  a  gentleman  of  excellent  taste  and 
executive  ability,  and  he  personally  superin- 
tends this  entire  department  of  the  firm's  extensive 
business.  He  has  made  and  executed  contracts  for 
the  most  elaborate  decorations  in  the  private  resi- 
dences of  the  wealthiest  citizens  of  Washington, 
New  York,  Brooklyn.  Albany,  Providence,  and 
other  metropolitan  cities, —  competing  for  the  busi- 
ness with  the  most  noted  decorators  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia.  The  recent  decoration  of  the 
White  House  at  Washington  by  the  firm  of  Wm. 
H.  Post  &  Co.,  rinder  the  exclusive  management  of 
Mr.  Yergason,  has  been  commended  by  connois- 
seurs at  the  capitol  as  the  finest  example  of  artistic 
taste  in  the  line  of  interior  decoration  to  be  found 
on  the  continent.  Referring  to  the  effect  produced 
in  the  "  Blue  Room  "  of  the  executive  mansion  by 
Mr.  Yergason's  treatment  of  it,  one  of  the  govern- 


ment officials  publicly  states  his  belief  that  "it  is 
to-day  the  most  beautiful  room  in  the  world."  It  is 
no  small  compliment  to  the  house  of  Wm.  H.  Pest 
&  Co.  when  it  is  selected  to  produce  the  finest  possi- 
ble effects  in  the  dwellings  of  the  wealthiest  citizens 
f)f  the  land,  and  the  home  of  the  chief  magistrate 
himself. 

Mr.  Yergason  is  an  attendant  at  the  Asylum 
Avenue  Congregational  church,  is  a  member  of 
Robert  O.  Tyler  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  and  of  the  Army 
and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut.  He  married  in 
Hartford  Miss  Emeline  B.  Moseley,  third  daughter  of 
the  late  D.  B.  Moseley,  who  was  editor,  as  well  as 
proprietor  and  founder,  of  the  Religious  Herald, 
the  organ  of  Connecticut  Congregationalists.  They 
have  three  children. 


J- 


p.     H.      PEARL. 


PATRICK  H.  PEARL,  Hampton:  Farmer. 

Patrick  Henry  Pearl  is  a  descendant  of  the  fourth 
generation  from  Timothy  Pearl,  who  came  from 
Dorchester,  Mass.,  earlj-  in  the  last  century,  and 
settled  in  Hampton, 
where  he  lived  until  his 
death  in  1773.  Manj^  of 
his  descendants  are  living 
in  various  parts  of  the 
country.  Patrick  H. 
Pearl  was  the  son  of 
Philip  and  Clarissa  Pearl, 
and  was  born  in  Hamp- 
ton June  8,  1S19,  and  has 
resided  in  that  town  dur- 
ing his  life-time.  He  was 
educated  at  the  common 
schools  of  his  native 
town,  and  at  the  Connec- 
ticut Literary  Institution  at  Suffield.  Soon  after  at- 
taining his  majority  he  was  engaged  in  mercantile 
pursuits  for  a  few  years  in  partnership  with  the 
late  Hon.  Mason  Cleveland,  but  most  of  his  life  has 
been  spent  in  farming  until  within  a  few  years  past. 
He  was  married  Oct.  25,  1853,  to  Deborah  Williams 
of  Pomfret,  who  died  May  18,  1861,  leaving  a  son, 
Philip  Pearl,  who  is  now  a  member  of  the  firm  of 
D.  Wood  &  Co.,  merchants,  of  Webster,  Mass.  On 
March  15,  1866,  he  contracted  a  second  marriage 
with  Mary  L.  Cowles,  daughter  of  William  C. 
Cowles  of  East  Hartford,  who  is  still  living,  having 
no  children.  He  has  held  various  offices  in  the 
gift  of  his  townsmen,  representing  his  town  in  the 
legislature  of  1861,  and  held  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  for  more  than  thirty  years,  acting  as  trial 
justice  in  a  majority  of  cases  brought  in  his  town 
during  his  term  of  office.  At  the  election  held  on 
the  first  Monday  of  April,  1S63,  he  was  elected  to 
the  office  of  judge  of  probate  for  Hampton  district, 
took  possession  f)f  the  office  July  4,  1S63,  and  held 


io6 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


it  continuoush'  bj'  reelection  until  January,  1889, 
extending  over  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  and 
six  months,  and  then  retired  from  the  office  on 
account  of  constitutional  limitation,  having  arrived 
at  the  age  of  seventy  years.  He  was  former!}-  a 
whig,  and  has  been  identified  with  the  republican 
party  since  its  formation,  but  never  allowed  him- 
self to  be  swerved  from  the  right  by  love  of  party. 
He  is  not  connected  with  any  church  or  religious 
society,  but  is  a  regular  attendant  at  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  his  town.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
masonic  fraternit}',  and  a  staunch  supporter  of  its 
principles  and  tenets.  He  is  now  spending  his  days 
quietly  at  his  pleasant  home  in  his  native  village 
and  attending  to  the  various  calls  upon  him  for  ad- 
vice in  legal  and  business  affairs. 


of 


S.   G.   HI.AKEMAN. 


COL.    SELAH    G.    BLAKEMAN,    Huntixgton 
Farmer. 

Colonel  Blakeman  is  a  native  of  the  town 
Stratford  in  this  state,  where  he  was  born  May  23, 
1S41.  He  attended  the  district  school  in  that  town, 
and  later  the  high  school 
in  Milford.  He  enlisted 
as  a  private  in  the  Seven- 
teenth regiment,  Connec- 
ticut volunteer  infantry, 
July  2g,  1S62,  and  was  in 
every  engagement,  and 
on  every  march  that  the 
command  took  part  in  as 
a  regiment,  until  he  was 
discharged  as  a  sergeant 
at  the  close  of  the  war. 
In  1866  he  married  and 
bought  a  farm  in  Hunt- 
ington, where  he  now  re- 
He  has  been  first  selectman  of  the  town, 
has  held  the  office  of  deputy  sheriff  for  three  years, 
and  other  minor  offices  in  the  town.  In  1S79  he 
was  elected  to  represent  the  town  in  the  legislature. 
He  served  as  aid-de-camp  on  Governor  Lounsbury's 
staff  in  18S7-S  with  the  rank  of  colonel.  He  is  a 
past  post  commander  of  Kellogg  Post,  G.  A.  R. ; 
was  a  delegate  to  the  national  encampment,  G.  A. 
R.,  held  at  Denver,  Col.,  in  1883;  was  an  aid-de- 
camp on  Commander-in-Chief  Burdette's  staff,  in 
1 886,  at  the  encampment  at  San  Francisco,  Califor- 
nia, and  on  Commander-in-Chief  Alger's  staff,  in 
1890,  at  the  encampment  in  Boston.  He  has  served 
between  four  and  five  years  as  foreman  of  the  Echo 
hose  and  hook  and  ladder  company  of  Shelton.  He  is 
a  prominent  member  of  the  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  has  the 
reputation  of  being  one  of  the  best  drill  masters  in 
the  order.  His  business  is  farming,  but  for  the  past 
few  years  he  has  spent  most  of  his  time  in  building 
roads  and  grading.  In  politics  he  has  always  been 
a  strong  republican. 


sides. 


J- 


JOHN  E.   HIGGINS,  H.\rtfori):  City  and  Town 
Clerk  and  Registrar. 

John  E.  Higgins  has  held  the  position  of  city 
clerk  in  the  state  capital  since  1874,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  year,  and  the  office  of  town  clerk  and 
registrar  of  births,  mar- 
riages, and  deaths  without 
interval  during  the  same 
period.  His  career  in 
these  offices  has  been  one 
of  marked  success  and 
satisfaction.  While  Mr. 
Higgins  is  a  pronounced 
democrat  in  politics,  his 
course  as  a  public  official 
has  been  so  characterized 
by  devotion  to  the  inter- 
ests of  the  community, 
without  regard  to  partisan 
lines,  that  men  of  all  par- 
ties politically  have  given  him  an  enthusiastic  support 
at  the  polls,  ensuring  his  retention  in  office,  no  mat- 
ter how  popular  a  competitor  might  be  in  the  field 
against  him.  The  plan  of  placing  his  name  on 
both  tickets  has  prevailed  for  a  number  of  years. 
Of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  consider  majorities 
under  such  circumstances.  A  gentleman  whose 
public  career  attracts  all  classes  of  citizens  to  his 
support,  irrespective  of  political  affiliations,  de- 
serves the  heartiest  of  commendations.  It  would 
be  a  mistake,  however,  to  presume  that  City  Clerk 
Higgins  owes  his  success  simply  to  good  fellowship 
and  affable  manners.  While  he  possesses  these 
traits  beyond  even  most  public  favorites,  his  recep- 
tion of  the  popular  suffrage  has  depended,  in  the 
main,  on  the  character  and  value  of  his  services. 
There  is  not  a  town  clerk's  office  in  the  state  that  is 
more  intelligently  conducted  than  the  Hartford 
office.  The  systematic  classification  of  town  rec- 
ords, the  order  and  precision  with  which  the  work 
of  the  office  is  managed,  and  the  uniform  courtesy 
with  which  the  public  has  been  treated  have  made 
the  office  the  model  one  in  Connecticut.  This  is 
not  saying  a  w^ord  beyond  what  the  place  merits. 
As  city  clerk,  Mr.  Higgins  is  e'x  officio  clerk  of  the 
board  of  aldermen  in  Hartford.  It  is  in  this  capac- 
ity that  much  of  his  best  public  work  has  been  ac- 
complished. The  journal  of  the  board,  which  is 
prepared  and  printed  under  the  city  clerk's  hand, 
is  far  superior  as  an  official  production  to  the  jour- 
nals of  the  state  legislature.  The  Year  Book,  which 
is  also  arranged  and  edited  \i\  Mr.  Higgins,  is 
sought  for  far  and  wide  by  the  municipal  govern- 
ments. Great  improvements  have  been  made  in 
both  the  town  and  city  clerkships  during  Mr.  Hig- 
gins's  incumbency  of  these  offices.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  in  New  London,  June  19, 
1S44,  and  received  a  public  school  education.     At 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


107 


the  outbreak  of  the  war  he  was  a  teacher  in  the 
Portland  pubUc  schools.  This  position  was  resigned 
for  the  military  service  of  that  period.  Mr.  Hig- 
gins  became  a  member  of  the  Third  United  States 
Artillery,  and  was  in  the  army  for  three  years. 
He  is  a  prominent  member  of  Robert  O.  Tyler 
Post  of  the  Grand  Army  in  Hartford,  and  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  the  noted  veteran  assem- 
blages and  demonstrations  that  have  occurred  in 
this  city  since  the  war.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
Green  Cross  Council,  Knights  of  Columbus,  and  of 
the  Hartford  Lodge  of  Elks.  City  Clerk  Higgins 
is  a  member  of  the  Roman  Catholic  church  in  this 
city,  being  connected  at  present  with  the  cathedral 
parish;  but  for  twentj'-five  years  he  was  a  member 
and  attendant  at  St.  Peter's.  The  wife  of  Mr. 
Higgins,  who  is  held  in  the  most  thorough  esteem 
in  the  community,  was  Miss  Adella  E.  Collins  prior 
to  marriage.  There  are  no  children  in  the  family. 
Mr.  Higgins  removed  to  Hartford  from  New 
London  after  the  war,  and  was  employed  for 
eight  years  at  the  Colt  works.  He  was  first  elected 
city  clerk  in  1874,  and  from  that  time  until  now 
he  has  been  an  occupant  of  public  office  and 
position. 


RUFUS  B.  SAGE,  Cromwell:  Farmer. 

Rufus  B.  Sage,  the  son  of  Deacon  Rufus  vSage, 
was  born  March   17,  181 7,  in  that  part  of  Middle- 
town  since  known  as  the  town  of  Cromwell.     The 
youngest  of  a   family   of 
seven    children,    he    was  ^""^ 

left  fatherless  at  the  age 
of  nine  and  thrown  upon 
his  own  resources  to  make 
his  unaided  way  in  the 
world;  hence  his  boj-hood 
was  a  scene  of  struggling 
toil,  quite  unfavorable  to  'J 

educational    attainments  ^ 

However,   by  his  energ}^  , 

in  making  use  of  the  com-  I" 

mon  school  and  academy 
at  winter  terms,  he  was  j,    sa.ge 

enabled  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion f ( )r  after  efforts  in  the  slow  progress  of  self- 
tuition.  He  thus  became  the  student  of  opportun- 
ity, impelled  by  a  strong  desire  to  learn.  This 
induced  young  vSage  to  choose  the  occupation  of 
printer,  and  he  became  initiated  to  the  mysteries  of 
that  art  at  a  newspaper  office  in  the  city  of  Middle- 
town.  In  the  fall  of  1836  he  Avent  to  Washington 
county,  Ohio,  serving  as  school  teacher  for  a  term 
and  then  laboring  as  compositor  upon  the  Marietta 
Gazette.  A  favorable  opening  presenting  itself  at 
Parkersburg,  W.  Va.,  he  engaged  in  the  capacity 
of  foreman  upon  the  only  paper  published  in  that 


place.  While  there,  in  the  spring  of  1S3S,  he  em- 
barked in  an  enterprise  which  took  him  southward 
with  a  cargo  of  ice.  This  transaction  resulted  in  a 
money  loss,  but  proved  rich  in  experience  and 
observation,  for  that  which  he  then  saw  and  heard 
in  Louisiana  and  Mississippi  transformed  him  into 
the  future  unrelenting  foe  of  the  slave  institution. 
Upon  his  return  north  he  accepted  a  situation  at 
Circleville,  O.,  where  he  became  well  known  as  a 
writer,  speaker,  and  participator  in  public  affairs. 
His  stay  here  was  signalized  by  the  organization  of 
a  debating  club,  through  his  influence,  which 
became  very  popular,  and  his  connection  with  the 
press  also  brought  him  in  contact  with  the  most 
prominent  citizens  of  the  country.  His  next  en- 
gagement was  at  Columbus,  late  in  1839,  a  busy 
compositor  upon  the  Ohio  State  Btilletin,  carefully 
improving  any  leisure  at  his  disposal  in  attendance 
at  the  state  library  or  upon  the  legislative  sessions. 
Early  in  1840  commenced  the  ever  memorable 
political  struggle,  known  as  the  "log  cabin  cam- 
paign," in  support  of  Gen.  W.  H.  Harrison  for  the 
presidency.  With  this  Mr.  Sage  was  identified  and 
bore  a  conspicuous  part  from  the  very  first.  A 
weekly  campaign  paper,  and  later  on  a  daily,  was 
edited  and  published  by  him,  that  did  most  effect- 
ive service  in  bringing  about  the  grand  result  of 
electing  the  whig  national  ticket  by  an  over\\-helm- 
ing  majority.  One  incident  among  the  many  that 
are  noteworthy,  wherein  Mr.  Sage  performed  the 
part  of  detective,  is  worthy  of  special  mention. 
The  democratic  leaders,  in  their  desperation,  sought 
to  stem  the  popular  current  by  setting  adrift  an 
ingenious  forgery,  purporting  to  come  from  the 
whig  state  central  committee,  Alfred  Kelly,  chair- 
man, which  unexposed  would  have  proved  very 
damaging  to  the  whig  interest.  Mr.  Sage,  by  his 
shrewdness,  most  thoroughly  penetrated  the  secret, 
exposing  the  infamous  act  and  those  concerned  in 
it,  thus  springing  upon  their  own  necks  the  noose 
they  had  so  cunningly  looped  for  others.  The  day 
following  Gen.  Harrison  was  in  Columbus,  and 
meeting  our  detective  said,  extending  his  hand, 
"  Well,  Mr.  Sage,  you  outgeneraled  their  generals 
this  time  !  I  congratulate  you."  The  turmoil  of 
partv  strife  being  closed,  public  attention  began  to 
be  directed  to  other  things.  The  great  west,  from 
Missouri  to  the  Pacific  ocean,  then  so  Httle 
known,  became  a  theme  of  much  interest.  Sharing 
largelv  in  that  interest,  and  incited  by  a  strong  de- 
sire to  know  more  of  the  vast  region  beyond  the 
Missouri  frontier,  Mr.  Sage  set  about  organizing  a 
party  of  enterprising  young  men  to  visit  and  ex- 
plore those  countries.  His  efforts  were  successful, 
so  far  as  talk  was  concerned;  but  at  starting,  Jlay 
I,  1841,  only  five  came  to  time,  and  only  one  besides 
himself  reached  Independence,  Mo.,  at  which 
point  that  one  also  left  him.     Undaunted   by  the 


io8 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


gloomy  outlook,  after  a  delay  of  several  weeks,  Mr. 
Sage  joined  a  party  of  Indian  traders  and  pushed 
his  onward  way  toward  the  setting  sun.  Now 
began  a  series  of  adventures,  explorations,  and  ex- 
tensive travels,  among  Indians  and  wild  beasts, 
alone  or  with  such  company  as  chance  presented, 
for  an  interval  of  three  years,  the  details  of  which 
the  reader  can  find  in  a  book  entitled  "Scenes  in 
the  Rocky  Mountains,"  etc.,  by  Rufus  B.  Sage, 
Carey  &  Hart  publishers,  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  1846. 
In  July,  1844,  he  returned  to  Columbus,  O.,  and 
immediately  issued  a  campaign  weekly  in  support 
of  Henry  Clay  for  U.  S.  president,  protesting  with 
all  earnestness  against  the  annexation  of  Texas  and 
the  consequent  extension  of  the  slave  power.  The 
result  was  a  grand  triumph  in  Ohio,  which  however 
was  neutralized  in  New  York  by  the  abolition  vote, 
cast  for  Burne^^  thus  giving  the  national  election 
to  James  K.  Polk,  and  setting  in  train  the  tremen- 
dous evils  that  followed.  Mr.  Sage  next  appeared 
in  the  editorial  chair  of  the  Chillicothe,  O.,  Gazette, 
with  which  paper  he  severed  his  connection  in 
1845,  and  returned  to  visit  his  old  home  after  an 
absence  of  ten  years.  In  this  quiet  retreat  he  pre- 
pared his  book  of  travels,  which  had  a  successful 
run  through  several  editions.  And  at  this  point 
came  a  change  of  long-cherished  plans.  An  aged 
invalid  mother  required  of  him  the  care  he  could 
not  find  heart  to  deny.  Yielding  to  her  wishes,  he 
married  and  set  himself  faithfully  to  solve  the  puz- 
zling question  so  often  discussed,  "  Will  farming 
pay  ?"  Mr.  Sage  says  it  will.  Satisfied  with  home 
comforts  and  busied  with  home  interests,  he  has 
kept  aloof  from  public  office,  having  never  held 
one,  either  town,  state,  or  national.  His  estimate  of 
merit  does  not  count  any  one  the  more  worthy 
because  of  popular  favor,  office,  money,  fine  cloth- 
ing, or  proud  display.  He  remarks  that  it  is  not 
often  the  richest  ore  crops  out  upon  the  surface, 
neither  is  the  mere  place-seeker  the  best  deserving 
of  popular  confidence.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  Mr. 
Sage  joined  the  Congregational  church  in  Crom- 
well, and  amid  all  the  vicissitudes  of  his  eventful 
life  he  has  been  more  or  less  active  in  support  of 
religion  and  good  morals.  His  name  was  upon  the 
pledge-roll  of  the  first  temperance  society  of  Con- 
necticut, and  he  has  been  a  prohibitionist  from  the 
first  genesis  of  the  idea,  ever  prompt  to  strike  in  its 
favor  whenever  such  blow  would  tell,  but  "  not  as 
one  who  beateth  the  air."  Uniformly  a  studious 
and  laborious  man,  he  is  now  over  seventy-four 
years  old,  hale  and  robust,  with  good  prospect  for 
several  years  to  come.  He  seldom  drinks  coffee, 
tea  never,  has  been  a  lifelong  abstainer  from 
spirituous  drinks  of  all  kinds,  nor  has  he  used 
tobacco  in  any  form.  In  brief,  the  grand  result  is, 
he  has  never  been  laid  by  from  sickness  for  a  single 
day  during  his  whole  life. 


SAMUEL    FESSENDEN. 


HON.   SA.MUEL   FESSENDEN,  Stamford:  At- 
torney-at-Law. 

The  Hon.  Samuel  Fessenden.  one  of  the  ablest 
and  foremost  leaders  of  the  republican  party  in 
Connecticut,  was  born  in  Rockland,  Me.,  April  12, 
1847,  and  prepared  for 
college  at  Lewiston  Acad- 
em}'.  At  the  age  of  16, 
however,  he  sacrificed  his 
college  pursuits  for  the 
army,  and  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  the  Seventh 
Maine  Battery.  Decem- 
ber 14,  1S64,  he  was  ap- 
pointed to  a  second  lieu- 
tenancy in  the  Second 
United  States  Infantry  by 
President  Lincoln,  the 
promotion  being  recom- 
mended by  GeneralGrant. 
One  week  afterwards  he  was  advanced  to  the  rank 
of  captain  in  that  command.  But  having  been 
recommended  for  promotion  in  the  artillery  ser- 
vice, he  declined  the  captaincy  in  the  Second  regu- 
lars, and  January  15,  1865,  was  commissioned 
second  lieutentant  in  the  First  Maine  Battery.  At 
that  time  he  was  less  than  iS  years  of  age.  He 
was  appointed  on  the  staff  of  Major-General  A.  P. 
Howe  May  i,  1865,  and  remained  in  that  position 
until  the  conclusion  of  the  war.  He  participated 
in  the  battles  of  the  Wilderness,  Spottsylvania, 
Cold  Harbor,  and  Petersburg,  and  won  honorable 
recognition  from  his  superiors.  At  the  time  when 
under  normal  circumstances  he  would  have  been  a 
brilliant  student  at  college,  he  was  serving  with, 
the  heroism  of  a  veteran  in  the  field.  Returning 
from  the  war,  he  entered  the  Harvard  Law  School, 
where  he  completed  his  legal  course.  March  4, 
iS6g,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Fairfield  county  bar 
in  this  state,  and  has  since  resided  in  Stamford. 
In  1874,  when  he  was  but  26  years  of  age,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  general  assembly  from 
Stamford,  and  was  appointed  on  the  judiciary  com- 
mittee. He  made  one  of  the  ablest  speeches  of  the 
session  on  the  parallel  railroad  project,  carrying 
the  house  by  the  eloquence  and  force  of  his  presen- 
tation of  the  case.  In  1876  he  was  one  of  the  dele- 
gates from  Connecticut  in  the  national  republican 
convention  at  Cincinnati,  which  nominated  Presi- 
dent Hayes.  In  1S79  he  was  re-elected  to  the  gen- 
eral assembly,  and  was  the  foremost  republican  in 
that  body.  The  nomination  of  the  Hon.  O.  H. 
Piatt  for  the  United  States  senatorship  was  due 
mainly  to  the  leadership  displayed  by  Mr.  Fessen- 
den. In  1884  Mr.  Fessenden  was  elected  secretary 
of  the  national  republican  committee,  and  mani- 
fested in  that  capacity  executive  training  of  the 
highest  order.     He  is  still  a  member  of  the  national 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


109 


committee  and  a  member  of  the  executive  com- 
mittee, and  one  of  its  most  trusted  advisers. 
For  fifteen  years  he  has  been  a  prominent  figure  in 
republican  conventions  in  this  state,  being  the 
recognized  leader  by  the  delegates.  His  eminent 
qualities  as  a  lawyer  led  to  his  appointment  as 
state's  attorney  in  Fairfield  county,  a  position  which 
he  has  held  with  marked  success  for  a  number  of 
j-ears.  Mr,  Fessenden  prepares  his  cases  with 
great  thoroughness,  and  in  the  courts  where  he 
appears  his  knowledge  of  law  and  eloquence 
in  addres.sing  courts  and  juries  makes  him  a 
formidable  opponent.  He  was  one  of  the  found- 
ers aud  original  members  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  Club  of  Connecticut,  and  the  universal 
favorite  with  veterans  of  the  war  throughout  the 
state.  His  personal  traits  have  endeared  him  to 
thousands  of  men  in  the  country,  who  know  of  no 
honor  too  important  to  be  conferred  upon  him. 
His  future  is  full  of  promise  and  inspiration, 
whether  considered  from  a  professional  or  political 
point  of  view. 

JOHN  CHAPIN   BRINSMADE,  Washington. 

John  Chapin  Brinsmade,  principal  of  the  Gun- 
nery School,  was  born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  April 
24,  1852.  His  father,  William  B.  Brinsmade  (Yale 
1840)  was  for  a  long  time 
superintendent  of  the 
Connecticut  River  Rail- 
road. His  mother  is  the 
daughter  of  the  late 
Colonel  Harvey  Chapin, 
a  descendant  in  the  sixth 
generation  of  Deacon 
Samuel  Chapin,  who  set- 
tled in  Springfield  in  1642. 
On  his  father's  side  he  is 
descended  from  Rev. 
Daniel  Brinsmade  (Yale, 
1745),  who  came  to  Wash- 
ington (then,  a  part  of 
AVoodbury)  in  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  was  for  some  time  the  minister  of  the 
Judea  Congregational  Society.  His  son,  Daniel 
N.  Brinsmade  (Yale,  1772),  was  a  member  of  the 
state  convention  for  the  ratification  of  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  United  States. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  attended  private 
schools  in  Springfield  and  the  Gunnery  in  Wash- 
ington, and  graduated  at  Harvard  University  in 
the  class  of  1S74.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  be- 
came assistant  teacher  at  the  Gunnery.  In  Octo- 
ber, 1876,  he  was  married  to  Mary  Gold  Gunn  (his 
cousin),  daughter  of  F.  W.  Gunn,  principal  of  the 
school.  Since  Mr.  Gunn's  death  in  1S81  he  has  been 
principal  of  the  Gunnery.  He  has  five  children, 
three  sons  and  two  daughters. 


J- 


13RINSM.A.DE. 


HENRY    GILDERSLEEVE. 

,  he  associated 
Gildersleeve  & 


HENRY     GILDERSLEEVE,    Portland:    Ship- 
builder. 

Henry  Gildersleeve  was  born  in  Portland,  in  that 
part  of  the  town  now  known  as  Gildersleeve,  on 
the  7th  of  April,  1817;  was  educated  at  the  district 
school,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  commenced  in 
his  father's  yard  to  learn 
the  business  of  shipbuild- 
ing. He  soon  acquired  a 
thorough  knowledge  of 
the  details  of  the  business, 
and  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  he  was  taken  into 
partnership  with  his  father 
under  the  firm  name  of 
S.  Gildersleeve  &  Son, 
which  firm,  up  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  have  built  142 
vessels  of  all  classes,  both 
sail  and  steam.  In  December,  18; 
himself  with  the  house  of  Bentley 
Co.,  shipping  and  commission  merchants  on  South 
street.  New  York.  He  retained  his  connection  with 
the  Gildersleeve  ship- building  firm,  and  at  the  end 
of  ten  years  he  retired  from  the  New  York  firm, 
resigning  in  favor  of  his  son,  Sylvester,  who  con- 
tinued the  business  in  connection  with  his  brother 
Oliver,  under  the  firm  name  of  S.  Gildersleeve  & 
Co.  Henry  Gildersleeve,  since  retiring  from  his 
New  York  business,  has  devoted  his  whole  time 
and  attention  to  the  ship-building  and  other  interests 
with  which  he  is  connected  in  his  native  town. 

On  the  29th  of  ]\Iarch,  1839,  he  married  Nancy, 
daughter  of  Samuel  Buckingham  of  Milford,  by 
whom  he  had  one  child,  Philip,  born  February  i, 
1842.  His  first  wife  died  on  the  14th  of  March, 
1842,  and  on  the  25th  of  May,  1843,  he  married 
Emily  F.,  daughter  of  Oliver  Northam  of  Marl- 
borough, by  whom  he  had  seven  children:  Oliver, 
born  March  6,  1844;  Emilj^  Shepard,  born  Septem- 
ber 8,  1846;  Mary  Smith,  born  March  8,  1848,  died 
October  18,  1851;  Anna  Sophia,  born  February  26, 
1850,  died  August  27,  1854;  Sylvester,  born  Novem- 
ber 24,  1852;  Louisa  Rebecca,  born  May  g,  1857; 
and  Henry,  born  September  4,  1858.  The  death  of 
the  second  wife  of  Henry  Gildersleeve  occurred  on 
the  nth  of  November,  1873;  and  on  the  12th  of 
June,  1875,  he  married  Araelia,  daughter  of  Colonel 
Orren  Warner  of  East  Haddam,  by  whom  he  had 
one  child,  Orren  Warner,  born  November  26,  1878. 
jNIr.  Gildersleeve  has  been  identified  with  many 
public  enterprises  outside  of  his  ship-building  inter- 
ests. He  was  for  a  number  of  years  a  director  in 
the  New  York  &:  Hartford  Steamboat  Company, 
and  president  of  the  Middletown  Ferry  Company, 
and  is  now  president  of  the  Middlesex  Quarry  Com- 
pany, also  president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of 


no 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   P(3PULAR 


Portland,  and  trustee  and  one  of  the  original  in- 
corporators of  the  Freestone  Savings  Bank,  also  a 
director  of  the  Middlesex  Mutual  Assurance  Com- 
pany of  ]Middletown.  He  has  been  for  many  years 
an  active  member  and  liberal  supporter  of  the 
Trinity  Episcopal  church  at  Portland,  was  a  large 
contributor  to  the  funds  for  the  erection  of  their 
elegant  new  church  edifice,  and  a  member  of  the 
building  committee.  In  i860,  as  the  nominee  of 
the  democratic  party,  he  represented  Portland  in 
the  state  legislature,  and  sustained  every  measure 
for  the  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 


J.    S.    GRAVES. 


JOHN  SAMUEL  GRAVES,  New   Haven. 

Mr.  Graves  was  born  in  Hebron,  Tolland  county, 
Connecticut,  September  2,  1807.  He  was  educated 
at  the  district  school.  Books  were  few,  but  the 
Bible  and  catechism  were 
thoroughly  taught.  Gov- 
ernor Peters  of  colonial 
times,  after  whom  he  was 
named,  took  especial  in- 
terest in  his  education  and 
welfare.  His  mother  was 
a  Peters,  the  family  being 
at  that  time  one  of  the 
largest  and  mo.st  respect- 
able in  the  state.  At 
fourteen  years  of  age  he 
left  home  and  served  four 
years  as  a  clerk  with  Jo- 
seph Goodspeed  of  East 
Haddam.  At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  taken  to 
Hartford  to  begin  the  study  of  medicine.  His 
health  failed  him,  and  he  went  to  New  Haven,  his 
present  residence,  intending  to  lead  a  mercantile 
life.  From  1828  to  1830  he  conducted  a  brokerage 
business,  after  which  he  undertook  the  dry  goods 
trade,  in  which  he  became  highly  successful.  Be- 
sides having  the  largest  store  in  the  state  he  car- 
ried on  a  heavy  southern  trade  until  1847,  when  he 
sold  out  to  Wilcox  &  Crampton,  having  in  v-iew  the 
starting  of  a  gas  company.  He  married,  in  July, 
1837,  Polly  Merwin,  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Philo  Mer- 
win  of  Brookfield,  in  this  state.  Eight  children 
live  to  mourn  a  lovely  and  devoted  mother.  His 
elevation  to  many  official  stations  of  responsibility 
and  trust  shows  him  to  have  been  a  man  of  great 
ability  and  honor,  as  well  as  of  broad  and  progres- 
sive views.  He  has  held  the  offices  of  notary  pub- 
lic, justice  of  the  peace,  city  councilman,  and  of 
vestryman  in  Trinity  Episcopal  Church.  He  was 
the  prime  mover  and  founder  of  the  New  Haven 
Gas  Light  Company,  holding  the  offices  of  vice- 
president,  secretary,  and  treasurer,  and  variously 
in  active  official  service  for  twenty-three  years.  He 
still  continues  in  the  company  of  which  he  has  been 


a  member  for  forty-three  years.  Politically  he  is  a 
Jeffersonian  democrat,  and  although  he  was  nomi- 
nated as  a  candidate  of  that  party  for  mayor,  he 
declined  the  honor,  preferring  a  quiet  life  outside 
of  all  political  entanglements. 


J.    W.    BEARDSLEY. 


JAMES  WALKER  BEARDSLEY,  Stratford: 
A  Retired  Farmer  and  Stock  Dealer. 
Mr.  Beardsley  is  a  son  of  Elisha  H.  Beardsley, 
and  has  been  a  farmer  all  his  life.  He  is  a  native 
of  the  town  of  Monroe,  where  he  was  born  May  8, 
1820,  and  where  his  father 
pursued  the  same  occupa- 
tion. He  is  descended  in 
regular  line  from  William 
Beardsley,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Stratford;  and 
on  his  mother's  side, 
through  a  distinguished 
ancestr}',  from  Robert 
Walker,  one  of  the  found- 
ers of  the  Old  South 
Church  of  Boston  in  1669. 
Mr.  Beardsley  was  edu- 
cated at  the  common 
schools  and  at  the  pre- 
paratory institute  of  Samuel  B.  Beardsley.  As  be- 
fore stated,  his  life  has  been  spent  entirely  on  the 
farm,  and  he  long  ago  became  the  holder  of  much 
landed  property,  including  a  large  and  valuable 
stock  farm  in  the  state  of  Illinois.  His  residence 
has  been  in  Monroe  and  in  Bridgeport,  to  both  of 
which  localities  he  has  contributed  much  in  the 
way  of  material  adornment  and  of  personal  in- 
fluence. In  1878  he  gave  to  the  city  of  Bridgeport 
one  hundred  acres  of  land  for  a  public  park,  on 
condition  that  the  city  should  expend  a  certain 
comparatively  small  amount  of  money  yearly,  for 
a  number  of  years,  in  its  care  and  management. 
At  first  the  city  doubted  the  propriety  of  accepting 
the  gift  on  the  conditions  which  the  donor  im- 
posed, but  it  was  finally  accepted,  and  the  condi- 
tions have  been  fulfilled.  This  park  is  now  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  great  features  of  the  city. 
For  the  original  property  Mr.  Beardsley  had  been 
offered  $20,000;  it  would  be  worth  for  city  lots  to- 
day hundreds  of  thousands.  It  cannot  be  doubted 
that  he  takes  great  satisfaction  in  seeing  the  im- 
provements which  the  city  is  making  from  year  to 
year  in  "  Beardsley  Park,"  many  of  which  were  of 
his  own  suggesting.  He  bestows  yearly  upon  it 
much  time,  attention,  and  money,  and  his  efforts  in 
its  behalf  are  highly  appreciated  by  the  citizens  of 
Bridgeport,  as  is  the  original  magnificent  gift. 

Mr.  Beardsley's  fine  residence  was  originally  the 
homestead  of  James  Walker,  Jr.,  which  descended 
to  the  former  through  his  mother,  Betsey  (Walker) 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    COXXECTICUT. 


I  I  I 


Beardsley,  the  daughter  of  James  Walker,  Jr.  It 
is  kept  very  choicely,  and  regarded  sacredly  as  the 
home  of  his  ancestors  for  three  generations,  or 
since  1739.  Mr.  Beardsley  was  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  legislature  in  1848,  representing  the 
town  of  Monroe,  and  being  elected  to  the  office  by 
the  democratic  party.  He  is  an  influential  member 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  and  a  liberal 
contributor  to  its  charities. 


EDWARD  V.  PRESTON,  Hartford:  Superin- 
tendent of  Agencies  of  the  Travelers  Insurance 
Company. 

Major  Edward  V.  Preston  was  born  in  Willing- 
ton,  Conn.,  June  i,  1837,  being  the  second  son  of 
Joshua  and  Caroline  Eldredge  Preston.  The  fam- 
ily consisted  of  seven 
children,  three  of  whom 
reside  in  Hartford.  The 
major's  grandfather, 
Amos  Preston,  and  great- 
grandfather, Darius  Pres- 
ton, were  born  in  the 
same  house  in  Willington 
in  which  his  father  and 
himself  first  saw  the  light. 
This  ancient  structure, 
which  has  been  the  birth- 
place of  four  generations 
in  the  f  am  ily  ,   is  still  e.  v.  pkeston. 

standing.     The   Prestons 

in  this  country  are  descendants  of  William  Pres- 
ton, who  emigrated  from  England  in  1635,  reach- 
ing Boston  on  the  True  Love,  the  last  of  the  sev- 
enteen ships  from  London  to  Boston  in  that  year. 
The  genealogy  of  the  family,  however,  is  traced 
back  to  the  time  of  Malcolm,  King  of  the  Scots. 
The  name  of  Preston  was  assumed  on  account  of 
the  territorial  possessions  of  the  family  in  Mid-Lo- 
thian, Scotland.  The  first  of  the  name  on  record  is 
Leolphus  De  Preston ,  living  in  the  time  of  William 
the  Lion,  about  1040.  His  grandson,  Sir  William 
Preston,  was  one  of  the  Scotch  nobles  summoned 
to  Berwick  by  Edward  I.  in  the  competition  for  the 
Crown  of  Scotland  between  Bruce  and  Baliol, 
the  decision  having  been  submitted  to  Edward. 
Subsequently,  Westmoreland  county,  England,  was 
represented  in  Parliament  by  members  of  the  fam- 
ily. Edward  III.  being  king  at  the  time.  John  Pres- 
ton, also  a  member  of  the  family,  retired  from  the 
bench  in  1427  on  account  of  his  great  age.  William 
Preston,  from  whom  the  American  branch  is  de- 
scended, originally  located  in  Dorchester,  but  after- 
wards removed  to  New  Haven,  where  he  died  in 
1647.  Some  of  his  children  remained  in  Dorchester. 
The  Eastern  Connecticut  Prestons  are  traced  from 
John   Preston   of    Andover,    Mass.,    who    married 


Mary  Haynes  of  Newbury  in  that  state  in  1 706  and 
removed  to  Windham  county,  where  he  died  in 
1730.  The  Connecticut  branch  of  the  familj'  figured 
conspicuously  in  the  Revolutionary  war,  the  Lex- 
ington alarm,  April  19,  1775,  calling  them  to  the 
front.  The  list  of  Revolutionar}' soldiers  published 
by  this  state  shows  twenty-five  representatives  of 
the  Connecticut  Prestons  in  the  service.  The  fam- 
ily has  been  equally  active  and  prominent  in  church 
interests.  The  history  of  Windham  county  is  rich 
Avith  narratives  concerning  their  work  in  this  direc- 
tion. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  engaged  in  business  in  this  city, 
being  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Griswold,  Griffin  & 
Co.,  which  was  located  at  the  southeast  corner  of 
Asylum  and  Trumbull  streets.  April  22,  1861,  he 
volunteered  temporary  assistance  as  a  clerk  in  the 
adjutant-general's  office  under  General  J.  D.  Wil- 
liams. In  July,  Col.  Orris  S.  Ferry  of  the  Fifth 
Connecticut,  which  was  then  organizing,  requested 
the  appointment  of  Major  Preston  as  quartermaster 
of  the  command.  July  17th  he  received  the  appoint- 
ment, being  given  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant,  and 
was  mustered  into  the  serA-ice  July  23d.  In  Sep- 
tember, 1 86 1,  he  was  detailed  by  Col.  Dudley  Don- 
nelly and  afterwards  by  Gens.  G.  H.  Gordon  and 
A.  S.  Williams  to  be  acting  assistant  quartermaster 
of  the  First  Brigade,  Gen.  Banks's  division,  and  re- 
tained the  position  until  Jan.  i,  1S62,  when  he  re- 
turned to  his  old  place  in  the  Fifth  Connecticut.  In 
March,  1862,  Lieutenant  Preston  was  detailed  as  an 
aid-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  Gen.  Ferry,  who  had  re- 
ceived a  brigadier's  commission.  During  a  part  of 
the  time  until  Feb.  ig,  1863,  he  was  acting  assistant 
quartermaster  of  the  division.  On  that  date  he 
was  commissioned  by  President  Lincoln  as  "  addi- 
tional paymaster  U.  S.  Volunteers,  with  the  rank 
of  major,"  and  held  this  position  until  July  31,  1S65, 
when  he  was  honorablj'  discharged  by  the  secretary 
of  war.  Millions  of  dollars  passed  through  his  hands 
during  the  war  and  his  accounts  squared  to  a  cent  in 
the  final  settlement  with  the  government.  Major 
Preston  is  a  member  of  the  veteran  association  of 
the  Fifth  regiment;  also  of  the  Army  and  Navy 
Club  of  Connecticut,  and  of  Robert  O.  Tyler  Post, 
G.  A.  R.  He  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  $10,000 
fund  owned  by  the  Post.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Connecticut  Literary 
Institution  at  Suffield,  of  the  Baptist  state  conven- 
tion, and  president  of  the  Baptist  Social  Union  of 
the  state.  For  the  past  twenty  years  he  has  been 
the  treasurer  of  the  Asylum  Avenue  Baptist  society 
in  this  city.  He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the 
board  of  aldermen  from  the  second  ward,  and  has 
also  served  from  that  precinct  two  years  in  the 
council  board.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican.  His 
business  life  since  the  war  has  been  connected  with 


112 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


the  Travelers  Insurance  Company,  where  he  has 
held  the  position  of  superintendent  of  agents  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century.  The  duties  of  the  office  re- 
quire executive  ability  of  the  highest  order.  In  the 
discharge  of  these  duties  he  has  visited  every  section 
of  the  L^nited  States,  Canada,  and  Mexico.  The 
family  of  Major  Preston  consists  of  a  Avife  and  two 
children,  one  son  and  a  daughter.  Mrs.  Preston, 
prior  to  her  marriage,  was  Miss  Clara  M.  Litchfield, 
daughter  of  the  late  John  G.  Litchfield  of  this  city. 
The  son,  Mr.  Harry  E.  Preston,  is  also  connected 
with  the  Travelers.  Major  Preston's  career  froni 
the  outset  has  been  one  of  honor  and  integrity,  and 
he  is  regarded  throughout  the  country  with  the  ut- 
most esteem  and  respect. 

AVERY  A.   STAXTOX,  Sterling:  Farmer   and 
Lumberman. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Preston 
in  1S37,  and  is  the  great-great-grandson  of  General 
Thomas  Stanton,  who  came  from  England  and 
settled  in  Stonington.  He 
is  brother  of  Captain  John 
L.  Stanton  who  fell  at 
the  seige  of  Port 
Hudson,  and  of  Rev. 
William  E.  Stanton  who 
was  for  several  years  pas- 
tor of  the  First  Baptist 
church  at  Lowell.  In 
1S4S  Mr.  Stanton  and  his 
mother  (his  father  having 
died  one  year  previous), 
removed  to  Voluntown  in 
this  state.  He  received 
his  education  at  the 
schools  of  Voluntown,  East  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  and 
at  the  Connecticut  Literary  Institution  of  Suffield. 
He  taught  school  about  eight  years  in  eastern 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  and  in  1862  settled 
in  the  town  of  Sterling,  where  he  has  since  resided, 
engaged  in  farming  and  lumber  business. 

In  1864  he  was  elected  one  of  the  school  visitors 
of  Sterling,  which  position  he  held  for  twenty-four 
vears.  In  1873  he  was  elected  first  selectman,  and 
has  held  other  important  town  offices,  being  town 
agent  and  auditor  for  a  number  of  years.  In  1S74 
he  represented  the  town  of  Sterling  in  the  state 
legislature.  In  1SS4  he  was  chosen  to  fill  the  unex- 
pired term  of  R.  H.  Ward,  county  commissioner, 
and  by  the  same  legislature  was  chosen  county 
commissioner  for  the  term  of  three  years.  He  still 
holds  this  position,  having  been  appointed  for  a 
second  term  of  four  years.  Mr.  Stanton  married 
the  daughter  of  Benjamin  Gallup  of  Voluntown  — 
has  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  belongs  to 
a  family  that  is  able  to  trace  6,000  relatives.  He  is 
a  Baptist,  and  in  politics  a  zealous  republican. 


A.    STANTON. 


V.     LITTLE. 


SAXTOX  B.  LITTLE,  Meriden:  School  Teacher. 
Saxton  Baile}^  Little,  a  descendant  of  the  seventh 
generation  from  Thomas  Little,  who  came  to  Ply- 
mouth, Mass.,  from  near  London,  England,  in  1630, 
was  born  in  Columbia, 
Conn.,  April  19,  1813. 
His  ancestral  mother  was 
Ann  Warren,  whose 
father,  Richard  Warren, 
was  one  of  the  company 
who  came  over  in  the 
Mayflower  in  1620.  His 
education  was  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  supple- 
mented by  some  instruc- 
tion in  Tolland,  East 
Hartford,  and  Bacon 
academies.  Beginning  to 
teach  school  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  he  taught  fifteen  winters,  "boarding 
'round,"  as  was  the  custom  sixty  years  ago.  He 
taught  in  Bacon  Academy  in  1S36,  one  year;  six 
winters  in  Goshen  Hill,  Lebanon,  Conn.;  two  and 
a  half  years  in  Willimantic;  and  in  Greene\nlle  three 
years.  In  1850  he  removed  to  Rockville,  in  the 
town  of  Vernon,  Tolland  County,  and  remained 
there  nearly  four  years,  which  completed  his  ser- 
vice in  the  public  schools.  In  April,  1854,  he  was 
appointed  assistant  superintendent  and  teacher  in 
the  Connecticut  State  Reform  School  at  Meriden, 
and  upon  the  death  of  the  lamented  Dr.  E.  W. 
Hatch,  Feb.  7,  1874,  he  was  appointed  acting  super- 
intendent. He  closed  his  connection  with  the  in- 
stitution July  31,  1 8  75,  after  a  continuous  service 
there  of  twenty-one  years  and  four  months.  The 
trustees  of  the  school,  in  their  report  to  the  general 
assembly  in  1874,  speaking  of  Mr.  Little  said:  "  We 
should  fail  in  our  dut}'  if  we  did  not  signif}-  to  you 
our  high  appreciation  of  the  well-applied  and  faith- 
ful services  of  this  officer  during  these  many  years, 
and  to  testify  that  his  labors  in  the  position  of  as- 
sistant superintendent  and  teacher  have  contrib- 
uted largely  to  the  marked  success  of  the  school." 
Since  he  left  this  school  he  has  made  the  tour  of 
Europe,  going  as  far  as  Naples  and  Pompeii.  He 
has  traveled  quite  extensively  in  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  visiting  Central  and  Southern  Califor- 
nia, Florida,  the  New  Orleans  exposition,  Yosem- 
ite  Valley,  Luraj^  and  Mammoth  Caves,  etc.  He 
was  married  Aug.  19,  1836,  to  Sarah  Maria  Trac}'. 
She  died  Dec.  31,  1S44,  leaving  two  sons,  Charles 
L.  and  Frank  Eugene,  the  former  a  well-known 
contractor  and  builder  in  Meriden;  the  latter  is 
post-office  inspector.  Both  were  in  the  L^nion 
army.  Frank  served  four  years  and  was  breveted 
major  in  the  One  Hundred  and  Seventh  colored 
regiment. 

Mr.  Little  has  filled  many  public  offices  in  Meri- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


113 


den.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  common  coun- 
cil, of  the  high  school  committee,  and  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  many  years  school  disti'ict  committee. 
He  is  a  republican  and  a  member  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational church  in  Meriden.  He  is  a  great 
lover  of  books,  and  has  been  an  efficient  helper  in 
establishing  a  free  library  in  Columbia,  his  old 
home.  He  gave  to  it  81,500  as  a  permanent  fund, 
the  interest  only  to  be  used  for  the  purchase  of 
books;  and  he  has  also  given  the  library  more  than 
a  thousand  volumes.  He  is  one  who  believes  that 
it  is  wise  to  give  to  public  objects  of  charit}-  while 
living,  leaving  no  chance  for  one's  heirs  to  practi- 
cally question  his  sanity  or  thwart  his  wishes.  It 
may  be  added  that  Mr.  Little  has  throughout  his 
life  been  very  strict  in  his  habits.  He  never  used 
tobacco  in  any  form,  and  has  been  a  total  abstainer 
from  all  alcoholic  drinks  for  sixty-one  years.  Has 
personally  employed  a  physician  but  once  for  over 
fifty  years,  and  that  solitary  exception  was  a  case 
of  measles. 


HORACE  WHITE,  Manxhester:  Farmer. 

Horace  White,  honored,  respected,  and  called 
"  Uncle  Horace  "  by  all  classes,  and  whose  name  is 
a  familiar  one  in  Manchester  and  adjoining  towns, 
was  born  at  the  old  pine 
tree  homestead  of  his 
father  (Henry  White)  in 
East  Windsor,  Conn.,  in 
the  year  1801;  was  given 
by  his  parents  a  good 
common  school  education, 
which  M'as  the  best  thing 
possible  for  a  farmer  to 
do  for  his  children  in  those 
days  and  times.  He  re- 
mained in  the  service  of 
his  father  during  his 
minority  and  continued  in 
the  care  of  the  farm  until 
the  death  of  his  father,  some  few  years  later,  and  in 
company  with  his  brother  Willard  (long  ago  de- 
ceased) had  the  full  care  and  control  of  the  old  Tol- 
land turnpike  until  it  was  abandoned  or  discon- 
tinued as  a  turnpike.  In  1842  the  part  of  East 
Windsor  where  the  old  homestead  was  located,  to- 
gether with  the  village  of  Oakland,  was  set  oiT  to 
and  became  a  part  of  Manchester;  some  three  years 
later  a  goodly  portion  of  said  East  Windsor  was  set 
off  to  what  is  now  known  and  called  South 
Windsor. 

Mr.  White  was  married  to  his  first  wife,  Asenath 
Fuller,  in  1827,  and  soon  after  erected  for  himself, 
on  the  eastern  portion  of  the  old  homestead,  a  new 
and  model  farmhouse  and  buildings,  where  he  con- 
tmued  to  live  a  sturd}^  prosperous,  and  thrifty 
New  England  farmer  until  1875.    Then  finding  him- 


HORACE    WHITE. 


self  at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years,  and  in  com- 
fortable financial  circumstances,  he  decided  to 
abandon  farming  and  retire  to  more  pleasant  and 
social  surroundings.  He  therefore  sold  his  farm 
and  stock  complete  and  purchased  a  residence 
property'  in  North  Manchester,  near  the  depot,  and 
fitted  it  up  with  all  the  requisite  improvements  and 
luxuries  of  the  present  time,  and  now  lives  there, 
an  old  gentleman  in  his  ninetieth  year  of  age,  in  com- 
fortable health,  with  his  daughter.  Wealthy  A.,  as 
housekeeper,  who  keeps  a  watchful  and  careful  eye 
to  his  every  comfort,  enjoying  the  fruits  and  means 
of  his  well-spent  life.  His  first  wife  died  in  1866 
while  at  the  farm,  leaving,  as  the  fruits  of  their  un- 
ion, two  children,  H.  Tudor  White,  now  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Windsor,  and  Wealthy  A.  AVhite, 
now  having  care  of  her  father  in  his  declining  years. 

Mr.  White  married  for  his  second  wife  (in  JMarch, 
1S69)  the  widow  of  the  late  Warren  Fuller  of  Mon- 
son,  Mass.,  and  they  lived  nearl}-  twenty-one  years 
in  happy  companionship  of  one  another  (she  dying 
January,  1890),  a  venerable  old  couple. 

Mr.  W'hite,  in  his  early  years,  and  especially 
after  becoming  a  resident  of  Manchester,  has  been 
honorably  and  prominently  connected  with  all,  or 
nearly  all,  of  the  town's  industries,  enterprises,  and 
progress.  He  was  for  many  years  connected  with 
the  manufacture  of  stockinet  at  Manchester  Green, 
and  with  the  concern  known  as  the  "  New  Pacific  " 
at  the  extreme  eastern  part  of  Manchester,  now 
Lydallville.  During  his  almost  lifelong  residence 
in  Manchester  he  has  occupied  every  position  of 
prominence  within  the  gift  or  suffrage  of  his  towns- 
men. He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  legislature 
in  1S57;  was  appointed  and  elected  a  county  com- 
missioner of  Hartford  county  in  1862,  and  served 
with  eminence  and  credit  to  his  county  and  constit- 
uency for  the  term  of  three  years;  was  appointed 
by  the  honorable  superior  court  one  of  the  commis- 
sion of  three  (his  colleagues  being  the  Hon.  Wm. 
Hamersley  of  Hartford  and  Civil  Engineer  Rice  of 
New  Britain)  to  establish  the  disputed  boundary 
line  between  the  towns  of  Suffield,  East  Granby, 
and  the  Massachusetts  border.  Governor  Hubbard 
acting  as  counselor  for  Granby  and  Buck  & 
Eggleston  for  Suffield, —  a  contest  lasting  sixteen 
days,  in  which  ]\Ir.  White  proved  himself  a  compe- 
tent and  effectual  arbitrator  for  the  towns  directly 
interested. 

Mr.  White  has  been  in  politics  a  lifelong  repub- 
lican, always  standing  prominent  and  firm  in  what 
he  believed  to  be  just  and  fair,  never  recognizing 
the  tricks  of  cheap  politicians  further  than  to  stamp 
upon  and  spurn  them.  He  has  been  connected 
with  the  Second  Congregational  church  of  Man- 
chester from  its  organization  to  the  present  time, 
and  always  an  honorable,  consistent  member  there- 
of, c.  w.  c. 


114 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


F.    G.    ANTHONY. 


FRANCIS   GRANGER    ANTHONY,    New   Ha- 
ven:   Deput}^  Collector. 

Francis  G.  Anthony  was  born  in  Lima,  Living- 
ston countv,  New  York,  October  6,  1S30.  He  is  the 
son  of  William  ]\Iiles  Anthony,  who  was  a  native 
of  Harwinton,  in  this 
state,  where  he  was  born 
in  August,  1S04.  Mr. 
Anthony's  education  was 
acquired  in  the  public 
schools  of  Lima  and  the 
neighboring  town  of  West 
Avon,  with  part  of  a  year 
at  a  select  school  in  Ba- 
tavia,  N.  Y.  The  death 
of  his  father  when  the  lad 
was  but  thirteen  years  of 
age  terminated  his  attend- 
ance at  school,  as  the 
family  were  left  withoiat 
means,  and  thus  were  unable  to  incur  the  expense 
of  a  liberal  ediication.  During  the  year  of  his 
father's  death  Mr.  Anthony  came  to  New  Haven,  — 
part  of  the  trip,  from  Rochester  to  Albany,  being 
made  on  a  canal  boat,  —  to  live  with  his  uncle, 
Willis  M.  Anthony,  who  proved  to  be  better,  if 
possible,  than  a  father  to  him.  Here  he  spent  nearly 
four  years  as  clerk,  first  in  Washington  Yale's  dry- 
goods  store, an djthen  with  Fairman  &  Johnson.  He  is 
one  of  the  original  "  Forty-niners,"  having  taken 
the  California  gold  fever  on  its  first  outbreak.  On 
the  6th  of  February,  1S49,  he  sailed  from  New 
York  with  a  party  of  gold -seekers  for  California  on 
the  bark  Clarissa  Perkins,  going  around  Cape 
Horn,  the  trip  occupying  two  hundred  and  seven- 
teen daj-s.  Arriving  in  San  Francisco,  the  party 
disbanded,  and  Mr.  Anthony  went  to  the  mines. 
He  was  a  practical  gold  miner  for  two  years,  meet- 
ing with  varying  success,  making  some  days  $200 
a  day,  other  days  nothing.  Was  a  baker  in  Nevada, 
California,  for  about  one  year,  at  which  business  he 
did  better  than  at  mining  —  the  income  being  more 
certain,  and  not  so  much  up  and  down  as  in  "  jDros- 
pecting  for  diggings."  He  returned  east  in  1S52; 
lived  in  Michigan  two  years,  operating  a  foundry; 
went  to  Kentucky  in  1854,  where  he  was  in  general 
merchandizing  eleven  years  at  Athens,  in  Fayette 
county,  seven  or  eight  years  of  which  time  he  was 
postmaster.  The  succeeding  five  years  he  spent  in 
New  York  city,  and  in  1870  he  returned  to  New 
Haven,  where  he  has  since  been  employed  in  the 
tax  collector's  office;  at  the  present  time  is  the 
deputy  tax  collector,  and  for  the  last  thirteen  years 
has  been  the  rate-book  maker.  He  has  been  a 
director  in  the  Masonic  ]\Iutual  Benefit  Association 
of  New  Haven  for  fourteen  years,  and  is  at  jDresent 
executor  of  several  estates.  He  is  also  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  superior  court  for  New  Haven  county. 


His  acquaintance  with  New  Haven  people  is  very 
extensive,  his  business  giving  him  familiarity  with 
nearly  every  tax-payer  in  the  city.  He  has  been  a 
lifelong  democrat,  though  xuot  an  active  politician; 
is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
in  which  he  has  taken  all  the  degrees  up  to  and  in- 
cluding the  thirty-second.  He  has  held  the  office 
of  recorder  of  New  Haven  Commandery,  Knights 
Templar,  since  1880;  belongs  to  the  Arabic  order 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine. 

Mr.  Anthony  was  married  July  31,  1854,  to  Miss 
Electa  Hulbert  of  Ann  Arbor,  Michigan,  by  whom 
he  has  had  three  children.  Mrs.  Anthony  died 
February  29,  18S8,  and  but  one  of  the  children,  the 
youngest,  has  survived  her. 


HON.    DUDLEY     P.    ELY,     South    Norwalk  : 
Banker. 

Dudley  P.  Ely  is  a  native  of  Connecticut,  having 
been   born   in  the   town    of    Simsbury,    Hartford 
county,   on  the   i6th  of   November,    181 7.     Thirty 
3'ears  of  his  business  life 
were  spent  in  New  York 
city,  where  he  secured  a 
competency.     In  1861,  he 
returned     to    his    native 
state,  becoming  a  resident 
of  South  Norwalk,  where 
for   many  years   he    was 
'f'^  one  of  the  most  active  and 

l\  »i|  prominent  citizens  of  that 

place,  and  until  increasing 
3'ears  required  him  to  lay 
aside  some  of  the  burdens 
and  responsibilities  which 
his  numei'ous  and  varied 
interests  had  laid  upon  him.  He  was  the  youngest 
child  of  Benjamin  Ely,  who  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College  of  the  year  1786,  and  a  prominent  citizen  of 
this  state.  The  Ely  family  are  of  French  descent, 
the  first  of  the  name  in  England  having  come  there 
from  France.  John  Ely,  a  great  uncle  of  Dudley 
P.  Ely,  was  colonel  of  the  Third  Connecticut  regi- 
ment in  the  revolutionary  war,  and  carried  the 
French  coat-of-arms  engraved  on  his  sword  hilt. 
The  first  American  ancestor  of  Dudley  P.  Ely  was 
Richard  Ely,  who  arrived  in  America  about  the 
year  1660,  and  settled  in  Lyme  in  this  state.  Mr. 
Ely 's maternal  ancestry  was  English,  and  his  grand- 
father was  an  officer  in  the  revolutionary  w^ar.  Mr. 
Ely  was  educated  at  the  public  schools  of  Simsbury 
until  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  when  he  was  sent 
to  Hartford  and  took  a  two  years'  course  at  Mr. 
Olney's  school,  a  noted  institution  of  that  daj-.  He 
then  started  to  make  his  own  career.  His  first  em- 
ployment was  at  a  store  in  his  native  town.  His 
aptitude  and  activity  were  such  that  at  the  age  of 


\  '  <Ki 


C'*'^i 


D.    P.    ELY. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


115 


eighteen  years  he  had  placed  in  his  entire  charge 
and  management  a  store  in  West  Hartland.     After 
remaining  there  a  year,  his  ambition  led  him  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  New  York  city.     He  first  be- 
came  a   bookkeeper  there    for  his   brother,    with 
whom   he   subsequently    became   a    partner,    and 
whom   he   afterwards   succeeded   in  the  business. 
His  ability  and  energy  found  full  scope  here  and 
brought  him  a  substantial  fortune.     After  going  to 
South  Norwalk,  he  identified  himself  with  many  of 
the  business  and  public  interests  of  that  place.    He 
invested  largely  in  real  estate,  and  is  to-day  the 
largest  owner  of  real  estate  property  in  that  pros- 
perous city.     He  built  the  Hotel  Mahackemo  block 
on  the  corner  of  Washington  and  Main  streets,  the 
largest  bvisiness  block  in  South  Norwalk.    In  April, 
1865,  Mr.  Ely  was  elected  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  that  place,  which  position  he  still  re- 
tains.    When  South  Norwalk  was  incorporated  as 
a  city  in  1S70,  ^Ir.  Ely  Avas  chosen  its  first  maj^or, 
and  was  re-elected   to  that  office  four  subsequent 
terms.      He   was   president   of   the   Norwalk   Gas 
Light   Company  for  more  than  twenty  years,  but 
recently  resigned  that  office  to  relieve  himself  of 
the  burden  of  its  duties.     He  was  also  president  of 
the  South  Norwalk  Savings  Bank  for  more  than 
ten  years,  but  retired  from  that  office  to  free  him- 
self from  its  cares.     He  was  the  first  president  of 
the  Norwalk  Iron   Works  Company,  and  the  first 
president  of  the  South  Norwalk  Printing  Company. 
In  addition  to  these  positions,  he  was  a  director  of 
the  Danbury  &  Norwalk  Railroad  Company,  the 
Norwalk  Horse   Railroad  Company,  the  Fairfield 
County  Fire  Insurance  Company,  the  Norwalk  Fire 
Insurance    Company,    the    Relief   Fire   Insurance 
Company  of  New  York,  and  the  Peter  Cooper  Fire 
Insurance  Company  of  New  York,  which  latter  po- 
sition he  still  retains.     In  agricultural  matters  l^lv. 
Ely  has  taken  a  lively  interest,  and  for  many  years 
was  president  of  the  Fairfield  County  Agricultural 
Society,    which   had   an    exceptionally  prosperous 
career  under  his  administration.     More  for  t|ie  pur- 
pose of  recreation  than  of  profit,  he  has  carried  on 
a  farm  owned  by  him  in  the  suburbs  of  the  city, 
and  has  been  an  enthusiast  on  the  subject  of  poul- 
try and  pigeons,  having  raised  many  varieties  of 
the  best  species.     In  his  business  career,  ]Mr.  Ely 
has  furnished  an  example  of  honor,  integrity,  and 
reliability  worthy  to  be  imitated  hy  the  younger 
generation,  who  can  see  in  him  and  his  career  what 
can  be  accomplished  by  industry,  thrift,  and  good 
character.     Mr.  Ely  is  of  social  disposition,  a  good 
story  teller,  and  an  entertaining  talker  upon  topics 
that  have  come  under  his  personal  observation  and 
experience,   or  within   the   range   of  his   reading, 
always  having  intelligent  and  often  original  ideas 
of  value  upon  both  public  and  private  matters.    He 
has  been  a  valued  and  a  valuable  adviser  of  many 


people,  and  in  many  good  causes,  which  he  has 
aided  both  by  his  counsels  and  his  means.  He  has 
been  a  large,  though  modest,  contributor  to  chari- 
table causes,  and  particularly  interested  in  charities 
like  the  Children's  Aid  Society  and  such  institu- 
tions, which  seek  to  protect  and  make  better  the 
children  and  youth  of  the  land.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church  of  South  Norwalk. 


H.    E.  TAINTOR. 


HENRY  E.  TAINTOR,  Hartford:  Attorney-at- 
Law. 

Henry  Ellsworth  Taintor  was  born  at  Hampton, 
Windham  county.  Conn.,  Aug.  29,  1844.      He  is  a 
son  of  the  late  Hon.  Henry  G.  Taintor  of  Hampton, 
who  was  for  many  years 
a    prominent     citizen     of 
that    town,    and   at    one 
time  the  state  treasurer  of 
Connecticut.     On  his 
mother's  side   Mr.    H.   E. 
Taintor  is  a  great-grand- 
son of  Oliver    Ellsworth, 
formerly  chief  justice   of 
the    United     States    su- 
preme court.     Mr.    Tain- 
tor prepared   for   college 
at    ]Monson,    Mass.,    and 
entered  the  class  of  1S65 
at  Yale  University,  con- 
tinuing a  member  until  he  left  in  January,  1S64,  to 
enter  the  army.     After  leaving  the  United  States 
service  he  did  not  return  to  college,  but  received  a 
degree  in  regular  form  as  if  he  had  completed  his 
course  there.     His  military  record  covers  nearlj-  two 
years:  he  enlisted  Jan.  14,1864,  as  private  in  Company 
A,  First  Connecticut  Heavy  Artilleiy,  served  with 
his  regiment  till  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was  dis- 
charged as  second   lieutenant  Sept.  25,   1865.      In 
1S66  he  established  his  residence  in  Hartford,  and 
soon  afterwards  began  the  practice   of  law  here, 
which  he  has  since  continued  uninterruptedly.     He 
was  married  May  13,  1869,  to  Miss  Jane  G.  Bennett, 
daughter  of  Lyman  Bennett  of  Amsterdam,  N.  Y., 
who  is  a  descendant  of  an  old  Hampton  family. 
They  have  one  child.     IMr.  Taintor  was   executive 
secretary  to  Governor  Jewell  in  1872-73,  and  asso- 
ciate judge  of  the  Hartford  city  court  at  the  same 
time.     He  has  been  a  member  of  the  court  of  com- 
mon council   several   terms,  and   of  the  board   of 
aldermen  two  years;   was   clerk   of   the   Hartford 
city  court  for  thirteen  years.     He  is  now  assistant 
judge  of  the  Hartford  police  court  and  coroner  for 
Hartford  county.     He  is  also  one  of  the  trustees  of 
the  State  Savings  Bank,  as  well  as  one  of  its  attor- 
neys, and  attorney  for  the  Society  for  Savings  on 
Pratt  street.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army 
of  the  Republic,  and  has  held  several  offices  therein 


ii6 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


JAMES    \V.    HYATT. 


including  those  of  commander  of  the  department 
of  Connecticut  and  judge-advocate-general  on  the 
staff  of  the  commander-in-chief.  His  religious 
connections  are  with  the  First  Congregational 
church  of  Hartford,  and  in  politics  he  is  a  republi- 
can. There  is  not  a  lawyer  in  the  state  who  has  a 
more  honorable  standing  before  the  bar  or  the 
public. 

JAMES  W.  HYATT,  Norwalk:  President  Fair- 
field Count}'  National  Bank. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  among  the  citizens 
of  Connecticut  who  are  distinguished  for  their  ser- 
vices both  to  the  commonwealth  and  the  republic, 
and  for  the  wide  range  of 
public  honors  which  have 
been  conferred  upon 
them.  Mr.  Hyatt  was 
born  in  Norwalk  in  1S37. 
He  studied  in  the  common 
schools  until  he  was  thir- 
teen years  of  age,  when 
he  commenced  an  active 
business  life.  Step  by. 
step  he  rapidly  and  stead- 
ily advanced,  and  we  find 
him  from  i860  to  1872  a 
trusted  clerk  with  the 
banking  firm  of  Le  Grand 
Lockwood  &  Co.  of  New  York.  Since  his  return 
to  Norwalk,  Conn.,  in  1S73,  he  has  had  positions  of 
trust  placed  in  his  charge.  In  1873  he  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  also  vice-president  of  the 
Danbur)^  &  Norwalk  Railroad  Company,  which 
office  he  held  until  1881,  when  he  was  elected  its 
president.  In  1874  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Norwalk  Horse  Railroad  Company,  and  has  been 
re-elected  each  year  since.  In  1875  and  1876  he 
represented  the  town  of  Norwalk  in  the  state  legis- 
lature, and  was  appointed  on  the  house  committee 
on  finance,  a  position  of  considerable  importance, 
and  in  1876  did  much  excellent  work  for  the  com- 
monwealth. In  1876  Governor  IngersoU  appointed 
him  bank  commissioner  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused 
by  the  resignation  of  the  Hon.  George  M.  Landers, 
who  was  returned  to  congress.  This  position  he 
held  almost  continuousl)-  until  the  spring  of  1887, 
when  he  was  appointed  L^nited  States  treasurer  by 
President  Cleveland.  He  was  warden  of  the 
borough  of  Norwalk  for  six  years;  a  selectman  of 
the  town;  has  held  the  offices  both  of  vice-president 
and  president  of  the  Danbury  &  Norwalk  Railroad; 
vice-president  and  director  of  the  National  Bank 
of  Norwalk;  and  president  of  the  Norwalk  Club. 
He  was  elected  to  represent  the  Thirteenth  sena- 
torial district  of  Connecticut  in  the  legislature  of 
1884,  but  resigned  his  seat  on  February  26  of  that 
year  to  accept  a  re-appointment  to  the  bank  com- 


missionership  by  Governor  Waller.  At  the  close 
of  his  term  in  the  service  of  the  state  he  was  ap- 
pointed Lf^nited  States  bank  examiner  for  Connecti- 
cut and  Rhode  Island;  and  subsequently,  as  above 
stated,  to  the  treasuryship  of  the  Ignited  States. 
His  present  active  official  connections  are  with  the 
Fairfield  County  National  Bank  and  the  Norwalk 
Horse  Railroad  Company,  of  both  which  corpora- 
tions he  is  the  president. 

Mr.  Hyatt  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church 
of  Norwalk,  of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  the  In- 
dependent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  married 
Miss  Jane  M.  Hoj-t  of  Stamford,  and  has  a  family 
of  four  children.  He  is  a  straightforward  demo- 
crat of  the  old  school,  to  the  principles  of  which 
political  faith  he  consistently  adheres.  He  is  of  a 
nervous  temperament  and  positive  character,  quick 
to  decide  and  prompt  to  act,  a  discriminating  stu- 
dent of  human  nature,  strong  and  loyal  in  his  per- 
sonal friendships,  a  useful  and  honored  citizen,  and 
a  true  patriot. 

THOMAS  DUNCAN,  Poquonock  (Windsor):  Pa- 
.per  Manufacturer. 

Thomas  Duncan  was  born  in  Scotland,  August 
13,  1832,  and  was  educated  in  the  Scottish  jjarochial 
schools.  He  remained  in  Scotland  until  he  was 
twenty  years  of  age, when 
he  removed  to  this  coun- 
try, where  he  has  since 
resided.  He  spent  nine 
months  in  New  Jersey 
after  his  arrival  from 
Scotland.  For  thirty- 
eight  years  he  has  l^een  a 
resident  of  Connecticut 
and  has  been  prominently 
associated  with  business, 
political,  and  religious  in- 
terests during  that  time. 
He  has  been  twice  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  from 
serving  on  the  republican  side  of  the 
house.  He  is  identified  with  the  Congregational 
church  and  is  an  influential  representative  of  that 
denomination  in  the  state,  being  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  Congregational  Club.  He  is  connected 
with  the  Hartford  Paper  Company,  the  Globe  Sul- 
phite Boiler  Company,  and  is  treasurer  and  gen- 
eral manager  of  the  Hudson  River  Water  Power 
and  Paper  Companj'  at  Mechanicsville,  N.  Y.  At 
present  he  is  engaged  in  the  erection  of  a  large 
paper  mill  in  connection  with  the  pulp  works  there, 
which  will  be  one  of  the  largest  in  the  country 
when  finished.  Mr.  Duncan  has  been  married 
twice.  His  first  wife,  who  died  in  1S67,  was  Miss 
Grace  Yule  prior  to  her  marriage.  The  second 
wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Janet  Gillies.     There 


THOM.AS    DUNCAN. 


Windsor, 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


117 


were  five  children  by  his  first  marriage,  four  of 
whom  are  living.  Mr.  Duncan  is  one  of  the  lead- 
ing manufacturers  in  Hartford  county,  and  is 
widely  known  as  a  business  manager.  He  is  a 
gentleman  of  the  most  enjoyable  personal  charac- 
ter, and  has  hosts  of  friends  in  Hartford  county. 
Mr.  Duncan's  home  is  at  Poquonock. 


SOLOMON   LUCAS. 


SOLOMON  LUCAS,  Norwich:  Attorney-at-Law. 
Solomon  Lucas,  one  of  the  most  successful  prac- 
titioners at  the  bar  of  New  London  county,  was 
burn    at   Norwich,  April    i,   1S36.      His  early   ed- 
ucational  advantages 
were    somewhat    limited, 
but   he    acquired   a  solid 
education     in     the     pub- 
lic schools,  and  proceeded 
to   a  preparation   for  his 
life  work  with  a  determi- 
nation  and    spirit   which 
made     the      undertaking 
almost     an      accomplish- 
ment    from     the    outset. 
He   was   a    diligent    and 
earnest  law  student  in  the 
office   of    Hon.    John    T. 
Wait  of  Norwich,  and  in 
1862  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  since  which  time  he 
has  been  in  active  and  continuous  practice  in  that 
city.     He  was  married  in  1864  to  Miss  Ehzabeth  A. 
Crosby,   daughter  of  Hiram  Crosby,  a  prominent 
woolen  manufacturer  and  dealer  of  Lyme,  Conn., 
who  removed  to  Norwich  and  there  spent  the  last 
5^ears  of  his   life.      ]\Irs.    Lucas   died  in   October, 
1S74,  leaving  two  daughters.     Mr.  Lucas  is  a  dem- 
ocrat in  politics,  and  as  such  represented  Preston 
in  the  legislature  of   1863,  of  which  body  he  was 
one  of  the  youngest  members.     He  has  since  de- 
clined to  run  for  any  pohtical  office,  being  entirely 
devoted  to  his  profession.     He  is,  however,  state's 
attorney  for  New  London  county,  to  which  position 
he  was  called  on  account  of  his  professional  fitness 
rather  than  for  political  reasons.     His  religious  con- 
nections    are     with     the    Second    Congregational 
church  and  society,  and  he  has   been  first  commit- 
teeman of  that  society  for  many  years.     He  holds 
a  directorship  in  the  Norwich  Street  Railway  Com- 
pany,   and    sustains    semi-official     relations    with 
various  minor  local  enterprises.     He  is  an  active 
and  useful  citizen,  always  ready  to  perform  any  pub- 
lic service  which  Ues  clearly  within  the  line  of  duty, 
not  incompatible  with  his  professional  obligations. 
Mr.  Lucas  enjoys  an  enviable  reputation  among 
his  legal  contemporaries  and  with  the  public.     His 
standing  as  a  lawyer  is  high,  and  he  is  accorded 
universal  credit  for  the  great  success  which  he  has 
conquered.      He  has  been  absolutely   untiring   in 
working  his  way  upward  in  his  profession,  until  at 


the  present  time  he  ranks  among  the  leading  prac- 
titioners of  the  state.  As  state's  attorney  he  has 
discharged  his  duties  ably  and  faithfully.  A  dis- 
tinguished member  of  the  New  London  county  bar 
says  of  Mr.  Lucas:  "  He  is  a  bright,  keen,  success- 
ful lawyer,  earnestly  devoted  to  his  profession;  one 
who  takes  good  care  of  his  clients,  and  is  not  dis- 
mayed by  any  opposition.  He  has  been  the  archi- 
tect of  his  own  fortune,  and  deserves  great  credit 
for  winning  the  high  position  which  he  occupies  as 
an  attornev  and  advocate." 


W.     W.    HYDE. 


WILLL\M  WALDO   HYDE,  Hartford:    Attor- 
ney-at-Law. 

William  Waldo  Hyde,   acting  school  visitor  and 
president  of  the  street  boai'd,  was  born  in  Tolland, 
March  25,  1S54,  and  was  educated  at  Yale  College, 
graduating  with  honor  in 
the    class    of    1876.     His 
classmates  in  the  univer- 
sity included  Prof.  Arthur 
T.  Hadley,  John  J.   Jen- 
nings of  Bristol,  and  the 
late    Walker    Blaine      of 
Washington.  Mr.  Hyde  is 
a  member  of   the  distin- 
guished law  firm  of  Hyde, 
Gross  &  Hj^de  of  this  city, 
and    is   a   lawj^er   of   su- 
perior  attainments.      He 
has  been  a  member  of  the 
board   of    school  visitors 
and  the  acting  school  visitor  for  a  number  of  years, 
winning  especial  distinction  in  that  position.     The 
public  schools  of  the  city,  which  must  be  affected 
in  an  important  manner  by  his  administration  and 
influence,  have  not  been  noted  for  more  thorough 
or  conscientious  work  during  their  history  than  at 
present.     Mr.  Hyde  is  the  president  of  the  board 
of  street  commissioners,  a   position  of   more  than 
ordinary  responsibility  in   the  municipal    govern- 
ment, and  has  discharged  the  duties  of  the  place 
with  uninterrupted  success.     He   is  a  member   of 
the  South  Congregational  church,  the  University 
Club  of  New  York,  the  Hartford  Club,  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  4,  F.  and  A.   M.,  of  this  city,  and  of 
Washington  Commandery,  Knights  Templar.     He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Improved  Order  of  Red 
:Men.     He  is  one  of  the  ablest  and  most  influential 
representatives  of  the  democratic  party  in   Hart- 
ford, and  is  widely  knowm  as  a  leader  throughout 
the  state.     His  father,  Hon.  A.  P.  Hyde  of  this 
city,  and  his  grandfather,  the  late  Judge  Loren  P. 
Waldo,  have  conveyed  to  him  through  training  and 
education  the  purest  principles  of  democracy.    INIr. 
Hyde  has  a  family,  consisting  of  a  wife  and  two 
children.     The  former  was  :Miss  Helen  E.  Watson, 
daughter  of  the  late  George  W.  Watson. 


ii8 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


H.    WOOD. 


JOHN  HENRY  AVOOD,  Thomaston  :  Superin- 
tendent Seth  Thomas  Clock  Compan}-;  President 
Thomaston^Knife  Company. 

J.  H.  Wood  is  the  oldest  son  of  Henry  and  Julia 
(Ford)  Wood,  and  grandson  of  James  and  Susan 
(Elmer)  Wood  of  East  Windsor,  his  mother  being  a 
direct       descendant       of 
Barnabas    Ford,    one   of 
the      oldest     settlers     of 
Northbury  (now  Thomas- 
ton),    then    part    of    the 
town  of  Waterburj-.     Mr. 
Wood  was  born  June  30, 
1S2S,  and  began  early  in 
life  to  earn  his  own  li^•ing, 
working  at  farming  sum- 
mers and  attending  school 
I       i'i;s5^«^^^^     ^       during  the  winter  months. 
\  _     '    >-''  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 

received  from  his  father 
his  time  as  a  heritage, 
and  immediately  contracted  with  Morse  &  Blakes- 
lee  (both  cousins  of  his),  to  serve  a  three  years'  ap- 
prenticeship in  learning  the  trade  of  making  clock 
movements,  remaining  in  the  employ  of  the  firm 
one  year  after  the  expiration  of  the  term.  Since 
1848,  with  the  exception  of  about  nine  months,  he 
has  been  connected  with  the  Seth  Thomas  Clock 
Company  as  contractor  and  foreman,  and  for  the 
past  thirty-four  j-ears,  as  superintendent  of  the 
clock  movement  factory  of  the  company.  He 
was  married  at  the  age  of  twenty-one  to  Marj^ 
Ostrom  of  Torrington,  by  whom  he  has  had  two 
children,  a  daughter  and  son.  The  daughter, 
Eliza,  married  Lieutenant  O.  B.  Sawyer  of  Com- 
pany A,  Fourteenth  regiment,  Connecticut  Volun- 
teers, and  died  Feb.  17,  1S72,  leaving  two  sons, 
Frederick  H.  and  Wilbur  J.,  and  one  daughter,  who 
died  in  infancy.  Lieutenant  Sawyer  died  Nov.  16, 
1874,  leaving  his  two  orphaned  boj-s  in  the  care  of 
their  grandparents,  John  H.  and  Mary  Wood;  both 
of  them  are  at  present  pursuing  a  collegiate 
course  at  Wesleyan  University  in  iMiddletown.  The 
son,  Henry  O.,  is  married  to  Bell  Mallory,  resides 
in  Thomaston,  and  is  assisting  his  father  by  keep- 
ing the  books  of  the  department  under  his  charge. 
Mr.  Wood  is  a  public-spirited,  kind-hearted,  affa- 
ble gentleman,  and  a  man  of  thorough  temperance 
principles  and  habits.  In  politics  he  is  a  republi- 
can, having  been  connected  with  that  party  since 
its  formation.  He  has  been  grand  juror,  school 
committee,  trustee  for  thirty  years  (and  at  present) 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  chairman  of 
the  building  committee  which  erected  the  present 
church  in  1866,  one  of  the  corporators,  and  at 
present  a  director,  vice-president,  and  one  of  the 
loaning  committee  of  the  Thomaston  Savings  Bank, 
and  president  of  the  Thomaston  Knife  Company. 


He  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly  of  Con- 
necticut from  Thomaston  in  18S7,  having  in  the 
election  a  clear  majority  over  three  other  candi- 
dates for  the  same  office;  he  was  assigned  by 
Speaker  Hoyt  to  the  committee  on  banks. 


BUNCE. 


JONATHAN  B.  BUNCE,  Hartford:  President 
Phoenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company. 
]\Ir.  Bunce  is  a  native  and  has  remained  during 
most  of  his  life  a  resident  of  Hartford,  where  he 
was  born  April  4,  1S32.  His  father  was  a  merchant, 
and  the  boy's  early  edu- 
cational experience  in  the 
district  and  public  high 
school  was  sandwiched 
with  mercantile  apprenti- 
ship  in  the  paternal  estab- 
lishment. A  year  and  a 
half  in  the  scientific  de- 
partment of  Yale  L^niver- 
sity  effectually  and  per- 
":  manently  disturbed  his 
I  connection  with  the  home 
:  store,  and,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  the  young 
man  embarked  in  the 
commission  business  in  New  York  city,  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  firm  of  Dibble  &  Bunce,  which  he  fol- 
lowed for  nine  years,  or  until  called  back  to  Hart- 
ford by  the  death  of  his  father  in  i860.  Here  he 
became  a  partner  — which  relation  his  father  had 
sustained  until  his  death  —  with  Drayton  Hillyer, 
in  the  wool  business,  the  firm  being  Hillyer  & 
Bunce.  This  partnership  and  business  was  main- 
tained for  fifteen  years,  at  the  expiration  of  which 
period  he  accepted  the  vice-presidency  of  the  Phoe- 
nix Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company.  From  1875 
to  1SS9  he  occupied  that  position,  and  on  the  reor- 
ganization of  the  compaii}'  in  1889  was  advanced  to 
the  presidenc}-,  in  which  latter  position  he  has  re- 
mained to  the  present  time.  At  the  breaking  out 
of  the  Avar  he  was  appointed  quartermaster-general 
of  Connecticut,  holding  the  office  through  the  unex- 
pired term  of  his  predecessor,  to  complete  which  he 
was  appointed.  He  was  married  ^Nlay  9,  1S60,  to 
Miss  Laura  Dibble,  daughter  of  Calvin  B.  Dibble 
of  Granby.  The}-  have  had  eight  children,  of 
whom  six  are  now  living  —  three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Mr.  Bunce  is  a  member  of  the  Pearl 
Street  Congregational  church  and  society,  of  which 
institution  he  was  one  of  the  original  incorporators. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  has  been  such 
since  the  birth  of  the  party.  He  has  been  and  still 
is  connected  with  several  of  the  financial  and  char- 
itable organizations  of  the  city,  among  which  may 
be  mentioned  his  relations  as  director  with  the 
Phoenix  National  Bank,  Hartford  Fire  Insurance 
Company,    the    Society   for   vSavings,    Connecticut 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


119 


Trust  and  Safe  Deposit  Company,  the  American 
Deaf  and  Dumb  Asylum,  and  the  Hartford  Hos- 
pital. He  has  been  for  thirty  years  secretary  of  the 
Hartford  Retreat  for  the  Insane,  and  has  sustained 
various  official  positions  of  minor  importance  not 
here  enumerated. 

The  Bunce  family  is  one  of  the  ancient  and  repre- 
sentative families  of  Hartford,  going  back  in  a 
direct  line  to  John  Bunce,  one  of  the  early  settlers 
of  the  town.  The  father  of  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  James  M.  Bunce,  and  his  grandfather,  Rus- 
sell Bimce,  will  be  well  remembered,  either  per- 
sonally or  by  reputation,  by  many  of  the  older  in- 
habitants of  Hartford  of  the  present  day.  They 
were,  as  are  all  their  descendants,  men  of  stalwart 
integrity,  and  of  great  sagacity  in  civnil  and  com- 
mercial affairs,  and  strict  observants  of  external 
courtesies  in  their  intercourse  with  men;  conscien- 
tiously fulfilling  to  the  best  of  their  ability  all  the 
duties  and  obligations  of  life. 


CHARLES  E.  GROSS,  Hartford  :  Attorney-at- 

Law. 

Charles  E.  Gross,  of  the  Hartford  law  firm  of 
Hyde,  Gross  &  Hj^de,  was  born  in  this  city  August 
iS,  1S47,  and  educated  at  the  Hartford  High  School 
and  Yale  College,  grad- 
uating with  honor  from 
the  university  in  1S69. 
After  graduating  he 
taught  for  a  time  in  El- 
lington. He  then  studied 
with  Waldo,  Hubbard  & 
Hyde,  and  Avas  afterward 
admitted  to  partnership. 
At  the  death  of  the  senior 
member,  Judge  Loren  P. 
AValdo,  his  name  was  in- 
corporated in  that  of  the 
firm,  which  was  known  as 
Hubbard,  Hyde  &  Gross, 
tmtil  the  demise  of  Governor  Hubbard.  j\Ir.  Gross 
is  a  prominent  member  of  the  Hartford  county  bar 
and  one  of  the  most  successful  practitioners  in  the 
city.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics.  The  only  office 
that  he  has  held  is  that  of  school  visitor.  But  he 
has  declined  numerous  nominations,  preferring  to 
give  his  entire  attention  to  business.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church  and 
a  gentleman  of  the  most  exemplary  character.  He 
has  a  \A-ife  and  two  children.  The  former  was  Miss 
Nellie  C.  Spencer,  daughter  of  the  late  Calvin 
Spencer  of  Hartford,  and  is  a  lady  of  high  social 
prominence.  Mr.  Gross  is  a  member  of  the  Yale 
Alumni  Association  and  is  one  of  the  ablest  repre- 
sentatives of  Yale  training  and  culture  in  this  city. 
As  a  lawyer  and  citizen  he  is  held  in  the  highest 
personal  regard. 


C.    E.    GROSS. 


GEORGE    M.A.XWELI., 


GEORGE  MAXWELL,  Ruckville:  President  and 

Treasurer  Hockanum  Companj-,  Woolen  ]SIanu- 

facturers. 

The  ilaxwell  family  are  of  Scotch-Irish  descent, 
and  for  many  years  resided  in  the  north  of  Ireland, 
Hugh  Maxwell,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of 
this  biography,  having 
been  a  native  of  Minter- 
burn,  county  Tyrone, 
where  he  was  born  in 
1733.  His  father,  who 
bore  the  same  name,  be- 
ing a  Calvinist,  and  dis- 
liking the  established 
church  of  Ireland,  deter- 
mined to  remove  to  Amer- 
ica with  his  family.  The 
younger  Hugh  ardently 
espoused  the  cause  of  the 
colonists  during  the  war 
of  the  revolution,  attained 
the  rank  of  colonel,  and  was  well  known  as  a  brave 
officer  and  Christian  patriot.  He  died  in  1799,  at 
the  age  of  sixty-seven.  His  son  Sj'lvester,  the 
father  of  George  jNIaxwell,  was  born  in  1775,  grad- 
uated from  Yale  in  1797,  married  Tirzah  Taylor,  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters,  settled 
in  Charlemont,  ]\Iass.,  as  a  lawyer,  and  died  in 
1S5S. 

George  ilaxwell,  the  only  surviving  brother 
among  Sylvester's  eight  children,  was  born  July 
30,  1 81 7,  in  Charlemont,  where  he  remained  until 
seventeen  3-ears  of  age,  varj-ing  the  time  with  such 
employments  as  the  farm  requires,  when  not  en- 
gaged in  his  school  duties.  He  then  removed  to 
Greenfield,  Mass.,  and  for  ten  years  filled  the  posi- 
tion of  a  clerk,  making  Rockville  his  residence  in 
1S43.  Here  he  began  a  mercantile  course,  which  ex- 
tended over  a  period  of  four  years,  when  he  became 
identified  with  the  New  England  Company,  manu- 
facturers of  woolen  goods.  He  remained  ten  years 
with  this  company,  and  then  transferred  his  rela- 
tions to  the  Hockanum  Company,  first  holding  the 
office  of  treasurer  and  subsequently  that  of  presi- 
dent, both  of  which  he  now  fills.  On  the  re-organ- 
ization of  the  New  England  Companj'  he  was  made 
its  president.  He  speedily  became  an  influential 
factor  in  the  leading  financial  enterprises  of  Rock- 
ville, where  his  executive  genius  and  sound  busi- 
ness qualities  placed  him  in  many  positions  of  trust. 
He  is  treasurer  of  the  Springville  Company, 
president  of  the  Rockville  National  Bank,  president 
of  the  Rockville  Gas  Light  Company  and  of  the 
Rockville  Railroad  Company,  treasurer  of  the 
Rockville  Water  Power  Company,  president  of  the 
Rockville  Aqueduct  Company,  and  director  of  va- 
rious other  enterprises,  including  the  Society  of 
Savings  of  Hartford,  the  Hartford  Trust  Company, 


I20 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


and  the  National  Fire  Insurance  Companj-  of  the 
same  city.  Mr.  Maxwell's  political  aflfiliations  are 
with  the  republican  party,  by  whom  he  was  elected 
to  represent  the  town  of  Vernon  in  the  general 
assembly  of  1871,  and  his  district  in  the  state  sen- 
ate in  1S72.  He  was  an  active  and  influential 
member,  and  for  many  years  a  deacon  in  the  Sec- 
ond Congregational  church  of  Rockville,  and  now 
sustains  the  same  relations  in  the  Union  Congrega- 
tional church,  in  which  the  First  and  Second 
churches  were  recenth'  merged.  He  is  also  a  trus- 
tee of  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  In  benevo- 
lent enterprises,  and  all  efforts  to  advance  the 
cause  of  Christianity,  he  has  been  a  leading  spirit 
and  a  tireless  worker.  He  has  during  his  long  resi- 
dence in  Rockville  ever  been  actively  enlisted,  by 
personal  effort  and  generous  pecuniary  aid,  in  the 
advancement  of  all  pubhc  improvements,  and  in 
the  widest  possible  dissemination  of  intelligence 
through  the  medium  of  the  public  schools. 

Mr.  Maxwell  was  married,  November  3,  1S46,  to 
Harriet,  daughter  of  the  late  Hon.  George  Kellogg, 
the  founder  of  Rockville  and  a  gentleman  whose 
memory  is  revered  by  all  who  ever  knew  him. 
They  have  five  children,  three  sons  and  two  daugh- 
ters. 

[Mr.  ^Maxwell  died  at  his  home  in  Rockville, 
April  2,  1S91,  after  the  above  sketch  had  been  pre- 
pared. —  E]).] 


AMOS    WHITNEY,    Hartford:    Superintendent 
The  Pratt  &  Whitney  Co. 

Amos  Whitney,  one  of  the  founders  of  The  Pratt 
&  Whitney  Co. ,  the  largest  concern  of  the  kind  in 
the  state,  was  born  at  Biddeford,  Me.,  Oct.  S,  1S33, 
and  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  at  Sacca- 
rappa  in  that  state.  At 
the  age  of  twelve  he  re- 
moved to  Exeter,  N.  H., 
where  he  remained  until 
he  was  fourteen  years  of 
age.  He  then  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Essex 
Machine  Co.  in  Lawrence, 
!Mass.,  and  learned  the 
machinist  trade.  He  is 
one  of  the  most  competent 
mechanical  workers  in 
New  England  and  has  at- 
reputation  not  only  in  this 
yiv.  Whitney  came  to  Hart- 
ford forty  years  ago.  In  connection  with  ]\Ir. 
Francis  A.  Pratt,  who  has  been  for  }-ears  at  the 
head  of  the  Pratt  &  Whitney  Company,  he  organ- 
ized the  business,  which  was  begun  in  the  most  un- 
assuming manner.     The  most  extravagant  dreams 


AMOS    WHITNEY. 

tained    an   enviable 
cotmtry,  but  abroad. 


of  the  founders  could  not  have  foreshadowed  the 
success  that  has  attended  their  work  and  manage- 
ment. The  company  is  known  in  every  European 
capital  of  importance,  its  productions  of  machinery 
and  ordnance  giving  it  a  world-wide  distinction. 
Mr.  Whitney  is  a  gentleman  of  the  most  retiring 
disposition  and  has  declined  active  participation  in 
public  affairs.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics.  His 
religious  associations  are  with  the  Universalist 
church.  The  family  of  this  noted  business  mana- 
ger consists  of  a  wife  and  two  children,  one  son  and 
one  daughter.  Mrs.  Whitney,  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage, was  iliss  Laura  Johnson.  His  home  is  one 
of  delightful  social  attractions  and  domestic  felicity. 


J.     li.     IIERCE. 


JOSEPH  B.   PIERCE,  Hartford:  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Hartford  Steam  Boiler  Inspec- 
tion and  Insurance  Company. 
]\Ir.   Pierce  was  born  in  that  part  of   Plymouth 
which  is  now  known  as  the  town  of  Thomaston, 
Oct.  13,  1S35,  and  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion, preparing  him  for  a 
business  career  that  has 
proved  exceptionally  suc- 
cessful.    Prior  to  his  re- 
moval to  this  city  he  was 
connected  with  the   Seth 
Thomas  Clock  Company, 
ilost  of  his  business  life, 
however,  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  insurance  in- 
terests.    He   was   in   the 
fire     insurance     business 
from  1861  until  1873.     In 
March  of  the  latter  year 
he  accepted  a  responsible 
position  with  the  company  which  he  now  represents, 
and  has  sustained  his  share  in  advancing  and  pro- 
moting its  interests.     He  is  a  gentleman  of  excep- 
tional ability  in  the  insurance  field,  and  has  had  an 
invaluable   experience   in   the  special  line  of  insu- 
rance which  his  company  has  developed.      He  is  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Fourth  Congregational 
church  in  this  city,  chairman  of  the  societ^-'s  com- 
mittee, member  of  the  board  of  deacons,  treasurer 
of  the  evangelistic  fund,  secretary  of  the  Hartford 
Tract  Society,  and  member  of  the  board  of  trustees 
of  Warburton  chapel.     He  is  also  the  president  of 
the  Hartford  Manufacturing  Company.     In  politics 
Secretary  Pierce  is  a  republican.     His  Avife,  who  is 
still  living,  was  Miss  Sophia  A.  Boardman,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Elizur  Boardman,  and  a  descendant 
of   one   of   Hartford's   oldest   families.     The   only 
daughter,  Mrs.  Arthur  H.  Merry,  is  now  residing 
at  Augusta,  Ga.     ]\Ir.  Pierce  has  been  a  resident  of 
Hartford  since  1854,  S-^id  is   thoroughly   esteemed 
and  honored  in  the  community. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


121 


B.    PRESTON". 


Mr.   Preston's  father 


h 


MILES    B.    PRESTON,    HAKiKORn:    Sheriff   of 

Hartford  County. 

Miles  Barber  Preston  was  born  in  Simsbury  in 
May,  1S50,  his  parents  being  Truman  W.  and  Mary 
Etta  Preston  of  that  town,  the  latter,  whose  maiden 
name  was  Mary  E.  Brong, 
was  a  native  of  Addison, 
N.  Y.  Her  death  oc- 
curred a  few  years  ago 
at  Culpeper,  Va.  The 
father  of  Sheriff  Preston 
is  still  hving  at  Hartford, 
having  returned  north 
after  the  death  of  his 
wife  in  Virginia.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
educated  in  the  public 
schools,  completing  his 
studies  in  the  private 
school  of  the  late  Rev. 
O.  S.  Taylor  in  Simsbury. 
was,  during  this  period,  the  town  clerk  of  Simsbury, 
this  fact  in  itself  opening  to  him  the  best  opportuni- 
ties for  obtaining  a  satisfactory  education.  At  an 
early  age  Mr.  Preston  exhibited  a  decided  taste  for 
ornamental  painting,  and  his  business  career  has 
been  shaped  in  the  main  by  that  fact.  His  father 
was  the  proprietor  and  manager  of  a  carriage  shop, 
and  the  ornamental  work  in  painting  offered  special 
attraction  to  the  son.  He  learned  the  trade  and  at 
the  age  of  nineteen  removed  to  Hartford,  engaging 
in  the  railroad  shops  of  the  New  York  &  Hartford 
road.  In  1S70  he  accepted  a  position  of  responsi- 
bility in  the  works  of  John  Markham  at  Pleasant 
Valley,  in  Barkhamsted,  being  placed  in  charge  of 
the  painting  department  and  remaining  there  three 
years.  In  1S73  he  returned  to  Hartford  and  entered 
the  employ  of  the  H.,  P.  &  F.  road  as  an  orna- 
mental painter.  After  spending  five  years  in  the 
company's  shops,  he  decided  to  engage  in  business 
for  himself,  and  bought  out  the  place  ownied  by 
Theodore  Thorpe,  Jr.,  at  the  corner  of  Pearl  and 
Trumbull  streets.  Benjamin  W.  Kenyon  was 
admitted  to  partnership  with  him,  the  firm  being 
Preston  &  Kenyon.  The  business  was  commenced 
in  1S7S  and  has  developed  into  one  of  large  propor- 
tions. Messrs.  Preston  &  Kenyon  unquestionably 
have  the  largest  amount  of  sign  work  of  any  house 
in  New  England  outside  of  Boston.  The  presiden- 
tial campaign  of  iSSo  opened  an  interesting  and 
profitable  field  of  work,  the  net  campaign  banner 
becoming  an  indispensable  adjunct  of  the  canvass. 
Mr.  Preston  caught  the  idea  and  developed  an 
admirable  specialty  in  connection  with  it.  In  1881 
house  painting  was  added  to  the  firm's  business, 
employing  a  considerable  corps  of  workmen.  The 
firm  of  Bonner,  Preston  &  Co.,  which  conducts  one 
of  the  linest  trades  in  the  city  in  its  line,  was  estab- 


lished February  4,  1889,  its  place  of  business  being 
in  the  Hills  block,  opposite  Exchange  corner.  The 
house  carries  the  largest  stock  of  artists'  materials 
in  the  state;  also  extensive  hnes  of  photographer's 
supplies.  The  firm  devotes  special  attention  to 
wall  papers  and  decorations  and  altogether  employs 
a  force  of  fifty  hands.  Mr.  Preston  is  an  active 
participant  in  both  of  these  firms,  being  one  of  the 
busiest  managers  in  the  city. 

He  was  one  of  the  founders  and  vice-president  of 
the  Hubbard  Escort,  the  best  political  organization 
in  this  locahty.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
Putnam  Phalanx  for  twelve  years,  and  at  present 
occupies  the  position  of  quartermaster  on  the  staff 
of  Major  O.  H.  Blanchard.  He  is  a  member  of 
Amos  Beecher  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  :M.,  of  New  Hart- 
ford, and  belongs  to  the  higher  orders  of  Masonry 
in  this  city,  being  a  member  of  Wolcott  Council, 
Pythagoras  Chapter,  and  Washington  Command- 
ery.  Knights  Templar.  He  is  a  past  chancellor  of 
Washington  Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  is  a 
member  of  Hartford  Lodge  of  Elks  and  of  Trum- 
bull Council,  National  Provident  Union.  His 
political  career  has  been  as  honorable  as  it  has  been 
successful.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was  the 
chairman  of  the  democratic  committee  in  the  first 
ward  in  this  city.  Although  the  precinct  is  a 
repubUcan  stronghold  it  gave  Mr.  Preston  a 
majority  of  forty-one  for  sheriff  in  November.  He 
was  not  a  resident  of  the  ward  at  the  time  and  had 
not  been  for  a  considerable  period.  The  tribute 
was  in  recognition  of  his  manliness  and  integrity  of 
character  and  was  the  more  gratifying  as  it  was 
spontaneous  and  unsought.  Mr.  Preston  was  one 
of  the  East  Hartford  bridge  commissioners  at  the 
time  it  was  transferred  to  the  towns  of  Hartford, 
East  Hartford,  Manchester,  Glastonbury,  and  East 
Windsor.  During  the  administration  of  President 
Cleveland  he  held  the  responsible  position  of 
Deputy  United  States  Marshal  in  this  state,  receiv- 
ing the  appointment  from  Marshal  N.  D.  Bates  of 
Norwich,  who  made  him  chief  deputy.  It  was  in 
this  office  that  Sheriff  Preston's  best  official  work 
was  executed.  He  showed  marked  adaptability 
for  the  duties  and  performed  them  with  exceptional 
success.  When  he  retired  from  the  deputy's  office 
in  1S90  it  was  with  the  knowledge  that  he  had  won 
and  received  the  fullest  approval  from  the  public. 
His  nomination  for  sheriff  added  strength  to  the 
democratic  ticket  from  the  outset,  and  his  election 
was  by  the  largest  majority  of  any  candidate  on 
the  general  ticket.  Mr.  Preston  is  a  member  of  the 
First  Methodist  church  in  this  city  and  is  connected 
with  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  He 
has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss 
Hattie  H.  Seymour,  daughter  of  ex-Sheriff  O.  D. 
Seymour  of  this  city.  Her  death  occurred  five 
years    ago.     The   two   children,   the   fruit   of   this 


122 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


marriage,  died  in  infancy.  The  second  wife,  who 
was  recently  married  to  Mr.  Preston,  was  Miss 
Nellie  F.  Dole  of  Springfield,  Mass. ,  stepdatighter 
of  Francis  H.  Richards  of  this  city,  the  patent  ex- 
pert and  mechanical  engineer.  The  rapid  progress 
which  Sheriff  Preston  has  attained  during  the  past 
twelve  3'ears,  both  in  business  and  politics,  has 
been  the  result  of  personal  merit.  He  is  profound- 
ly interested  in  the  measures  and  reforms  that  have 
been  instituted  for  the  advancement  of  working- 
men,  and  his  sympathies  and  counsel  will  invaria- 
bly be  in  favor  of  improving  their  condition. 


JOHN    PALMER. 


JOHN    PALMER,    Brooklyn:    President   Wind- 
ham County  National  Bank. 

John  Palmer,  the  son  of  James  B.  Palmer,  was 
born  in  Ashford,  Windham  county,  Conn.,  April 
24,  1820.  His  education  was  acquired  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native 
town  and  in  Wilbraham 
academy.  During  his  mi- 
nority he  was  employed 
as  a  clerk  in  a  country 
store  in  Eastford,  and  in 
1839  removed  to  Brooklyn, 
where  he  conducted  a 
mercantile  business  for 
I'.fteen  years,  disposing  of 
his  interest  in  1S54  to  a 
successor.  He  was  dur- 
ing a  part  of  this  time 
postmaster  at  Brooklyn, 
under  the  administration 
of  Postmaster-General  CoUamer.  Mr.  Palmer  was 
town  clerk  and  treasurer  of  Brooklyn  for  five  years. 
He  has  held  since  1857,  and  now  holds,  the  office  of 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Windham  Count}- 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company;  and  is  president 
of  the  Windham  County  National  Bank,  which  po- 
sition he  has  occupied  since  1880.  He  is  also  at 
present  a  trustee  of  the  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank. 
Mr.  Palmer  has  resided  in  Brooklyn  uninterruptedly 
for  fifty-one  years,  and  his  whole  life  has  been  one 
of  distinguished  honor  and  usefulness;  while  his 
name  has  been  closely  identified  with  the  successes 
of  the  staunch  financial  and  fiduciary  institutions  of 
which  he  has  been  so  long  the  chief  or  associate 
manager.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church 
of  Brooklyn,  one  of  the  ancient  religious  societies  of 
the  commonwealth,  whose  roll  of  membership  has 
included  some  of  the  most  distinguished  citizens  of 
the  state  in  former  generations.  He  is  a  republican 
in  politics,  having  been  identified  with  that  party 
since  its  original  organization  in  1S56.  Mr.  Palmer 
was  married  in  1850  to  Miss  Frances  M.  Davison, 
daughter  of  Septimus  Davison,  Esq.,  of  Brooklyn. 
She  is  still  living,  with  three  daughters,  Frances  L., 
Charlotte  H.,  and  Helen  M. 


PHILIP    CORBIN. 


HON.   PHILIP    CORBIN,  New    Brit.^in  :  Hard- 
ware Manufacturer. 

Philip  Corbin  was  born  in  Willington,  October 
26,  1S24,  the  son  of  a  farmer  with  a  large  family, 
whose  genealogical  tree  goes  back  to  the  Puritans. 
From  earliest  school  age 
to  nine  years  he  received, 
the  year  through,  such 
educational  advantages  as 
the  ccmmon  schools  af- 
forded. From  the  age  of 
nine  to  sixteen  he  could 
attend  only  the  winter 
terms,  being  busy  on  the 
farm  at  other  seasons. 
Six  full  weeks  at  the 
academy  completed  what 
may  be  technically  called 
his  schooling,  but  his  later 
travels,  observation,  and 
wide  reading  have  given  him  a  liberal  education. 
Two  years  afterward,  or  in  1S44,  he  went  to  New 
Britain,  where  he  was  apprenticed  to  North  & 
Stanley,  hardware  manufacturers  in  a  small  way, 
in  what  was  then  a  village.  So  thoroughly  did  he 
ajjply  himself  to  the  principles  of  the  business  that 
when  he  came  of  age  he  applied  for  and  secured  a 
large  contract  for  some  of  the  best  work  given  out. 
For  five  years  he  went  from  success  to  success,  and 
then,  in  1849,  having  an  ambition  not  for  wealth, 
but  to  become  a  larger  employer  of  labor,  he  and 
his  brother,  Mr.  Frank  Corbin,  founded  what  has 
grown  into  the  present  extensive  hardware  manu- 
factory of  P.  &  F.  Corbin.  It  is  one  of  the  leading 
firms  in  the  country,  and  employs  1,200  persons  in 
its  various  departments.  Mr.  Corbin  has  always 
been  at  its  head,  carr3dng  it  through  the  most  dis- 
couraging circumstances,  with  a  sagacity  that 
places  him  in  the  front  rank  of  ovir  captains  of  in- 
dustry. Ever  an  active  member  of  the  whig  party 
first,  and  then  of  its  successor,  the  republican,  he 
has  never  cared  for  office,  content  to  see,  from  a 
private  station,  the  best  interests  of  the  country 
conserved.  In  1849  he  was  induced -to  accept  the 
position  of  warden  of  the  borough,  and  when  New 
Britain  was  incorporated  became  a  member  of  the 
common  council.  The  establishment  of  the  water 
\voi-ks  was  largely  his  work,  and  he  has  served 
many  years  upon  the  board  of  water  commissioners. 
He  is  also  a  trustee  of  the  New  Britain  Savings 
Bank.  In  18S4  he  was  chosen  to  the  house,  and 
served  as  house  chairman  of  the  exceedingly  im- 
portant committee  on  insurance.  It  was  character- 
istic of  him  to  spend  a  great  deal  of  time  in  examin- 
ing the  technical  merits  of  the  measures  submitted. 
His  nomination  for  state  senator  in  the  fall  of  iSSS 
was  wholly  unsolicited,  but  was  demanded  by  the 
interests  of  the  district.     His  election  which  followed 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


123 


proved  the  wisdom  of  the  convention's  choice,  and 
gave  to  the  district  an  able  senator  and  a  loyal 
worker.  As  in  all  other  fields  of  service,  his  ex- 
perience in  the  senate  chamber  was  one  of  great 
usefulness  to  his  constituents  and  the  state,  and  of 
lasting  credit  to  himself. 


G.    W.    FOWLER. 


GEORGE  AV.  FOWLER,  Hartford:  President 
The  Fowler  &  Miller  Company,  Commercial  Job 
Printers. 

George  W.  Fowler,  who  has  been  at  the  head  of 
town  affairs  in  Hartford  as  selectman  since  1S83, 
was  born  in  Westfield,  Mass.,  October  15,  1S44. 
He  received  a  public 
school  edi:cation,  and 
learned  the  printer's  trade 
in  the  office  of  77/1?  IVest- 
field  Xeius  Letter.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he  was  with 
The  Springfield  Repttb- 
I/icr/i.  In  1864  he  re- 
moved to  Hartford,  and 
entered  the  employ  of 
The  Hartford  Times. 
Eight  years  were  spent 
in  the  composing-rooms 
of  that  paper.  In  1S73 
Mr.  Fowler  organized  the 
printing  firm  of  Smith,  Fowler  &  Miller.  After- 
wards the  organization  was  incorporated  under  the 
name  of  The  Fowler  &  Miller  Company.  Mr. 
Fowler  became  the  president,  and  has  since  re- 
tained that  office  in  the  company.  He  is  a  man  of 
exceptional  business  ability,  and  the  company 
under  his  management  has  become  one  of  the  lead- 
ing printing  houses  in  the  city.  Mr.  Fowler  en- 
tered political  life  as  a  member  of  the  council 
board  from  the  Sixth  ward.  He  represented  that 
precinct  in  the  board  of  aldermen  for  eight  years, 
and  was  one  of  the  best  informed  members  of  the 
city  government.  He  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  special  committee  on  revision  of  ordinances, 
serving  with  Messrs.  John  H.  Brocklesby  and 
Henry  E.  Taintor.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  selectmen  for  eleven  years.  He  was 
elected  to  the  first  place  on  the  board  in  October, 
1 882,  and  has  served  continuously  in  that  office 
since  1S83.  During  the  past  three  years  he  has 
been  nominated  by  both  political  parties  for  the 
position.  During  his  administration  the  new  alms- 
house has  been  erected,  and  the  old  town  property' 
that  was  formerly  used  for  the  purpose  has  been 
transformed  into  one  of  the  most  delightful  and  at- 
tractive sections  of  the  cit}',  increasing  the  grand 
list  by  $200,000.  The  committee  in  charge  of  the 
sale  of  the  old  town  property  has  been  composed 
of    First  Selectman    Fowler,   A.    E.    Burr,    E.   W. 


Parsons,  J.  W.  Dimock,  and  E.  C.  Frisbie.  Mr. 
Fowler  is  also  the  chairman  of  the  free  bridge  com- 
mission. He  is  a  member  of  St.  John's  Lodge,  No. 
4,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  this  city,  Hartford  Lodge  of 
Elks,  Wangunk  Tribe  of  the  Improved  Order  of 
Red  :Men,  the  National  Pro\'ident  Union,  and  the 
Gentleman's  Driving  Club.  Mr.  Fowler  has  a  wife 
and  one  daughter.  Mrs.  Fowler  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage was  Miss  M.  Louise  Rowles,  daughter  of 
Judge  Rowles  of  Tennessee.  In  politics  INIr.  Fow- 
ler is  an  out-and-out  democrat,  and  is  one  of  the 
sincerest  leaders  of  that  party  in  the  city.  It  is  an 
interesting  fact  that  the  first  selectman  and  ex- 
Mayor  John  G.  Root  were  born  in  the  same  town. 
During  Captain  Root's  administration  as  ma}'or 
the  town  and  municipal  departments  were  under 
the  control  of  two  honored  citizens  who  made  their 
wav  here  from  Westfield. 


REV.  H.  MARTIN  KELLOGG,  Lebanon  :  Pas- 
tor First  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  Henry  Martin  Kellogg  was  born  at  New 
Boston,  N.  H.,  April  2,  1851,  and  received  a 
collegiate  education.  He  graduated  from  the  Man- 
chester High  School  in 
1S68  and  from  Dartmouth 
College  in  the  class  of 
1873.  He  studied  the- 
ology at  Princeton  and  in 
L^nion  Theological  Sem- 
inary, New  Yoi'k,  grad- 
uating from  the  latter 
in  1S76.  His  pastorates 
have  been  First  Presbyte- 
rian church,  Atlantic 
City,  N.  J.,  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Frances- 
town,  N.  H.,  First  Con- 
gregational     church, 

Greenwich,  Conn.,  and  the  First  Congi'egational 
church  at  Lebanon.  ^Ir.  Kellogg  has  been  mar- 
ried twice,  his  first  wife  being  Miss  Cora  O.  Alton, 
the  marriage  occurring  October  16,  1879.  This 
lady's  death  took  place  ilarch  5,  18S2.  The  sec- 
ond wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  jMrs.  Stella  G. 
West,  the  marriage  with  her  being  solemnized  ]\Iay 
5,  1885.  The  famil}-  includes  thi'ee  daughters.  In 
politics  Mr.  Kellogg  is  a  prohibitionist.  During 
his  college  career  Mr.  Kellogg  was  a  member  of 
the  Delta  Kappa  and  the  Theta  Delta  Chi  societies. 
He  has  been  a  somewhat  extensive  writer  for  the 
secular  and  religious  press.  He  is  the  author  of 
"Twelve  Hours  with  Young  People,"  and  "The 
Genealogy  of  the  Billei'ica  French  Familj'."  Mr. 
Kellogg  is  an  earnest  preacher  and  pastor  in  the 
church  and  is  regarded  with  marked  favor  in 
eastern  Connecticut. 


H.    M.    KELLOGG. 


124 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


T.    S.    WEAVER. 


THOMAS  S.  WEAVER,  Hartford:  Journalist. 
Thomas  Snell  Weaver  was  born  in  Willimantic 
Feb.  5,  1S45.  He  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation and  was  one  of  the  graduates  of  the  old  stone 
school -house,  a  historical 
educational  institution  of 
Windham  county.  At 
fourteen  years  of  age  he 
entered  the  office  of  the 
Willimantic  foiinial  to 
learn  the  printer's  trade, 
and  was  engaged  there 
for  eight  years  during  a 
greater  part  of  the  time, 
his  father,  the  late  William 
L.  Weaver,  being  the  edi- 
tor, and  for  a  short  time 
he  was  editor  of  that 
paper  himself.  He  went 
to  Worcester,  Mass.,  in  1867,  and  after  several 
years  connection  with  the  job  printing  business  be- 
came attached  to  the  Worcester  Daily  Press,  to 
which  daily  newspaper  he  contributed  local  and 
paragraphic  work.  In  1878  he  assumed  the  position 
of  telegraph  editor  and  paragraph  writer  on  the 
New  Haven  Register,  and  was  connected  with  that 
paper  for  four  years,  during  which  time  he  made  a 
national  reputation  for  writing  sentimental  and 
humorous  paragraphs,  being  more  widely  quoted 
by  the  newspaper  press  of  the  country  than  an}'  one 
in  the  business,  with  the  exception  of  "  Bob  "  Bur- 
dette.  He  also  did  a  large  share  of,  the  editorial 
work  for  the  Register.  He  assumed  k.  position  as 
a  special  writer  on  the  Boston  Globe  in  1882,  but 
remained  there  only  a  few  months.  He  was  then 
offered  the  chair  of  editorial  writer  on  the  Hartford 
Evenitig  Post,  which  position  he  held  for  eight 
years,  adding  considerably  to  the  reputation  of  that 
paper  by  his  sharp  political  work  and  brief  para- 
graphs under  the  head  of  "  Postings."  The  duties 
of  the  position  becoming  onerous  and  his  health  be- 
ing in  danger  of  breaking  down  he  consented, 
after  repeated  urging,  to  return  to  Willimantic  and 
assume  the  editorship  of  the  Journal,  his  alma 
mater.  He  is  now  with  that  weekly,  attending  to 
all  the  multifarious  duties  which  fall  to  the  lot  of 
the  editor  of  a  weekly  newspaper,  doing  his  own 
reporting  and  editorial  work.  He  resides  in  Hart- 
ford, where  he  has  important  newspaper  connec- 
tions with  out-of-town  dailies.  He  is  regarded  as 
a  newspaper  man  of  untiring  industry  and  capacity, 
covering  a  wider  range  in  his  work  than  almost  any 
other  newspaper  man  in  the  state.  He  married 
Delia  A.  Chipman  of  Willimantic  in  1S70,  and  has 
five  childi-en,  his  oldest  son  being  connected  with 
the  New  Haven  Register  as  general  I'eporter.  He 
is  prominent  in  Royal  Arcanum  circles,  and  a  mem- 
ber  of   the   Grand   Council.     He   is  a  republican 


"  from  the  word  go,"  having  cast  his  first  vote  for 
Joseph  R.  Hawley  for  governor  of  Connecticut,  and 
voted  the  straight  republican  ticket  at  each  election 
since.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Windsor  Avenue 
Congregational  church  of  Hartford,  and  has  taken 
a  lively  interest  in  its  affairs. 


PKESCOTT. 


AVILLIAM  HENRY  PRESCOTT,  Rockville, 
Secretary  and  Treasurer  of  The  White,  Corbin  & 
Company. 

William  H.  Prescott  is  a  native  of  Loudon,  New 
Hampshire,  where  he  was  born  Aug.  12,  1840.  At 
the  age  of  four  years  his  parents  removed  to  Man- 
chester, in  the  same  state, 
three  years  later  to  North 
Chelmsford,  Mass.,  and 
agam.  after  two  years, 
to  Hoi  yoke,  in  which  lat- 
ter city  his  education  was 
chiefly  acquired.  After 
ten  years  in  Holyoke,  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  the 
young  man  went  to  Rock- 
ville  and  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Messrs.  AVhite  & 
Corbin,  as  accountant  in 
the  office  of  the  firm, 
which  had  recently  com- 
menced the  then  comparatively  new  industry  of 
envelope  manufacturing  by  machinery.  ]\Ir.  Pres- 
cott developed  at  once  a  very  marked  ability  for 
business  management,  and  from  being  frequently 
consulted  by  the  firm  on  important  issues,  he  came 
in  a  few  j'ears  to  be  considered  as  an  indispensable 
factor  in  the  company's  affairs,  though  not  pecu- 
niarily interested  therein.  In  1S66  he  was  admitted 
into  the  firm  as  a  partner,  which  then  became 
White,  Corbin  &  Company,  with  the  office  business 
entirely  in  his  charge.  As  time  passed,  Mr.  White, 
the  senior  partner,  became  interested  in  manu- 
facturing enterprises  outside,  and  the  whole  burden 
of  management  came  upon  Mr.  Prescott.  Since 
the  incorporation  of  "The  White,  Corbin  &  Com- 
pany" in  1 88 1,  although  Mr.  White  has  occupied 
the  position  of  president  of  the  corporation,  Mr. 
Prescott  has  been  its  secretary,  treasurer,  and  gen- 
eral manager,  as  well  as  a  director,  and  has  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  his  position  with  such  mas- 
terly ability  as  to  place  the  company  at  the  head  of 
envelope  manufacturers  of  the  country,  if  not  of 
the  world,  in  point  of  enterprise,  financial  strength, 
and  capacity  for  production.  His  judgment  in  all 
business  affairs  is  rated  as  of  the  highest  order, 
in  recognition  of  which  every  considerable  financial 
concern  in  the  city  of  Rockville  has  first  or  last 
called  him  to  a  place  in  its  management  or  control. 
Additionally  to  the  position  he  occupies  in  his  own 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT 


125 


company,  Mr.  Prescott  is  a  director  in  the  American 
Mills  Company,  in  the  First  National  Bank,  in  the 
People's  Saving  Bank,  and  in  the  Rockville  Water 
Power  Company;  president  of  the  Rockville  Mutual 
Insurance  Company,  and  of  the  Standard  Envelope 
Company;  trustee  and  director  in  the  Rockville 
Building  and  Loan  Association;  auditor  of  town 
accounts;  and  sustains  various  minor  official  re- 
lations among  the  institutions  of  the  town  and 
citv.  He  is  an  active  and  influential  member 
of  the  Union  Congregational  society,  is  thor- 
oughly interested  in  educational  affairs,  and  in 
iill  matters  appertaining  to  public  improvements. 
He  is  a  stockholder  in  nearly  or  quite  every  pros- 
perous corporation  in  Rockville,  and  owner  of 
much  real  estate  in  the  city  and  its  vicinity,  all 
acquired  by  his  own  individual  exertions,  and  by 
the  careful  application  of  business  principles  which 
he  had  learned  by  close  study  and  observation  to  be 
wisest  and  best. 

Mr.  Prescott  married  Miss  Celia  E.  Keeney, 
daughter  of  the  late  Francis  Keeney,  who  for 
many  years  was  proprietor  of  the  Rockville  hotel, 
and  a  highly-esteemed  gentleman.  They  have  two 
children. 


COLONEL  JACOB  L.  GREENE,  Hartford: 
President  Connecticut  jMutual  Life  Insurance 
Company. 

Jacob  L.  Greene  was  born  at  Waterford,  Maine, 
August  9,  1837.  His  father.  Captain  Jacob  H. 
Greene,  was  a  man  of  staunch  character,  distin- 
guished for  physical 
vigor,  intellectual  force, 
positive  convictions,  and 
strong  religious  views. 
His  mother  was  a  lady  of 
most  affable  character, 
winning  and  graceful  in 
manner,  thoroughly  in- 
telligent, and  earnestly 
devoted  to  the  welfare 
and  advancement  of  her 
children.  At  an  earlj- 
age  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  manifested  a  strong 
disposition  for  study,  and 
sought  every  opportunity  within  his  reach  for  in- 
tellectual attainment.  The  Michigan  University 
at  that  time  opened  its  doors  without  cost,  so  far  as 
tuition  was  concerned,  and  the  young  student 
turned  his  steps  thitherward.  There  he  completed 
his  course  of  studies,  and  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  law  at  Lapeer.  Hardly  had  he  begun  his 
profession  when  the  war  broke  out,  and  he  en- 
listed as  a  private  in  the  Seventh  Michigan  in- 
fantry, being  soon  afterward  made  a  commissioned 
officer.     His  regiment  was  ordered  to  the  School  of 


J.    L.    GREENE. 


Instruction  at  Fort  Wayne,  where  it  was  filled  up, 
and  in  August  was  sent  to  the  front.  Colonel  Greene 
served  until  the  spring  of  1S62,  advancing  to  the 
first  lieutenancy  of  his  company.  In  1862  he  suffered 
a  long  and  exhaustive  illness,  prostrating  him  for 
an  entire  year.  He  recovered,  however,  during  the 
summer  of  1S63,  and  returned  to  the  field;  accepted 
an  appointment  as  assistant  adjutant-general  on 
Custer's  staff,  and  served  with  him  until  the  battle 
of  Trevellyan  Station,  where  he  was  captured. 
June  II,  1S64.  He  was  in  Libby,  Macon,  and 
Charleston  prisons.  While  at  Charleston  he  was 
one  of  the  Union  officers  placed  under  the  Union 
fire  by  the  rebel  authorities.  He  was  afterward 
removed  to  Columbia,  where  he  was  paroled  and 
transferred  to  the  L^nion  lines.  He  was  not  able, 
however,  to  secure  an  exchange  until  April  8,  1865. 
Immediately  after  his  exchange  he  returned  to  the 
front,  joining  General  Custer  at  Burksville  Junc- 
tion, April  10.  After  the  grand  review  of  the 
Army  of  the  Potomac  at  Washington,  General  Cus- 
ter was  ordered  to  New  Orleans.  Colonel  Greene 
accompanied  him,  and  went  with  him  up  the  Red 
River  to  Alexandria,  whei'e  a  division  of  cavalry 
was  organized.  Thence  Custer  advanced  into 
Texas,  having  been  made  commander  of  the  cen- 
tral division  of  Texas,  and  of  the  cavalry  in  the 
department,  with  headquarters  at  Austin.  Colonel 
Greene  was  made  chief  of  staff'  in  both  commands; 
meanwhile  he  had  been  promoted  to  the  full  rank 
of  major,  and  was  brevetted  lieutenant-colonel  for 
distinguished  gallantry.  When  Custer  was  mvis- 
tered  out  as  a  major-general  of  volunteers.  Colonel 
Greene  applied  for  his  muster  out,  and  finally  re- 
ceived it  in  April,  1S66,  one  year  after  the  close  of 
the  war.  He  spent  the  next  four  years  at  Pitts- 
field,  Mass.,  where  he  became  assistant  secretary 
of  the  Berkshire  Life  Insurance  Company.  He 
began  his  insurance  career  as  an  agent  of  that  com- 
pany, but  his  executive  ability  soon  manifesting 
itself,  he  was  asked  to  take  a  position  on  the  office 
staff".  He  was  called  to  Hartford  June  i,  1S70,  as 
assistant  secretary  of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Compan}-,  was  made  secretary  in  April, 
1S71,  and  president  of  the  company  in  March,  1878, 
succeeding  the  late  President  Goodwin.  He  is  at 
the  head  of  one  of  the  largest  insurance  organiza- 
tions in  the  L'''nited  States,  to  which  honorable  posi- 
tion he  brings  the  qualifications  of  undoubted  abil- 
ity, the  most  absolute  fidelitj-,  a  clear  conception  of 
duty,  and  a  loyalty  to  principle  which  under  no 
circumstances  either  surrenders  or  compromises. 

As  a  citizen.  Colonel  Greene's  abilities  and  habits 
of  industry  lead  him  into  various  useful  activities. 
He  is  a  frequent  and  i^opular  speaker  at  meetings 
of  religious  and  scholastic  bodies,  and  has  been 
selected  as  the  orator  of  the  day  on  several  import- 
ant state  occasions.    He  is  senior  warden  of  Trinity 


126 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


church,  a  leading  member  of  the  Church  Temper- 
ance society,  and  trustee  of  the  Bishop's  fund.  He 
is  a  director  of  the  Connecticut  Trust  and  Safe 
Deposit  Company,  and  of  the  Society  for  Savings; 
a  director  also  of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  and  the  Phoenix  National  Bank.  His 
social  connections  include  membership  in  the  Con- 
necticut Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
trusteeships  in  the  Watkinson  Library,  Church 
Home,  and  other  local  organizations;  and  he  is  a 
man  of  superior  intellectual  endowments,  which 
render  him  not  only  an  able  business  manager,  but 
a  thoroughly  useful  and  greatly- valued  citizen. 


F.    F.    WEBB. 


FRANK    F.    WEBB,    Windham:    Merchant    and 
Banker. 

Frank  F.  Webb  was  born  in  Scotland,  November 
6,  1852.  He  is  the  son  of  Paschal  and  Rhoda 
(Kingsley)  Webb,  and  his  father,  now  some  years 
deceased,  is  remembered 
as  a  man  of  the  highest 
respectability,  who  en- 
joyed the  confidence  of 
his  townsmen,  and  was 
by  them  frequently  dur- 
ing his  lifetime  called  to 
occupy  positions  of  honor 
and  trust.  F.  F.  Webb 
lived  at  home  on  his 
father's  farm  in  Scotland 
during  his  j-outh,  and  had 
the  advantages  of  the 
public  school  there,  which 
were  later  supplemented 
by  a  finishing  course  at  the  High  school  in  Willi- 
mantic.  After  the  death  of  his  father  in  1S70,  the 
old  homestead  was  sold,  and  the  family  moved  to 
Willimantic.  Here,  after  attaining  his  majority, 
he  embarked  in  trade  with  Jerome  B.  Baldwin, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Baldwin  &  Webb;  and  for 
several  years  conducted  a,  successful  business  in 
clothing  and  furnishing  goods.  In  187S  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Janette  Lincoln  of  Willimantic. 
He  was  elected  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the  borough 
of  Willimantic,  and  last  fall  was  elected  to  repre- 
sent the  town  of  Windham  in  the  state  legislature, 
being  the  candidate  of  the  democratic  party.  He 
is  a  director  in  the  Windham  National  Bank  and  the 
Willimantic  vSavings  Institute,  of  which  latter  he  was 
treasurer  for  two  or  three  years.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  Society  of  Willimantic. 

]\Ir.  Webb  is  a  gentleman  of  quiet  habits,  careful 
and  conscientious  in  his  expressions  of  opinion,  of 
undeviating  honor  and  integrity,  and  is  regarded 
as  an  excellent  judge  of  men  and  affairs  from  a 
business  standpoint.  His  mercantile  career  and 
brief  public  service  have  been  alike  honorable  and 
successful. 


SILAS   PALMER   ABELL,   Lebanon:  Farmer. 

Silas  P.  Abell  was  born  in  Lebanon,  August  10, 
1822,  the  youngest  of  seven  children.  His  father 
dying  in  1S25,  and  the  family  not  being  blessed 
with  much  of  this  world's 
good,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  when  nine  years  of 
age  was  put  out  to  work 
for  his  board  and  clothes, 
and  was  to  attend  school 
in  the  winter  months  un- 
til sixteen  years  of  age. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
made  another  bargain 
with  his  employer,  in 
which  he  was  to  staj'  with 
him  until  he  was  twenty- 
s   p   ABELL  one  years  of  age,  and  was 

to  receive  in  addition  to 
his  board  and  clothes,  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
dollars.  Young  Abell,  by  improving  time  at  school 
and  his  evenings  at  home,  was  able  to  teach  school 
two  winter  terms  before  he  was  of  age,  for  which 
his  employer  received  ninety  dollars.  During  all 
these  years  there  was  no  written  agreement  be- 
tween the  parties.  The  young  man  was  faithful  to 
his  employer,  and  the  latter  was  as  kind  as  a  father 
to  his  ward.  He  attended  a  select  school  for  one 
term  after  his  "  time  was  out,"  and  continued  to 
work  for  his  old  friend  during  the  summers  and  to 
teach  school  during  the  winters,  until  he  was 
married.  Mr.  Abell  and  his  wife  live  on  the  same 
farm  still,  which  they  have  owned  since  the  death 
of  their  old  friend.  The  old  gentleman  (Col.  Julius 
Clark)  died  in  1868.  Mr.  Abell  married  Miss  So- 
phronia  Robinson  of  Lebanon,  March  22,  1S46. 
They  have  had  six  children,  of  whom  three  are  still 
living,  viz.:  Mrs.  C.  A.  Brown,  Mrs.  Ehsha  P. 
Spafard,  and  Myron  R.  Abell.  Mr.  Abell  has  been 
an  assessor,  a  member  of  the  board  of  relief,  select- 
man, town  agent,  notary  public,  justice  of  the  peace, 
—  appointed  to  the  latter  office  for  the  first  time 
in  1S50  by  the  legislature.  He  has  probably 
written  more  wills  than  any  other  person  now  living 
in  his  part  of  the  town,  and  has  settled,  either  as 
executor  or  administrator,  nineteen  estates  of  de- 
ceased persons  in  his  district  and  those  adjoining. 
He  was  a  member  of  the  legislature  during  the  Ses- 
sions of  i860  and  1880.  In  his  early  manhood  Mr. 
Abell  was  a  democrat  and  voted  with  that  party. 
He  has  subsequently  been  identified  with  the  free 
soil  party,  the  republican,  and  the  prohibitionists; 
being  led  to  change  his  political  affiliations  first  be- 
cause of  his  abhorrence  of  slavery,  to  which  he  be- 
lieved the  democratic  party  to  be  wedded,  and  last, 
for  the  reason  that  he  held  the  temperance  reform 
to  be  paramount  in  importance  to  any  political 
party  whose  platform  is  not  soundly  constructed  on 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


127 


F.  W.  BRUGGERHOF. 


prohibition  principles.  ]\Ir.  Abell  is  an  indepen- 
dent thinker,  and  makes  it  a  point  to  vote  as  he 
thinks.  He  holds  no  office  at  present,  except  that 
he  is  clerk  of  the  Congregational  church  in  Leb- 
anon, of  which  church  he  was  one  of  the  deacons 
for  eighteen  years,  until  he  resigned  in  1SS7. 


F.  W.  BRUGGERHOF,  Noroton:  Seedsman. 

Frederick  W.  Bruggerhof  was  born  in  Prussia, 
October  15,  1S30,  and  received  a  thorough  public 
school  education.  His  early  life  was  spent  at  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  but  for  the 
past  forty-two  years  he 
has  been  a  resident  of 
New  York  city  and  Con- 
necticut. He  is  a  member 
of  the  firm  of  James  M. 
Thorburn  &  Co.,  New 
York  city,  being  one  of 
the  oldest  establishments 
of  the  kind  in  the  metrop- 
olis. It  has  been  in  busi- 
ness since  1802,  being  en- 
gaged in  the  seed  trade. 
Mr.  Bruggerhof  is  the  ac- 
tive partner  in  the  con- 
cern. But  it  is  not  in  business  alone  that  he  has 
attained  eminent  success.  He  has  also  won  wide 
attention  in  the  state  of  his  adoption  as  a  public 
representative.  Mr.  Bruggerhof  was  elected  to  the 
house  of  representatives  from  Darien  on  the  demo- 
cratic ticket  in  1874,  his  colleagues  from  Fairfield 
county  at  that  time  including  the  Hon.  Samuel 
Fessenden  of  Stamford,  ex-Governor  P.  C.  Louns- 
bury  of  Ridgefield,  and  that  old  and  popular  legis- 
lator, Cornelius  Mead  of  Greenwich.  In  1S75  Mr. 
Bruggerhof  was  elected  to  the  senate  from  the 
Twelfth  district,  and  was  chairman  of  the  commit- 
tee on  finance.  His  associate  members  in  the  senate 
included  the  Hon.  Thomas  S.  Marlor  of  Brook- 
lyn, ex-State  Comptroller  Chauncey  Howard  of 
Coventry,  the  Hon.  Caleb  B.  Bowers  of  New 
Haven,  and  the  Hon.  Washington  F.  Willcox,  now 
member  of  congress  from  the  Second  district.  In 
1S76  he  was  returned  from  the  Twelfth  district,  his 
colleagues  that  year  including  General  S.  E.  Mer- 
win  of  New  Haven,  Edwin  A.  Buck  of  Windham, 
Charles  C.  Hubbard  of  Middletown,  collector  of 
internal  revenue  under  President  Cleveland  for  the 
Connecticut  district.  Congressman  Willcox,  and 
ex-Lieutenant-Governor  Ephraim  H.  Hyde  of 
Stafford.  Senator  Bruggerhof  was  on  the  state 
democratic  electoral  ticket  in  1884,  being  one  of  the 
electors-at-large,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  casting 
his  electoral  vote  for  Grover  Cleveland,  who  was 
elected  to  the  presidency.  Politically,  as  well  as 
from  a  business  point  of  view,  the  ex-senator  from 


the  Twelfth  has  won  gratifying  distinction  and 
success.  He  is  connected  with  the  Presb5'terian 
church.  The  wife  of  Senator  Bruggerhof,  who 
was  Miss  Cordelia  E.  Andreas  of  New  York  city, 
is  living.  The  family  includes  one  son  and  four 
daughters.  The  eldest  daughter  is  the  wife  of  W. 
N.  Capen,  Esq.,  of  New  York  city.  The  second  is 
the  wife  of  E.  C.  Hoyt,  son  of  the  late  Senator 
Oliver  Hoj-t  of  Stamford.  The  third  is  the  wife  of 
A.  H.  Smith,  son  of  Commodore  James  D.  Smith 
of  Stamford,  ex-treasurer  of  the  state  under  Gov- 
ernor Bigelow.  The  fourth  daughter  is  the  wife  of 
Franklin  M.  Jones,  a  member  of  the  banking  house 
of  J.  D.  Smith  &  Co.  of  New  York  city.  The  son, 
Edward  Everett  Bruggerhof,  was  lately  married 
to  Miss  Lucv  F.  Otis  of  Yonkers,  N.  Y. 


F.     B.    ALI.EX. 


FRANCIS  B.  ALLEN,  Hartford:  Second  Vice- 
President  Hartford  Steam  Boiler  Inspection  and 
Insurance  Company. 

Francis  Burke  Allen  was  born  in  Baltimore, 
Md.,  in  1S41,  and  received  a  thorough  education, 
preparing  him  for  the  avocation  of  a  mechanical 
engineer.  In  February , 
1862,  he  was  appointed  in 
the  engineer  corps, United 
States  nav3^  from  Illinois, 
remaining  in  active  ser- 
vice until  1868.  He  was 
with  various  ships  and 
squadrons,  and  on  special 
duty  in  New  York  during 
the  entire  period.  His 
service  through  the  war 
was  exceptionally  credit- 
able. In  1 868  he  resigned 
his  commission  in  the 
navy  to  enter  the  service 
of  the  Novelty  Iron  works  in  New  York.  After- 
wards he  was  assistant  to  the  superintendent  of 
motive  power  on  the  Northern  Pacific  R.R.  In  1S72 
he  became  the  special  agent  of  the  Hartford  Steam 
Boiler  Inspection  and  Insurance  Company  in  the 
New  York  department.  In  1882  he  was  promoted 
to  the  position  of  supervising  general  agent  in  the 
home  office,  and  in  1888  was  made  second  vice- 
president  of  the  company.  His  department  in- 
volves a  general  supervision  of  the  company's  busi- 
ness in  the  field  and  the  superintendency  of  agents. 
Mr.  Allen  is  exceptionally  adapted  to  this  work  b}- 
training  and  experience.  He  is  connected  with  the 
American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers  of  New 
York,  the  American  Society  of  Naval  Engineers, 
Washington,  D.  C. ,  the  Marine  Engineers'  Societ}^ 
of  New  York,  the  National  Association  of  Station- 
arj^  Engineers;  and  is  lieutenant  commander  of  the 
National  Association  of  Naval  Veterans,  vice- 
president  of  the  Naval  Veteran  Association  of  Con- 


128 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


necticut,  member  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of 
Connecticut,  and  of  Robert  O.  Tyler  Post,  G.  A. 
R.  He  is  the  senior  aid  on  the  staff  of  Commander 
Wells,  N.  A.  of  N.  Y.,  and  is  one  of  the  most  pop- 
ular of  the  naval  veterans  of  this  state.  He  has 
resided  in  Portland,  Me.,  Philadelphia,  Chicago, 
and  New  York,  and  is  widely  known  by  reason  of 
his  business  and  naval  associations.  Mr.  Allen  is 
a  member  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  a 
gentleman  of  the  most  enjoyable  personality.  He 
has  a  family,  consisting  of  a  wife  and  five  children. 
The  name  of  Mrs.  Allen  prior  to  marriage  was 
Miss  Margaret  Louise  \Villiams.  In  politics  Mr. 
Allen  is  a  republican. 


EDGAR  D.  WHITE,  Andover:  Farmer. 

Edgar  D.  White  was  born  at  Andover  in  this 
state  February  20,  1848.  He  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools  of  Andover  and  the  select  schools  of 
that  town  and  of  Willi- 
mantic.  He  began  teach- 
ing at  the  age  of  seven- 
teen, an  occupation  which 
he  followed  most  of  the 
time  winters  and  part  of 
the  time  throughout  the 
year,  until  he  arrived  at 
the  age  of  thirty-nine. 
During  this  time  the 
larger  part  of  his  summers 
have  been  spent  on  the 
farm,  and  a  portion  of  the 
E    D    WHriE  time    he    has    been    em- 

ployed in  bookkeeping 
and  as  railroad  station  agent.  For  the  past  few 
years  a  large  part  of  his  time  has  been  and  is  now 
being  spent  in  settling  estates  of  deceased  persons 
and  in  various  positions  of  trust.  He  has  been 
elected  to  office  by  liis  school  district,  town,  and 
church,  having  been  almost  constantly  in  office 
from  the  age  of  twenty-one  to  the  present  time. 
He  has  served  his  town  as  school  visitor,  assessor, 
grand  juror,  and  auditor,  and  is  at  present  a  mem- 
ber of  the  school  board.  He  is  a  member,  as  well 
as  deacon,  clerk,  treasurer,  and  Sabbath-school 
superintendent,  of  the  Andover  Baptist  church. 

Mr.  White  married,  at  the  age  of  twenty-one,  Miss 
Lydia  A.,  daughter  of  Norman  Sprague  of 
Andover.  They  have  one  daughter,  an  only  child. 
Pohtically  he  has  been  a  lifelong  democrat.  His 
home  has  alwa5's  been  in  Andover,  although  his 
labors  have  temporarily  located  him  in  New  Britain, 
Coventry,  and  Columbia.  He  has  served  as  clerk 
of  the  probate  court  for  four  years,  ending  in  Jan- 
uary of  the  present  year.  He  is  guardian  of  two 
boys,  aged  respectively  thirteen  and  fifteen  years  — 
the  sons  of  a  cousin. 


J.     M.    GILLMORE. 


JAMES     MONROE     GILLMORE,     Rockville  : 
Photograjahic  Artist. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Gillmore's 
Hill,  in  Stafford,  Tolland  county,  in  this  state, 
December  31,  1S38,  being  of  the  second  generation 
from  Captain  Nathaniel 
Gillmore,  who  settled  at 
that  jalace  in  the  earl)-  his- 
tor}-  of  the  town.  His 
father,  William  Gillmore, 
was  a  man  of  strong  char- 
acter and  occupied  promi- 
nent places  of  public  trust 
in  civil  and  militarj^  affairs 
during  his  lifetime  as  well 
as  conducting  important 
m  a  n  u  f  a  c  t  u  ring  enter- 
prises on  his  own  account. 
It  may  be  mentioned  that 
Nathaniel  Gillmore,  in  his 
day,  held  a  commission  as  commander  of  a  "  troop 
of  cavalry,"  the  original  of  which  document  is  in 
the  hands  of  James  M.  Gillmore,  signed  by  Gov- 
ernor Jonathan  Trumbull  —  who  was  a  son  of  the 
famed  war  governor  of  Connecticut,  and  a  tried 
and  trusted  friend  of  General  George  Washington 
—  and  by  Samuel  Wyllis  as  secretary.  Also  that 
the  first  military  commission  of  William  Gillmore 
was  signed  by  Governor  Henry  Edwards  ;  while 
his  appointment  "  to  be  colonel  of  the  Nineteenth 
regiment  "  bears  the  signature  of  Governor  William 
W.  Ellsworth,  and  is  dated  Maj-  28,  1S3S,  being 
less  than  a  year  prior  to  the  birth  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch.  The  elder  Gillmores,  not  unlike  many 
of  their  New  England  contemporaries,  were  hardy, 
self-reliant,  and  resolute  people,  accustomed  to  the 
hardships  of  long  journeys  on  foot,  and  to  personal 
undertakings  which  would  appall  the  present 
generation.  Young  Gillmore  was  nurtured  and 
trained  in  the  same  sturdy  line  of  moral,  religious, 
and  business  economies  that  characterized  his  an- 
cestors, and  thus  received  a  thorough  preparation 
for  all  the  active  duties  of  his  later  life.  His  edu- 
cation was  such  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  time,  and  was  of  the  practical,  rather 
than  the  ornamental,  type.  It  proved  to  be  suffi- 
cient, however,  with  the  advantages  he  has  taken 
of  observation  and  experience,  to  enable  him  to 
occupy  and  adorn  the  many  social  and  civil  posi- 
tions he  has  been  called  upon  to  fill.  His  first  start 
in  business  was  made  at  the  age  of  eighteen  3-ears, 
when  his  father  sent  him  to  Hinsdale,  Mass.,  to 
establish  a  branch  of  his  foundry  and  iron  works  in 
that  place.  He  executed  the  trust  in  a  successful 
and  satisfactory  manner.  Two  years  later  he  went 
to  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  turned  his  attention  to 
art  works,  and  subsequently  adopted  photograph v 
as  a  profession;  since  which  time  he  has  had  art 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


129 


rooms  in  various  places  in  New  York  and  the  New 
England  states.  His  studios  have  invariably  been 
the  resort  of  patrons  of  aesthetic  taste  and  culture, 
and  his  productions  have  borne  favorable  compari- 
son with  those  of  the  best  artists  in  this  or  any- 
other  country.  He  has  for  some  years  conducted  a 
flourishing  business  in  the  citj^  of  Rockville,  where 
he  is  now  permanently  located. 

Mr.  Gillmore  married,  in  July,  1864,  Abbie  M., 
daughter  of  Silas  Batchelder  of  Canterbury,  N.  H. 
She  is  a  direct  descendant  on  her  father's  side  from 
a  branch  of  the  Kimball  family,  which  was  distin- 
guished in  central  and  southern  New  England  for 
its  probity,  sound  sense,  and  general  thrift.  They 
have  two  daughters,  Jennie  and  Josie,  bright  and 
interesting  girls,  who  are  the  pride  and  light  of 
their  domestic  circle. 

Mr.  Gillmore's  connection  with  social  and  fra- 
ternal organizations  are  numerous  and  honorable. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity 
for  thirty-two  years,  and  is  now  senior  warden  of 
the  Blue  Lodge,  King  of  the  Chapter  and  Captain 
of  the  Guard  in  the  Council.  He  is  a  charter  mem- 
ber and  vice  chancellor  of  Damon  Lodge,  K.  of  P., 
a  member  of  the  organization  of  American  ]\Iechan- 
ics,  and  of  the  Rockville  republican  club,  with 
which  political  party  he  has  been  identified  all  his 
life.  In  all  masonic  organizations  and  gatherings 
he  bears  an  intelligent  and  active  part,  and  is  held 
to  be  a  master  workman  and  authority  in  the 
ritualistic  ceremonies,  fundamental  laws,  and  con- 
stitutional spirit  of  the  order.  The  circle  of  his 
official  and  personal  friendships  is  thus  wide  and 
still  extending,  including  the  best  social  element  of 
his  city  and  the  state. 


JOHN     HENRY     GATES,     North     Bkanford: 

Farmer. 

Mr.  Gates  was  born,  and  has  alwaj^s  lived,  in 
North  Branford.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  recorded 
as  April  29,  1831.  He  was  married  January-  3,  1858, 
to  Miss  Sara  Louisa  Todd, 
who,  with  two  sons  and 
one  daughter,  is  still  liv- 
ing. He  was  a  tax  col- 
lector in  1870,  and  in  1889 
represented  the  town  of 
North  Branford  in  the 
state  legislature.  He  at- 
tends the  Congregational 
church  of  his  place,  and 
for  twenty-six  years  has 
been  the  librarian  of  its 
Sundaj^-school.  In  poli- 
tics Mr.  Gates  is  a  repub- 

,   .         ,  I-    H.     GATES. 

lican.     He   cast  his   first 

vote  in  1856  for  John  C.  Fremont,  and  has  voted  at 

every  presidential  election  since,  save  one. 


^#/^ 


J.    K.     KUCKI.VN. 

)i,  and  won  an  hon- 


JOHN    K.    BUCKLYN,    Mystic:    President   and 

Principal  Mystic  Valley  Institute. 

John  Knight  Bucklyn  is  a  native  of  Rhode 
Island,  in  which  state  he  was  born  March  15,  1834. 
He  was  educated  at  Smithville  Seminary  and 
Brown  University.  Most 
of  his  life  has  been  spent 
as  a  teacher,  preacher, 
and  lecturer.  A  part  of 
early  manhood  was  passed 
in  the  machinist  business. 
Principal  Bucklyn  gradu- 
ated from  Brown  Univer- 
sity in  1861.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  Phi  Beta 
Kappa  society  while  in 
college.  Immediately  after 
graduation,  he  enlisted  in 
Battery  E,  First  Rhode 
Island  Light  Artillery, 
and  was  mustered  Sept.  i,  li 
orable  record  in  the  war.  He  was  commissioned 
second  lieutenant  March  i,  1S62,  and  first  lieu- 
tenant in  December  of  the  same  year.  Oct.  19,  1864, 
he  was  made  captain  by  brevet  ' '  for  gallant,  merito- 
rious, and  often  distinguished  services  before  Rich- 
mond and  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,"  and  received  a 
full  commission  as  captain  in  1865.  He  participated 
in  forty-five  battles  and  was  wounded  at  Fredericks- 
burg. He  was  also  shot  while  commanding  his 
battery  at  Gettj'sburg.  In  1864-65  he  was  on  staff 
duty  at  the  headquarters  of  the  Sixth  Corps,  Army 
of  the  Potomac,  which  was  commanded  by  Connec- 
ticut's most  distinguished  soldier.  Gen.  Sedgwick. 
After  returning  from  the  war  he  became  the  prin- 
cipal of  the  public  school  in  Mystic,  and  remained 
in  that  position  until  1868.  He  founded  the  Mystic 
Valley  Institute  in  1868,  and  has  since  been  the 
principal  of  the  school,  which  has  attained  decided 
success  in  its  field.  The  institute  was  chartered  in 
18S0.  During  that  year  Principal  Bucklyn  trav- 
eled in  Europe  extensively.  He  has  also  spent 
considerable  time  in  visiting  the  states  of  the 
Union  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains,  acquiring  ma- 
terial for  his  profession  and  work.  He  is  the  com- 
mander of  Williams  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  member  of  the 
New  London  County  Historical  Society,  also  of  the 
Rhode  Island  Historical  Society  of  Soldiers  and 
Sailors,  and  of  the  Loyal  Legion.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  church  and  has  been  a  superintendent 
of  Svmday-school  work  for  twenty  years.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  school  visitor  and  is  a  notary  pub- 
lic. In  politics  he  is  a  republican.  Principal  Buck- 
lyn was  married  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Swaine  in  the 
Central  Congregational  church  at  Providence,  Jan. 
9,  1864,  his  bride  being  Miss  Mary  McKee  Young, 
daughter  of  Edward  R.  Young.  He  has  two  sons, 
John  K.,  Jr.,  and  Frank  A.  Bucklyn,  both  of  whom 


130 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


are  graduates  of  the  Mj'stic  Valle}-  Institute  and 
the  New  York  Medical  College.  Both  are  prac- 
ticing. Mrs.  Bucklyn,  wife  of  the  principal,  is  liv- 
ing, and  has  been  an  earnest  and  efficient  partici- 
pant in  the  work  of  the  institute.  The  present 
faculty  of  the  school  consists  of  John  K.  Bucklj-n, 
A.M.,  LL.D.,  John  K.  Bucklyn,  Jr.,  M.D.,  Frank 
A.  Bucklyn,  M.D.,  Miss  Ella  M.  Addis,  A.B. 


LEVERETT    P.RAINARD. 


HON.  LEVERETT  BRAINARD,  Hartford: 
President  of  The  Case,  Lockwood  &  Brainard 
Company. 

Mr.  Brainard  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  and 
successful  business  men  in  the  state.  He  was  born 
in  Westchester  Society,  Colchester,  Feb.  13,  1828, 
and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  and  Bacon 
Academy  in  that  town. 
From  the  age  of  thirteen 
years,  when  he  was  left 
in  charge  of  the  old  home- 
stead in  Westchester  on 
account  of  the  death  of 
his  father,  he  has  been 
the  architect  of  his  own 
success  in  life.  The 
standing  which  he  has 
won  as  a  business  mana- 
ger in  Connecticut  will 
show  the  character  of  his 
work.  He  is  at  the  head  of  the  largest  printing 
establishment  in  the  state,  a  director  in  the  ^tna 
Life  Insurance  Company,  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  the  ^tna  National 
and  State  Savings  Banks,  the  Orient  Fire  Insurance 
Company,  the  Connecticut  General  Life,  and  in  the 
Hartford  Silver  Plate  Company,  and  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Hartford  Paper  Company.  A  portion 
of  his  early  life  was  spent  in  the  state  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. In  1853  he  became  a  resident  of  Hartford, 
coming  here  as  the  first  secretary  of  the  City  Fire 
Insurance  Company.  He  remained  with  this  in- 
stitution until  he  became  one  of  the  active  partners 
of  the  firm  of  Case,  Lockwood  &  Co.  When  the 
present  company  was  incorporated  by  the  legisla- 
ture, he  became  the  secretary  and  treasurer, 
retaining  the  position  until  1891,  when  he  suc- 
ceeded the  late  Newton  Case  in  the  presidency. 
Mr.  Brainard  has  been  a  member  of  the  court  of 
common  council  of  the  city  of  Hartford,  and  repre- 
sented the  town  in  the  legislature  in  1884.  He 
was  appointed  house  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
railroads,  and  rendered  in  that  capacity  invaluable 
service  in  the  legislature.  In  1890  he  was  appointed 
at  the  head  of  the  world's  fair  commission  from 
this  state,  his  principal  associate  being  ex-Governor 
T.  M.  Waller.     Mr.  Brainard  was  appointed  by  the 


joint  members  of  the  commission  at  Chicago  as 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  manufactures,  in  all 
respects  the  most  important  of  the  working  commit- 
tees of  the  commission.  The  selection  of  a  citizen 
from  Connecticut  for  this  responsible  place  was  a 
high  compliment  to  the  state,  not  less  than  to  the 
gentleman  upon  whoin  the  honor  was  conferred. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  has  been  a  distin- 
guished representative  of  that  party's  interests  from 
the  outset  of  his  public  career.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Pearl  Street  Congregational  Society  in  Hart- 
ford. His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Mary  J.  Bulk- 
eley  prior  to  her  marriage,  was  a  daughter  of 
the  late  Hon.  E.  A.  Bulkeley  of  Hartford,  the 
founder  of  the  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Mrs.  Brainard  is  a  sister  of  Governor  Morgan 
G.  Bulkeley,  and  of  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  Wil- 
liam H.  Bulkele}'.  There  are  seven  children 
in  Mr.  Brainard's  family,  the  home  being  on  Wash- 
ington street. 

JOSEPH  DANA  BARTLEY,  Bridgeport:  Edu- 
cator and  Author. 

Joseph  Dana  Bartley  was  born  in  Hampstead, 
N.  H.,  September  17,  1S38.  His  father  was  Rev. 
John  M.  C.  Bartley,  who  was  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  of 
that  town  for  over  twenty 
years.  His  paternal 
grandfather  was  D  r. 
Robert  Bartley,  who  was 
educated  in  Edinburgh 
University,  Scotland. 
His  mother,  Susan  Dana, 
was  the  daughter  of  Rev. 
Daniel  Dana,  D.D.,  who 
was  a  pastor  in  Newburj?-- 
jjort  for  over  fifty  years, 
and  was  for  one  j^ear 
l^resident  of  Dartmouth 
College.  His  great- 
grandfather,  Joseph  Dana,  was  pastor  of  the  South 
church  of  Ipswich,  Mass.,  for  sixtj'-two  5'ears. 
Mr.  Bartley  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  academy 
in  Atkinson,  N.  H.,  and  took  the  regular  course  at 
Williams,  graduating  in  1859.  We  quote  the  fol- 
lowing from  the  quarter-centennial  report  of  his 
class. 

"After  graduation,  he  spent  one  year  of  theologi- 
cal study  at  Princeton,  and  then  became  assistant 
in  the  academy  at  Blairstown,  N.  J.,  and  after- 
wards, principal  of  the  Susquehanna  Institute  at 
Duncannon,  Pa.  In  1863  he  was  called  to  the 
charge  of  Skaneateles  Academy,  where  he  remained 
till  Ajiril,  1866,  when  he  became  principal  of  the 
Female  High  School  at  Newburj-port,  Mass.  In 
1868  he  was  elected  to  the  head  of  the  High  School 
of  Concord,   N.   H.,  and  in  1875,  in  response  to  a 


J.     D.    HARTLEY. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


131 


second  call,  accepted  the  principalship  of  the  High 
School  at  Burlington,  Vt.,  where  he  remained  until 
1SS2,  when  he  took  charge  of  the  High  School  at 
Bridgeport,  Conn.,  in  one  of  the  finest  school  build- 
ings of  the  state.  He  has  compiled  several  school 
books,  made  his  gift  of  song  useful,  and  entered 
generously  into  all  good  citizenship.  He  has  had 
active  membership  in  the  Teachers'  Associations 
of  the  several  states  of  his  service,  has  been  vice- 
president  and  director  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Instruction,  member  of  the  New  Hampshire  Histor- 
ical Society  and  of  the  Philharmonic  Society  of 
Burlington,  trustee  of  the  Concord  Public  Library, 
and  examiner  of  Dartmouth  College,  had  part  in 
the  Peace  Jubilee  at  Boston,  and  has  contributed  to 
various  educational  journals,  notably  T/tc  Neiv 
England  Jottrtial  of  Education,  and  in  all 
methods,  old  and  new,  has  kept  well  at  the  head  of 
his  profession." 

In  Bridgeport,  Mr.  Bartley  has  been  a  director  of 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  from  its  foundation,  and  is  vice- 
president  of  the  Choral  Society.  He  has  recently 
resigned  his  position  in  the  High  School  after  ten 
vears  of  service. 


SYLVESTER   ^V.    TURNER,    M.D.,    Chester; 

Physician. 

Sylvester  W.  Turner,  son  of  Rufus  Turner, 
M.D.,  and  Sarah  (Wooster)  Turner,  was  born  at 
Killingworth,  Conn.,  March  12,  1822.  At  the  age 
of  sixteen  he  entered  Yale 
College,  and  graduated 
in  1842.  Taught  school 
at  Norwalk,  Conn.,  and 
Newbern,  Ala.,  for  a 
year;  then  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine,  and  in 
1S46  received  the  degree 
of  M.D.  from  Yale.  In 
1S48  he  married  Gertrude, 
daughter  of  the  Rev.  Syl- 
vester and  Lucy  Swift 
Selden  of  Hebron,  Conn. 
His  wife  was  a  descend- 

.  ^  „     .  ,  S.    W.    TURNER. 

ant  of  Governor  Griswold 

of  Connecticut,  and  also  of  John  Eliot,  "The  In- 
dian Apostle."  She  died  in  May,  1890,  leaving  a 
,son  and  two  daughters.  Since  graduation  Dr. 
Turner  has  been  a  practicing  physician  for  fort}'- 
one  years  at  Chester.  He  was  for  seven  j-ears 
clerk  and  treasurer  of  the  Middlesex  County  Medi- 
cal Society,  and  for  three  years  member  of  the 
state  board  of  examiners  for  the  Yale  Medical  Col- 
lege. He  was  a  delegate  to  the  meetings  of  the 
American  Medical  Association  at  New  Haven, 
New  York,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and  New- 
port, and  since  1880  has  been  a  permanent  member 


of  the  association ;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Academy  of  Medicine.  He  has  been  for  more 
than  thirty  years  active  in  educational  matters,  being 
during  that  time  secretary  of  the  board  and  acting 
school  visitor.  Was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
legislature  in  1865,  at  the  close  of  the  rebellion. 
Politically  he  is  an  earnest  republican.  He  has 
beeiT  a  trustee  and  director  of  the  Chester  Savings 
Bank  since  its  incorporation  in  1871.  Is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church,  and  president  of  the 
Chester  Library  Association. 


JOH.\  GRAY,  M.D. 


JOHN  GRAY,  M.D.,  Mystic  :  Physician  and  Sur- 
geon. 

John  Gray,  M.D.,  the  second  eldest  of  five  sons 
and  four  daughters  of  Robert  and  Sarah  Sherman 
Gray,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Plainfield,  Windham 
count}-,  Connecticut,  Sep- 
tember 7,  1824,  where  he 
received  his  early  and 
preliminary  education  at 
district,  select,  and  aca- 
demic schools,  and  where, 
at  the  age  of  eighteen 
years,  he  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  and  sur- 
gery under  William  H. 
Cogswell,  M.D.,  a  highly- 
esteemed  and  successful 
practitioner  in  that  town. 
From  July,  1842,  to  No- 
vember, 1S44,  he  was  un- 
der the  able  instruction  of  Fordyce  Barker,  M.D., 
at  Norwich,  Conn.,  a  young  physician  who  had  rap- 
idly acquired  an  enviable  reputation  for  his  profes- 
sional skill,  and  subsequently  occupied  the  profes- 
sor's chair  of  obstetrics  in  Bellevue  Hospital  Medi- 
cal College,  New  York. 

While  in  Norwich  he  learned  practical  pharmacj- 
in  the  drug  store  of  R.  W.  Mathewson,  M.D.  For 
a  brief  time  after  leaving  Norwich  he  was  with  E. 
F.  Coates,  M.D.,  at  Mj^stic,  to  assist  him  in  prac- 
tice. In  1S45-6  he  attended  lectures  at  the  Univer- 
sity Medical  College,  New  York.  In  March,  1846, 
he  permanently  located  in  practice  at  Mystic,  by 
request  of  its  citizens  and  the  first-settled  and  old- 
est physician  in  the  place,  Benj.  F.  Stoddard,  M.D., 
whose  esteem,  confidence,  and  professional  favors 
he  eminently  and  gratefully  enjoyed  up  to  his  death 
m  February,  1848.  In  connection  with  his  practice 
he  established  the  first  drug  store  in  the  place,  and 
has  continued  it  with  his  son.  He  has  two  profes- 
sional degrees,  M.B.  and  M.D.,  from  Yale  College, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  New  London  county  and 
state  medical  societies.  He  has  never  published  or 
written  any  medical  work  or  papers  of  importance, 
nor  occupied  or  desired  any  more  prominent  posi- 


132 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


tion  in  the  profession  and  general  public  than  to 
be  held  in  their  esteem  as  strictly  honorable,  cour- 
teous, and  a  skillful  physician.  He  has  filled  some 
town  positions  of  trust,  and  for  eleven  years  prior 
to  1869  was  acting  and  commissioned  postmaster 
at  Mystic. 

He  was  married  July  14,  1S47,  to  Miss  Emma 
Packer,  the  daughter  of  M.  R.  and  P.  Packer,  at 
Mystic,  and  has  one  child  only  (a  son),  Mason  P. 
Gray,  born  April  2,  1S50,  who  is  a  prosperous  phar- 
macist in  the  place. 


J.    O.    COODWIN. 


JOSEPH  OLCOTT  GOODWIN,  East  Hartford: 
Town  Clerk  and  Notary  Public. 
Mr.  Goodwin  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh  gen- 
eration of  Ozias   Goodwin,   one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  Hartford.    He  was  born  in  East  Hartford,  April 
16,   1843,  and  has  always 
resided     in     that     town, 
upon  land  that  has  been 
in  his  family  for  over  two 
htmdred   years.      He  at- 
tended    the     common 
schools,    and    afterwards 
a     private    school    under 
the  veteran  teacher,  Mr. 
Salmon  Phelps,    in   East 
Hartford.        His     first 
knowledge     of     business 
was  obtained  in  the  gen- 
eral store  and  post-office 
kept  by   his  father,    Ed- 
ward S.  Goodwin,  Esq.,  who  was  for  many  years 
justice  of  the  peace  and  town  clerk,  besides  holding 
many  other  positions  which  showed  the  confidence 
and  esteem  of  his  townsmen. 

Mr.  Goodwin  left  his  father's  store  in  1862,  and 
learned  the  printing  business  in  all  its  details  in  the 
office  of  the  Calhoun  Brothers  of  Hartford.  With 
the  assistance  of  two  other  young  men  he  began  in 
1863  the  publication  of  a  little  paper,  The  Elm 
Leaf,  the  first  newspaper  issued  for  East  Hartford 
readers.  In  this  work  he  tasted  a  brief  experience 
of  the  sweets,  and  the  incidental  discipline  and 
fatigues,  of  the  editorial  career.  He  left  the  print- 
ing office  in  1871.  His  evenings  and  vacations  had 
been  devoted  to  reading  and  study,  and  in  1870  a 
sketch  from  his  pen  appeared  in  Harpers'  Maga- 
zine. He  has  since  contributed  occasional  articles 
to  Harpers'  publications  and  other  periodicals,  and 
has  been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  local  press. 
His  leisure  time  for  a  number  of  years  was  given 
to  the  work  of  gathering  material  for  a  history  of 
his  native  town,  and  he  read  a  paper  on  that  sub- 
ject in  the  lecture  course  of  1877-8.  During  the  fol- 
lowing year  he  published,  "  East  Hartford:  Its 
History   and   Traditions."     Later   he    prepared   a 


shorter  sketch  of  the  town's  history  for  the  Memo- 
rial History  of  Hartford  County.  In  politics,  a 
democrat,  he  was,  in  1874,  appointed  deputy-regis- 
trar for  East  Hartford,  and  was,  in  October  of  that 
year,  chosen  town  clerk.  He  has  since  been  annu- 
ally re-elected  to  that  office,  often  by  the  cordial  as- 
sent and  nomination  of  both  the  leading  political 
parties.  Chosen  a  member  of  the  board  of  school 
visitors  in  1876,  he  was  for  a  number  of  years  its 
chairman,  —  has  been  acting  visitor  since  1877,  and 
is  secretary  and  auditor  of  the  board.  To  his  active 
interest  in  schools  is  mainly  due  the  establishment 
of  the  high  school  in  East  Hartford.  In  1878  he 
was  chosen  representative  by  an  unusual  majority. 
Besides  the  settlement  of  numerous  estates,  many 
minor  offices  and  trusts  have  been  committed  to 
Mr.  Goodwin's  care.  Associated  with  the  Raymond 
Library  Company  as  one  of  the  original  trustees, 
he  is  at  present  one  of  its  directors  and  its  secretary. 
As  town  clerk  and  notary  public,  Mr.  Good- 
win has  been  brought  into  close  intimacy  with 
the  public  and  private  business  interests  of  East 
Hartford.  He  was  married,  October  26,  1876,  to 
HattieJ.,  daughter  of  Ralph  G.  Spencer,  whose 
ancestors  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  the  colony 
of  Connecticut.  They  have  three  children.  He 
attends  the  First  Congregational  church. 


B.  G.  NORTHROP,  LL.D.,  Clinton:  Clergy- 
man, Educator,  Author,  Lecturer. 
Dr.  Northrop,  the  apostle  of  "  Village  Improve- 
ment," whose  name  will  ever  be  associated  in 
this  land  with  that  important  work,  is  a  native 
of  Litchfield  county,  a 
section  of  Connecticut 
which  has  been  prolific 
in  great  men.  He  was 
born  in  the  town  of 
Kent,  July  18,  1817. 
Born  and  bred  on  a  farm, 
he  has  carried  through 
his  whole  life  a  keen  ap- 
preciation of  the  privi- 
leges and  privations  of 
the  farmer's  lot.  Early 
in  life  he  experienced  dif- 
ficulties in  acquiring  a 
collegiate  education, 
which  inspired  him  with  the  lofty  resolve  of  mak- 
ing the  public  schools  in  Connecticut  free  to  all. 
In  his  youth  he  manifested  a  fondness  for  trees  and 
tree-planting,  which  has  grown  with  his  growth, 
till  he  has  become  their  foremost  advocate.  His 
life,  both  in  Yale  College  and  the  Yale  Theological 
Seminary,  was  characterized  by  the  same  faithful 
energy  which  enabled  him  to  surmount  all  difticnil- 
ties   in   preparing   for   college.     Before   and    after 


G.    NORTHROP. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


133 


graduating  he  taught,  in  all,  two  years.  During 
his  ten  years'  pastorate  of  a  Congregational  church 
in  Framingham,  Mass.,  his  intelligent  and  efficient 
interest  in  the  schools  of  his  town  soon  attracted 
attention ,  and  introduced  him  to  a  wider  sphere  of 
usefulness.  For  nearly  eleven  years  he  was  agent 
of  the  Massachusetts  board  of  education,  when  his 
services  were  required  by  his  native  state,  and  he 
was  made  secretary  of  the  Connecticut  board  of 
education.  This  responsible  position  he  held  for 
sixteen  years,  during  which,  in  the  face  of  an  op- 
position which  would  have  daunted  any  less  deter- 
mined advocate,  he  was  the  leading  agent  in  mak- 
ing the  schools  of  Connecticut  by  law  free  to  all. 
This  period  of  over  twenty-six  years'  service  in  state 
supervision  of  schools  is  believed  to  be  longer  than 
the  similar  service  of  any  other  person  in  this  coun- 
try. In  1867  the  Massachusetts  board  of  education 
expressed  "  much  regret  at  his  resignation  of  the 
office  he  has  filled  with  great  ability  and  accept- 
ance, and  their  high  appreciation  of  his  fidelity  and 
devotion  to  his  duties,  and  the  good  he  has  accom- 
plished for  the  schools  of  Massachusetts."  Simi- 
larly, the  report  of  the  Connecticut  board  of  edu- 
cation, issued  in  January,  1883,  contains  a  very 
complimentary,  review  of  his  labors  during  the  six- 
teen years  of  his  administration,  "  which  produced 
lasting  and  important  results  of  great  benefit  to  the 
entire  state." 

The  nation  is  especially  indebted  to  Dr.  North- 
rop for  what  is  known  as  "  Arbor  Day  in  schools," 
an  idea  suggested  by  him  eight  years  ago,  and 
since  then  so  efficiently  urged  and  supported  by  him 
that  thirty-eight  states  have  adopted  the  day. 
The  number  of  trees  planted  by  school  children 
under  the  stimulus  of  Arbor-day  observance  in 
these  different  states,  within  the  period  included, 
already  reaches  into  the  millions  —  a  result  whose 
present  and  prospective  importance  and  value  can 
hardly  be  estimated.  He  has  given  a  great  deal  of 
voluntary,  unpaid  labor  to  the  general  cause  of 
village  improvement  in  the  past  sixteen  years,  and 
villages  on  both  sides  of  the  Connecticut  river, 
and  beyond  the  borders  of  New  England,  across 
the  continent  and  in  California,  eloquently  attest 
his  success  in  interesting  not  only  the  boys  and 
girls  in  the  schools,  but  also  the  grown  folks,  in 
the  good  work  of  making  the  home  and  the  town 
beautiful. 

Dr.  Northrop  has  twice  visited  Europe,  and  has 
found  time,  in  his  busy  life,  to  write  a  number  of 
valuable  and  timely  books  and  pamphlets.  He  has 
lectured  widely  over  the  country,  on  the  lyceum 
platform,  in  normal  schools,  academies,  colleges, 
and  educational  conventions,  including  a  course  of 
twelve  lectures  before  the  Lowell  Institute  of  Bos- 
ton, and  two  courses  before  the  Peabody  Institute 
of  Baltimore.    His  tall,  commanding  figure,  earnest. 


L.    F.    SCOTT. 


nervous  manner,  readiness  of  apt  illustration,  suit- 
ing specific  advice  to  special  needs,  forces  home  his 
views  far  more  vividly  than  is  possible  to  the  printed 
page. 

Dr.  Northrop  was  married  early  in  life  to  Miss 
Harriette  E.  Chichester,  and  they  have  two  child- 
ren. His  political  affiliations  are  with  the  repub- 
lican party. 

CAPTAIN\LEVI  FRISBE  SCOTT,  Bethlehem: 

Farmer. 

Levi  F.  Scott  was  born  in  Bethlehem,  Conn., 
Nov.  II,  1S18.  He  had  only  a  common  school  edu- 
cation; has  alwa5'sbeen  a  farmer,  and  always  lived, 
and  now  lives,  on  the 
same  farm  on  which  his 
father,  grandfather,  and 
great-grandfather  lived. 
He  had,  in  his  youth,  only 
limited  means;  but  by  his 
energy  and  perseverance, 
he  has  worked  himself  up 
to  the  top  of  a  farmer's 
calling.  At  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  was  enrolled 
in  an  infantry  company 
in  his  (Avn  town,  was 
chosen  corporal,  and  went 
up,  step  by  step,  to  be 
captain  of  the  company,  which  office  he  held  for 
several  years.  He  had  the  best  drilled  company  in 
his  regiment,  and,  at  a  meeting  of  the  officers,  he 
was  chosen  colonel,  but  declined  the  office.  He 
was,  however,  strongly  urged  by  his  superior 
officers  to  accept,  as  he  owed  the  honor  to  the  regi- 
ment and  the  regiment  owed  the  same  to  him,  but 
he  still  declined. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  joined  the  Congre- 
gational society,  and  has  been  a  faithful  worker  in 
it  over  fifty  years,  and  has  held  many  of  its  offices 
of  trust.  Soon  after  joining  the  societ}'  he  also 
united  with  the  church,  and  has  always  maintained 
an  exemplary  Christian  life.  On  Nov.  11,  1850,  he 
married  Miss  Emiline  Young,  a  near  relative  of  the 
late  Governor  Young  of  New  York.  Mrs.  Scott 
died  Jan.  21,  iSgo,  deeply  mourned  bj'  all  who 
knew  her.  She  left  one  son  and  one  daughter,  both 
of  whom  are  still  living.  In  1880  Mr.  Scott  was 
invited  by  Secretary  T.  S.  Gold  to  deliver  a  lecture 
on  "  Farm  Life  "  before  the  state  board  of  agricul- 
ture, held  at  Newtown.  He  gave  another  lecture 
before  the  same  board  in  1S83,  held  at  Waterbury. 
He  has  also  delivered  lectures  upon  different  sub- 
jects in  all  the  towns  around  him,  and  in  some  of 
them  he  has  appeared  several  times;  his  knowledge, 
wit,  and  sound  logic  drawing  a  full  house.  He  has 
also  written  for  different  agricultural  papers  all 
over  the  covmtrv.     His  treatment  of  his  theme  has 


134 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


always  been  reasonable  and  persuasive,  taken  from 
experience  and  observation.  He  has  spoken  before 
farmers'  clubs  and  granges  many  times,  but  never 
till  1S91  did  he  unite  with  the  grange,  when  one 
was  formed  in  his  own  town.  Previous  to  this  he 
had  been  president  of  a  farmers'  club.  He  has 
held  offices  of  honor  and  trust  in  the  town  of  which 
he  has  always  been  a  citizen,  and  has  been  a  lead- 
ing temperance  advocate  in  Bethlehem ,  and  several 
places  where  liquor  was  sold  were  broken  up 
through  his  influence  and  writings.  He  was  direc- 
tor in  a  fire  insurance  company  fifteen  years. 


B.    E.     GIBBS. 


BARNEY     BARZILLAI     GIBBS,    Bloomfield: 
Pastor  Baptist  Church. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  Jan.  13,  1822. 
Early  in  the  seventeenth  century  three  brothers 
Gibbs,  from  Scotland  on  the  English  border,  set- 
tled on  Long  Island, 
N.  Y.  The  son  of  one  of 
them,  Samuel  Gibbs, 
moved  into  New  Jersey 
about  1750.  Leaving 
there,  he  settled  in  Genoa, 
Cayuga  County,  now 
Lansing  in  Tompkins 
County,  N.  Y.,  on  a  farm 
four  miles  north  of  the 
present  beautiful  city  of 
Ithaca.  Mr.  Gibbs'  father 
lived  on  that  farm  sixty- 
six  years.  He  died  there 
March  5,  1S57.  The 
maternal  grandparents,  Oliver  Bigelow  and  Esther 
Harding,  born  in  Colchester,  Conn.,  in  1759,  be- 
longed to  most  worthy  and  patriotic  families,  well 
known  in  the  early  history  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Connecticut.  Having  finished  a  course  of  aca- 
demic study,  Oliver  Bigelow  enlisted  as  a  soldier  in 
the  army  of  the  revolution.  After  the  war  he 
graduated  from  a  medical  course.  For  a  short 
time  he  practiced  medicine  in  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  to 
which  place  the  Hardings  and  others  went,  in  con- 
sequence of  the  desolation  of  the  Wyoming  Valley, 
where  they  had  settled  before  the  war.  They 
afterward  left  Goshen  and  returned  to  the  valley. 
At  the  time  of  the  memorable  "  Wyoming  Massa- 
cre" in  1778,  when  the  fort  was  about  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  Indians,  two  brothers  of  Esther  Hard- 
ing were  slain.  The  lead  in  the  fort  was  buried. 
Esther,  then  eighteen  years  old,  assisted  by  a 
colored  girl,  took  the  powder  in  a  leather  sack  to 
the  river  and  sunk  it.  Thotigh  seen  by  the  savages, 
they  reached  the  fort  in  safety.  For  six  months 
Esther  was  a  captive  among  the  Indians.  Dr. 
Oliver  Bigelow  and  Esther  Harding  were  married 
m  1786.      To  them  were  born  five  daughters  and 


one  son.  The  eldest  of  these,  Nancy,  married 
Gerritt  Goodwin  Gibbs  (son  of  Samuel  above  men- 
tioned). They  had  four  sons  and  four  daughters. 
Of  these  children,  Barney  Barzillai,  the  subject  of 
this  notice,  was  the  fifth,  and  the  third  son.  As  to 
health,  he  was  never  strong.  His  grandmother 
Bigelow  used  to  tell  him  that  God  had  spared  his 
life  in  answer  to  her  prayer,  and  that  he  would 
have  to  preach.  His  eldest  sister  was  the  special 
instrument,  through  grace,  in  awakening  him  to  a 
sense  of  his  need  of  God's  mercy.  While  in  his 
academic  course  he  professed  faith  in  Christ.  Dr. 
John  S.  Maginis,  president  of  "The  Hamilton  Lit- 
erary and  Theological  Institution,"  baptized  him 
into  the  fellowship  of  the  Baptist  church  of  Hamil- 
ton, N.  Y.,  Nov.  iS,  1839.  His  father  designed 
him  for  the  legal  profession ;  but  he  chose  the  min- 
istry of  the  gospel.  Graduating  from  "  Madison," 
now  "Colgate  University,"  m  1846,  and  from  the 
Theological  Seminary  in  1S48,  he  was  ordained  to 
the  work  of  the  gospel  ministry  at  Ithaca,  N.  Y., 
a  few  weeks  after.  He  went  south  that  fall,  into 
the  Mississippi  Vallfey.  He  spent  a  few  months 
in  Southwest  Louisiana,  in  the  "  Attackapa 
Country,"  seeing  slavery  there  on  the  sugar  planta- 
tions, in,  perhaps,  its  severest  forms.  The  next 
year  was  spent  in  middle  Mississippi,  preaching 
to  three  churches,  and  to  several  congregations  of 
slaves,  in  the  four  counties  of  Yazoo,  Warren, 
Hinds,  and  Madison.  He  rode  3,000  miles  on 
horseback  and  2,000  by  steam  that  year.  In  1851 
he  took  the  pastorate  of  the  Wall  Street  Baptist 
Church  in  Natchez,  ]\Iiss.  He  was  married  that 
year  to  j\Iiss  Eliza  E.  Poyer  of  North  Norwich,  N. 
Y.  His  labors  in  Natchez  were  greatly  prospered. 
Beginning  with  a  new  church  of  eighteen  members, 
he  left  it,  after  three  years  and  six  months,  with 
one  hundred  and  seventy-seven  communicants. 
The  sickness  of  his  wife  called  him  north.  In  a 
few  weeks  she  passed  away.  He  did  not  return 
south,  but  supplied  various  pulpits  and  labored  as 
evangelist.  In  1 85 5  he  became  pastor  of  the  Bap- 
tist church  in  Geneva,  N.  Y.  In  1857  he  was- 
married  to  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Samuel  Hart- 
well  of  Chenago  County,  N.  Y.  He  has  three  sons. 
Dr.  Charles  B.,  of  New  York,  Herbert  H.,  attorney 
and  counsellor  in  the  city  of  New  York,  and  Clesson 
F.  Gibbs,  D.D.S.,  of  Bridgeport,  Conn. 

Mr.  Gibbs  has  said:  "Had  I  given  myself 
especially  to  evangelistic  work  I  should  have  ac- 
complished inore."  Possibly,  yet  his  pastorates 
have  been  successful.  The  condition  at  Geneva 
was  low,  house  sadly  out  of  repair,  and  congrega- 
tion small.  But  stimulus  came;  the  attendance  in- 
creased, and  additions  gave  strength  and  courage. 
The  work  with  the  church  in  Jordan,  N.  Y.,  was 
one  of  correction  and  earnest  labor  to  lead  the 
membership  to  deeper  spirituality.      Returning  ta 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


135 


Geneva,  in  a  second  pastorate  thei'e  he  succeeded 
in  insjDiring  the  people  with  a  better  apprehension 
of  Christian  Hfe  and  to  higher  motives  in  gospel 
work.  Prosperity  followed,  and  the  impulse  then 
given  lingers  there  to  this  day. 

In  1865  his  mother  (widowed  and  alone)  urgecl 
him  to  come  home.  He  thought  change  for  a  time 
would  be  advantageous.  He  went;  but  the  cares 
of  the  farm  and  the  wear  and.  tear  of  much  travel 
in  supplying  neighboring  churches  caused  him  to 
accept,  after  two  years,  the  pastorate  of  the  church 
at  Union  Springs,  N.  Y.  Four  years  of  ordinary 
prosperity  were  had  there.  He  went  to  Spencer, 
N.  Y.,  in  1S71  —  a  country  field,  ten  miles  across 
it,  with  many  outposts  for  service.  Additions 
strengthened  the  church;  expensive  repairs  greatly 
improved  the  house;  but  the  pastor's  health  failed. 
He  was  called  to  New  York  city,  where  he  worked 
with  varjung  success  nearly  five  years.  He  suffered 
much  there  from  malaria.  Going  to  Catskill  on  the 
Hudson,  his  health  began  immediately  to  improve. 
Five  years  there,  beginning  with  conditions  of  dis- 
order and  discouragement,  were  favored  with  much 
success.  Two  years  were  spent  in  Wales,  ]\Iass., 
with  the  Baptist  church. 

Mr.  Gibbs  considers  that  the  gospel  supplies  the 
true  grounds  of  culture  and  advancement  for  all 
people.  His  six  years  in  the  south  were  a  most  in- 
teresting and  valuable  experience.  They  supplied 
him  with  more  intelligent  thought  on  the  great 
national  issues  of  the  day;  assured  him  of  the  need 
of  sounder  ethical  principles  in  our  civ-il  govern- 
ment; showed  him  that  the  people,  north  and 
south,  should  have  more  intimate  acquaintance  in 
social,  political,  and  commercial  matters;  that  such 
acquaintance  would  check  the  growing  strife,  and 
modify  the  bitterness  of  discussion.  The  late  Jef- 
ferson Davis  was  then  rising  to  the  acme  of  south- 
ern popularit3^  In  the  senate  chamber  of  Mis- 
sissippi, he  heard  Mr.  Davis  in  his  famous  and 
eloqent  eulogy  of  Calhoun,  and  felt  that  a  crisis 
was  near  at  hand.  But  his  southern  life  supplied 
him  neither  with  feeling  nor  argument  for  slavery. 
As  a  gospel  minister  he  had  to  do  with  the  highest 
interests  of  both  master  and  slave.  He  has,  thei'e- 
fore,  always  held  it  both  as  privilege  and  duty  to 
notice  the  fact  that  he  was  never  hindered,  but 
often  encouraged,  in  his  labors  for  the  slave;  and 
he  felt  himself  respected  and  trusted  by  the  south- 
ern people.  Ten  miles  from  Jackson,  the  state 
capitol,  in  the  little  town  of  Raymond,  rumor  said 
one  morning  that  a  slave  had  been  killed.  Mr. 
Gibbs  was  assisting  the  pastor  there  as  evangelist. 
The  excitement  called  a  meeting  of  planters,  at 
once,  over  which  he  presided  as  chairman.  He, 
with  a  committee  of  planters,  investigated  the  case, 
and  reported  the  next  day  that  the  slave  had  been 
cruelly   beaten   with   a    haiid-saiu,    but    that    he 


would  recover.  The  meeting  censured  the  master, 
and  required  of  him  a  promise  of  humane  treat- 
ment for  the  future. 

Mr.  Gibbs  has  given  forty-three  years  to  his 
chosen  work  —  the  highest  of  earthly  callings. 
Loj-alty  to  truth  has  marked  his  course.  He  is  now 
in  Bloomfield,  Conn.  His  work  there  will  appear 
more  fully  in  the  future.  Extreme  conservatism  is 
tenacious,  and  also  persistent;  not  to  be  changed 
in  a  day.  Connecticut  was  the  home  of  some  of 
his  ancestors.  The  interests  of  the  state  and  peo- 
ple he  cherishes  with  special  regard,  confiding  in 
the  appointed  instrumentalities  of  truth.  Another 
says,  "The  garment  of  praise  must  be  the  out- 
growth of  the  inner  life;"  and  it  is  wise  to  remember 

that  — 

"Across  the  fields  of  toil  there  fall 
The  notes  of  yonder  sunset  bell." 


HON.  WASHINGTON  F.  WILLCOX,  Chester: 

Congressman,  Second  District. 

Washington  F.  Willcox  was  born  in  Killingworth 
August  22,  1834.  He  remained  at  home  with  his 
father,  who  was  a  farmer,  until  sixteen  years  of 
age.  He  attended  the 
common  district  schools, 
and  subsequently  a  select 
school  conducted  by  Rev. 
Mr.  Bell,  pastor  of  the 
Congregational  church  of 
Killingworth,  from  whom 
he  also  received  private 
instruction  for  several 
years  in  the  higher  Eng- 
lish branches  and  in 
Latin.  Subsequently  he 
entered  the  Hopkins 
Grammar  School  at  New 
Haven,  where  he  prepared 

for  college,  but  entered  the  Yale  Law  School,  from 
which  he  graduated  in  1861.  The  same  year  he 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Middlesex  county,  and 
opened  a  law  office  in  Deep  River,  where  he  has 
since  continued  the  practice  of  law.  During  the 
years  1S62  and  1863  he  represented  his  native  town 
in  the  lower  house  of  the  legislature;  was  elected  to 
the  state  senate  in  1875-6,  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  judiciary  committee  during  two  terms.  In 
1875  he  was  appointed  state  attorney  for  Middlesex 
county,  which  office  he  held  for  eight  years.  He 
was  elected  to  the  fifty-first  congress  as  a  democrat, 
receiving  24,959  votes,  against  24,161  for  the  repub- 
lican candidate  and  1,165  scattering. 

Mr.  Willcox  was  married  January  i,  1S68,  to 
Salome  C.  Denison,  who  is  now  living,  a  daughter 
of  the  late  Judge  Socrates  Denison  of  Chester. 
They  have  four  children,  the  issue  of  their  said 
marriage,  two  daughters  and  two  sons. 


136 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


M.  liRO^v^'. 


FREEMAN  M.  BROWN,  Hartkord. 

Mr.    Brown   comes   of  revolutionary    stock,    his 
maternal  grandfather  having  enlisted  from  Rhode 
Island  and  served  through  the  war  as  a  private. 
He  was  born  in  the  town 
of   Union,    February    26, 
1817,  but  soon  afterwards 
his  father   removed  with 
his  family  to   the   neigh- 
boring town  of  Stafford, 
where   his   boyhood    was 
chiefly    spent     upon    the 
farm.     He   attended    the 
^'W  ^  'M     j^      ISS^II^       district  schools  until  he  be- 
M^  / «^<<^^feivyS  came  fifteen  years  of  age, 

when  he  entered  a  store 
at  Southbridge,  Mass.,  as 
clerk  and  learned  the 
business  which  he  follow- 
ed through  much  of  his  later  life.  He  commenced 
mercantile  business  for  himself  in  Stafford  in  1838, 
and  while  there  held  the  office  of  deputy  sheriff  for 
Tolland  county.  In  1845  associated  with  D wight 
Slate  (now  of  Hartford)  under  the  firm  name  of 
Slate  &  Brown,  he  removed  to  Windsor  Locks  and 
was  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  and  the  manu- 
facture of  general  machinery,  putting  up  a  build- 
ing therefor,  which  was  the  first  movement  in  the 
growth  of  that  village.  This  firm  made  the  first 
one  thousand  pistol  barrels  and  cylinders  for  Colt's 
revolvers,  which  were  ordered  by  the  United  States 
government  before  Colonel  Colt  had  any  facilities 
whatever  for  the  manufacture  of  fire  arms.  During 
his  residence  at  Windsor  Locks,  covering  a  period 
of  nearly  twenty- five  years,  he  was  largely  engaged 
in  building,  completing  more  private  residences  and 
tenement-houses  than  any  other  single  individual 
in  the  place.  While  at  the  Locks,  he  was  also  a 
part  owner  in  and  agent  for  a  woolen  manufactur- 
ing establishment  known  as  the  Sequassen  Woolen 
Company,  located  at  Windsor.  He  held  the  office 
of  postmaster  there  for  several  years,  was  also 
selectman,  town  clerk,  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education,  and  represented  the  town  of  Windsor 
in  the  legislature  during  the  sessions  of  1847  and 
1853,  and  Windsor  Locks  in  1864  and  1868.  He 
afterwards  removed  to  Hartford,  and  since  his 
residence  in  this  city  has  been  deputy  internal 
revenue  collector  for  four  years  and  selectman 
during  one  year.  He  also  acted  as  census  entim- 
erator  in  1890.  His  business  connections  are  now 
with  the  Beach  Manufacturing  Company  of  Hart- 
ford. Major  Brown  has  been  for  twenty  years 
a  member  of  the  Putnam  Phalanx,  and  was 
for  nearly  *ight  years  major  of  the  command. 
He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows' 
fraternity,  and  was  grand  master  of  the  grand 
lodge  of  Connecticut  in   1855-56.     He  is  a  member 


of  the  First  Universalist  society  of  Hartford;  in 
politics  he  is  a  democrat.  The  major  is  living  with 
his  second  wife  and  has  three  surviving  children, 
two  by  his  first  wife  and  one  by  the  second.  He  has 
traveled  very  extensively  in  all  parts  of  the  country 
and  for  twenty-five  years  was  among  the  farmers 
of  the  west  and  northwest,  buying  wool.  His  life 
has  been  one  of  great  activity  and  usefulness,  and 
he  has  performed  his  share  of  public  service, 
always  discharging  with  fidelity  and  a  good  con- 
science the  trusts  that  have  been  committed  to  his 
charge. 

ANDREW  YALE  BEACH,  Seymour:  Merchant. 
Andrew  Y.  Beach  was  born  in  Derby,  Conn.,  in 
that  part  of  the  town  which  is  now  Seymour,  Oc- 
tober 27,  1836.  His  father  is  Sharon  Y.  Beach  of 
the  same  town,  and  his 
mother's  maiden  name 
was  Adeline  Sperrj^.  Mr. 
Beach  lived  at  Seymour 
tuitil  he  was  20  years  old, 
attending  the  public 
schools  in  his  native  town, 
and  being  for  a  while  a 
student  at  the  West  Rock 
Seminary  at  New  Haven, 
Previous  to  leaving  home 
he  was  employed  in  his 
father's  paper  mill  at  Sey- 
mour. In  1856  he  went 
to  Springfield,  Mass. ,  and 
was  clerk  in  the  freight  office  of  the  Hartford  & 
New  Haven  Railroad  Company,  which  position  he 
held  for  nearly  two  years,  resigning  to  accept  the 
agency  of  the  Naugatuck  Railroad  at  Naugatuck. 
Later  Mr.  Beach  was  appointed  agent  for  the  same 
road  at  Seymour,  holding  that  position  till  1867, 
when  he  was  appointed  general  ticket  agent  of  the 
road,  with  headquarters  at  Bridgeport.  He  held 
this  position  five  years,  making  thirteen  years  in 
the  employ  of  the  Naugatuck  Railroad  Company. 
Mr.  Beach  resigned  his  position  with  the  Nauga- 
tuck Railroad  and  removed  to  Springfield,  Mass., 
in  1872,  to  become  agent  of  the  New  York,  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  having  entire  charge 
of  the  company's  business  in  Springfield,  excepting 
the  ticket  department.  This  position  he  held  until 
June,  1887,  when,  owing  to  a  much-needed  rest,  he 
resigned  and  removed  to  Seymour,  where,  after  a 
few  months  of  rest,  he  engaged  in  the  coal  and 
grocery  business,  in  which  occupation  he  is  still 
engaged. 

Mr.  Beach's  political  record  has  always  been  that 
of  a  republican.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Spring- 
field board  of  aldermen  in  1884,  1S85,  and  1886,  the 
latter  year  being  honored  with  the  presidency  of 
the  board.    During  the  j-ears  in  Springfield  he  made 


A.    Y.    BEACH. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


137 


his  church  home  with  the  State  street  Baptist 
people,  by  whom  he  was  highly-  esteemed,  and  was 
frequently  called  on  to  assist"  in  mission  work  in 
different  parts  of  the  city.  He  is  a  director  of  the 
S.  Y.  Beach  Paper  Companj-  of  Seymour,  holding 
one-fifth  of  the  stock. 

Mr.  Beach  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife 
was  ]\Iary  C.  Woodford,  daughter  of  B.  B.  Wood- 
ford, formerly  of  Winsted.  This  union  was  blessed 
with  one  daughter,  who  is  now  married  and  resides 
in  Seymour.  His  present  wife's  maiden  name  was 
Alice  M.  Hilton,  also  born  in  Seymour,  where  they 
now  reside. 

BENEZET    H.    BILL,    Rockville:    Attorney-at- 

Law. 

Benezet  Hough  Bill,  who  has  held  the  office  of 
state's  attorney  in  Tolland  County  since  1869,  was 
born  at  New  Milford,  Penn.,  Feb.  26,  1S29, 
and  was  educated  in  the 
Suffield  Literary  Insti- 
tute, the  academies  at 
Worcester  and  Wilbra- 
ham,  and  in  the  Yale  Law 
School  at  New  Haven, 
graduating  from  the  latter 
institution  in  1S54.  Prior 
to  engaging  in  his  profes- 
sion at  Rockville,  Mr.  Bill 
resided  in  Lebanon.  He 
has  held  a  number  of 
town  offices  and  is  a  use- 
ful and  valued  citizen. 
In  politics  he  is  a  re- 
publican. He  is  connected  with  the  Union  Con- 
gregational society'  at  Rockvnlle.  Mr.  Bill  com- 
inenced  his  professional  practice  in  Rockville 
when  quite  a  young  man,  and  was  for  many 
years  a  partner  with  Judge  Dwight  Loomis 
of  the  Superior  Court.  He  established,  in  a 
very  brief  period,  not  onl)^  a  remunerative  busi- 
ness, but  a  most  excellent  reputation  as  a 
citizen.  He  proved  himself  to  be  an  honorable  and 
public-spirited  gentleman,  as  well  as  an  able 
attorney,  and  his  townsmen  wei'e  not  slow  to 
recognize  his  abilities  and  signify  the  confidence 
which  they  have  ever  since  continued  to  repose  in 
him.  He  has  for  many  years  occupied  a  leading 
position  among  the  lawyers  of  Rockville,  and  in- 
deed of  all  Tolland  countj^;  and  no  citizen  of  his 
section  has  won  more  honorable  distinction  in  all 
the  walks  of  public  or  private  life.  He  is  now,  and 
has  been  for  many  years,  president  of  the  Rock- 
ville Savings  Bank,  one  of  the  old  and  prosperous 
institutions  of  that  city. 

Mr.  Bill  has  twice  married,  his  first  wife  being 
Miss  Kate  Griggs,  daughter  of  Rev.  Dr.  Griggs  of 
Bristol.     The  second  wife,  who  is  living,  was  Miss 


B.    H.     KILL. 


Lucinda  R.,  daughter  of  Mr.  Charles  Bronson  of 
Waterbury,  before  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Bill. 
One  daughter,  Lelia  L.,  married  Mr.  Charles 
Phelps  of  Rockville,  but  is  now  deceased.  The 
remaining  daughter,  Kate  E.,  is  the  wife  of  Dr. 
Thomas  F.  Rockwell  of  Rockville. 


JOSEPH   ANDREWS,    West    Haven   (Orange): 

Carpenter  and  Builder. 

Joseph  Andrews  was  born  in  ^leriden,  February 
14,  1S32,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools. 
He  is  at  present  first  selectman  and  town  agent  in 
Orange,  where  he  is  en- 
gaged in  the  building 
business.  He  has  held 
the  position  of  warden  of 
the  borough.  In  politics 
he  is  a  republican.  Mr. 
Andrews  is  a  past  master 
of  Annawan  Lodge,  F. 
and  A.M.  in  West  Haven, 
and  has  been  a  represent- 
ative in  the  Grand  Lodge. 
He  has  resided  in  the 
towns  of  Wallingford  and 
New  Haven,  and  is  prom- 
inently known  in  his  sec- 
tion of  the  state.  His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Eliza 
Jane  Peck  prior  to  her  marriage,  is  still  living. 
One  son  is  a  physician  in  Buffalo.  Mr.  Andrews  is 
a  member  of  the  Congregational  church. 


JOSEPH  ANDREWS. 


JOHN  H.  LEAVENWORTH,  Roxblry:  Farmer. 
John  H.  Leavenworth  was  bom  in  Roxbur^-, 
Aug.  13,  1S30,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
academic  education,  completing  the  course  in  the 
AVoodbury  Academy.  He 
has  devoted  his  life  to 
farming  and  teaching. 
He  commenced  the  latter 
pursuit  in  the  public 
schools  of  Roxbury  and 
Woodbur}'  when  he  was 
seventeen  years  old,  and 
taught  for  twenty-nine 
terms.  In  iSSo  he  was  a 
member  of  the  general 
assembly  from  Roxburj', 
serving  on  the  democratic 
side  of  the  house.  He 
has  held  all  of  the  impor- 
tant town  offices,  serving  as  selectman  for  eight 
j-ears,  member  of  the  board  of  assessors  si.x,  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  relief,  juror,  and  grand  juror. 
For  twelve  years  he  was  the  superintendent  of  the 
North  Congregational  church  Sunday-school,  which 


J.    H.    LEAVENWORTH. 


138 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


he  attended  in  Woodbury,  and  is  at  present  a  mem- 
ber of  the  chiirch  committee,  having  declined  the 
chairmanship  of  the  society's  committee.  ]\Ir. 
Leavenworth  hves  in  the  same  home  in  which  he 
was  born  sixty  years  ago.  He  was  married  April 
12,  1852,  to  Miss  Mary  Ann  Peck,  daughter  of 
jSIarquis  D.  Peck.  She  is  still  living.  The  family 
also  includes  one  son  and  one  daughter.  Mr.  Leav- 
enworth is  a  member  of  King  Solomon's  Lodge, 
No.  7,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Woodbury,  and  is  one  of 
the  most  honored  citizens  in  the  community  where 
he  resides. 


R.    N.    FITZGERALD. 


R.    N.    FITZGERALD,    Hartford:     Wholesale 
Merchant. 

Ransom  N.  Fitzgerald  was  born  in  Manchester, 
May  3,  1S4S,  being  the  youngest  son  of  the  well- 
known  paper  manufacturer  of  that  town,  who  was 
engaged  in  the  business 
upwards  of  forty  years, 
the  firm  name  being 
Keney  &  Fitzgerald.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  Manchester, 
and  at  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  commenced  learning 
the  business  of  paper- 
making  in  his  father's 
mill.  Eventually  he  was 
admitted  to  partnership 
m  the  establishment.  At 
the  death  of  his  father  in 
1872  he  purchased  the  mill  and  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Messrs.  George  W.  Cheney  and  Edwin 
Bunce,  under  the  firm  name  of  R.  N.  Fitzgerald  & 
Co.  This  partnership  existed  until  1S74,  when  the 
mill  property  was  destroyed  by  fire.  Mr.  Fitzgerald 
then  removed  to  Hartford,  and  purchased  the  boot 
and  shoe  business  at  No.  201  Main  street,  conduct- 
ing it  successfully  for  a  number  of  years.  In  18S0 
he  became  a  partner  in  the  wholesale  grocery  house 
of  Bronson  &  Fitzgerald,  No.  142  State  street,  where 
he  is  still  engaged  in  business.  The  firm  is  widely 
known  through  the  Connecticut  Valley,  conducting 
a  large  and  successful  business.  Mr.  Fitzgerald  is 
a  member  of  the  court  of  common  council  from  the 
Fourth  ward,  and  represents  the  council  board  on 
the  city  hall  committee.  He  is  a  democrat  in  poli- 
tics. The  councilman  was  one  of  the  founders, 
and  has  been  for  two  years  the  president,  of  the 
Gentleman's  Driving  Club  in  this  city,  and  is  a 
prominent  member  of  the  Hartford  order  of  Elks. 
He  is  a  member  of  LaFayette  Lodge,  F.  A.  M., 
of  this  city,  an  officer  in  Washington  Commandery, 
Knights  Templar,  and  has  held  various  offices  in 
the  Scottish  Rite  bodies.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  has  attained  to  the  thirty- 


C.    D.    BARNES. 


second  degree  in  Masonry.  Councilman  Fitzgerald 
was  married  in  1876  to  Miss  Alice  C.  Bunce  of 
^Manchester,  only  daughter  of  the  late  Edwin  Bunce 
of  that  town.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fitzgerald  reside  at 
36  Main  street  in  this  city,  owning  one  of  the 
pleasantest  residences  in  that  section  of  the  muni- 
cipality. 

CHARLES  DENNIS  BARNES,  SouxHiNr/roN  : 
Merchant,  and  President  vSouthington  National 
Bank. 

Charles  D.  Barnes,  senior  member  of  the  boot 
and  shoe  firm  of  Charles  D.  Barnes  &  Son,  was 
born  in  Southington,  December  12,  1841.  He  en- 
joyed the  ordinary  ad- 
vantages of  the  district 
schools,  with  a  finishing 
experience  at  the  Meriden 
High  School;  and  became 
an  apprentice  at  the  car- 
penter's and  joiner's 
trade,  which  he  followed 
until  1S72,  and  then  took 
charge  for  two  years  of 
the  shipping  department 
in  the  bolt  works  of  the 
Peck,  Stow  &  Wilcox 
Company.  In  1874  he  es- 
tablished the  boot  and 
shoe  business  in  Southington  now  conducted  under 
the  firm  name  of  C.  D.  Barnes  &  Son.  Mr.  Barnes 
sustains  official  relations  with  several  of  the  busi- 
ness institutions  and  corporations  of  his  native 
town,  being  secretary,  treasurer,  and  general  inan- 
ager  of  the  Southington  Lumber  and  Feed  Com- 
pany, which  position  he  has  occupied  since  1S81; 
one  of  the  directors  and  on  the  loan  committee  of 
the  Southington  Savings  Bank  ;  a  director,  and 
elected  vice-president,  of  the  Southington  National 
Bank  in  January,  1889,  and  appointed  president  of 
the  institution  in  January,  i8go;  also  president  of 
the  Oak  Hill  Cemetery  Association.  He  was  a  se- 
lectman and  grand  juror  in  1873;  town  clerk,  treas- 
ui-er,  and  registrar  of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths 
in  1S74,  and  continuously  since  with  the  exception 
of  a  single  year;  also  treasurer  of  the  school  fund. 
When  the  borough  of  Southington  was  formed,  he 
was  nominated  for  warden  on  the  only  ticket  in  the 
field,  but  declined  and  was  finally  persuaded  to 
accept  a  position  as  one  of  the  burgesses;  and  is 
now  on  the  committee  on  highways  and  sidewalks, 
and  chairman  of  the  sewer  committee.  He  is  rep- 
resenting the  town  of  Southington  in  the  general 
assembly  the  present  year,  being  a  member  and 
clerk  of  the  appropriations  committee.  Among  his 
society  connections  it  may  be  mentioned  that  he  is 
vice-president  of  the  Merchants  Club  of  Southing- 
ton; was  one  of  the  charter  members  of  Trumbull 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


139 


Post,  No.  16,  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and  its 
first  post  commander,  holding  the  office  for  some 
years.  Mr.  Barnes  was  in  active  military  service 
during  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  He  enlisted  in  In- 
fantry Company  B,  Fifteenth  Connecticut  Volun- 
teers, June  22,  1862,  and  was  with  that  regiment 
every  time  it  left  camp,  until  wounded  and  cap- 
tured at  the  battle  of  Kinston,  N.  C,  March  8, 
1865.  He  spent  the  remaining  time,  until  Rich- 
mond was  surrendered,  in  "  Hotel  Libb3',"and  was 
discharged  as  sergeant,  June  g,  1865. 

Mr.  Barnes  has  been  twice  married ;  first  to 
Sarah  E.  Hamlin  of  Southington,  in  September, 
1S65,  the  issue  of  which  marriage  was  two  children, 
one  dying  in  infancy,  the  other,  a  son,  Frank  H., 
now  living  and  in  business  with  his  father.  ]\Ir. 
Barnes'  second  marriage  was  with  Sarah  H.  Grid- 
ley,  widow  of  Lieut.  Henry  Lewis  of  the  Twentieth 
Connecticut  Volunteer  Infantr3^ 

Mr.  Barnes  has  always  been  a  staunch  republi- 
can, as  may  be  inferred  from  the  many  positions  of 
trust  to  which  he  has  been  called  as  the  candidate 
of  that  party.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational church  of  Southington ,  active  in  church 
and  society  work,  and  in  harmony  always  with 
whatever  is  undertaken  to  elevate  and  improve  the 
moral  and  religious  status  of  the  community. 


JOHN  H.  LEE,  NoRWALK  :  Warden  of  the  Bor- 
ough. 
John  Hawley  Lee  was  born  in  Redding,  August 


in   the   public   schools 
tutor  at  the  Sheffield 


^^t'\W  ^ 


9,  1S50,  and  was  educated 
and  under  Albert  B.  Hill, 
Scientific  School  in  New 
Haven.  Since  1S71  he 
has  resided  at  Norwalk, 
and  is  prominently  asso- 
ciated with  public  affairs, 
as  warden  or  mayor, 
member  of  the  board  of 
education,  school  commit- 
tee, and  vice-president 
of  the  board  of  trade. 
He  is  a  member  of  St. 
Paul's  Episcopal  church, 
and  has  been  master  for 
three  years  of  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  6,  F.  and  A. 
M. ,  of  Norwalk.  He  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Masonic  Temple,  and  is  third  vice-president  of 
the  Cooperative  Building  Bank,  located  in  the 
World  building,  N.  Y.  city.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Norwalk  Club,  its  first  president  for  two  years, 
and  chairman  of  the  local  democratic  committee. 
He  is  the  manager  of  the  Cleveland  Baking  Powder 
Company,  Boston,  Mass.  The  wife  of  ]\Ir.  Lee 
was  I\Iiss  Annie  B.  Heins  prior  to  her  marriage. 


J.    H.    LEE. 


KARL    GERHARUT. 


KARL  GERHARDT,  H.\rtford:  Sculptor. 

Karl  Gerhardt,  the  artist,  whose  country  house  is 
at  Cottage  Grove,  in  Bloomfield,  was  born  in  Bos- 
ton, January  7,  1853,  and  was  educated  in  Phillips 
school  in  that  city.  He  is 
of  German  parentage,  and 
is  a  fiuent  linguist,  speak- 
ing English,  German,  and 
French  gracefully.  Mr. 
Gerhardt,  who  has  at- 
tained noted  eminence  as 
a  sculptor,  spent  a  year 
and  a  half  in  the  regular 
army.  He  began  his 
business  life  as  a  designer 
of  machinery,  and  first 
worked  with  the  Ames 
Manufacturing  Company 
of  Chicopee,  Mass.  In 
1S74  he  visited  California,  and  on  his  return  was  em- 
plo^-ed  by  the  Pratt  &  Whitney  Company  of  Hart- 
ford, as  a  designer  in  their  extensive  machine  works. 
While  thus  engaged  he  made  a  biist  of  his  wife  in 
his  leisure  hours,  and  subsequently  a  life-size  statue 
of  a  "  Startled  Bather."  These  two  works  not  only 
attracted  the  attention  of  the  Hartford  press,  but 
so  greatly  interested  Charles  Dudley  Warner  and 
Samuel  L.  Clemens  that  they  requested  J.  Q.  A. 
Ward,  the  eminent  sculptor,  to  pay  them  a  visit  and 
examine  them.  The  object  of  this  invitation  was 
to  ascertain  whether  Mr.  Gerhardt  gave  such 
proofs  of  talent  as  would  warrant  the  attempt  to 
raise  a  sum  of  money  large  enough  to  pay  his  ex- 
penses to  Europe,  and  to  educate  him  under  the 
best  masters  of  the  art  in  Paris.  Mr.  Ward's  opin- 
ion was  emphatically  in  favor  of  the  idea.  After 
several  efforts  to  enlist  the  cooperation  of  wealthy 
citizens  had  failed,  Mr.  Clemens  (''  Mark  Twain") 
and  his  wife  determined  to  assume  the  expense 
themselves,  both  of  travel  and  maintenance  —  a 
pledge  which  they  nobly  redeemed,  although  the 
fact  is  known  to  few  persons  outside  of  the  sculp- 
tor's personal  friends.  On  his  arrival  at  Paris,  he 
successfully  passed  the  preliminary  examination. 
Among  sixty  competitors,  most  of  them  having 
been  favorably  circumstanced  to  study  the  art,  the 
self-taught  Hartford  sculptor  was  recorded  as  the 
twenty-eighth.  At  the  end  of  the  first  year,  Mr. 
Gerhardt  received,  in  the  annual  examination,  an 
honorable  mention;  at  the  end  of  the  second  year 
he  was  received  at  the  annual  Salon;  and  in  1884, 
the  last  year  of  his  study  abroad,  /wo  pieces  were 
received  —  "  Echo,"  a  marble  statuette  now  in  the 
possession  of  Mark  Twain,  and  "  Eve's  Lullaby,"  a 
life-size  group,  which  received  a  diploma  of  honor 
at  the  World's  Exposition  at  New  Orleans. 

The  statue  of  Nathan  Hale,  which  is  stationed  in 
the  east  corridor  of  the  state  capitol,  and  the  bronze 


140 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


statue  of  Governor  R.  D.  Hubbard  on  the  capitol 
grounds,  were  designed  by  Mr.  Gerhardt.  Both  of 
these  statues  have  received  the  highest  praise  from 
competent  sculptors.  The  home  of  Mr.  Gerhardt 
in  Bloomfield  is  a  dehghtful  one.  Besides  the  wife 
who  was  the  inspiration  of  his  first  attempts  in 
sculpture,  there  are  two  children,  daily  adding  joy 
and  delight  to  his  domestic  surroundings.  He  is 
connected  with  the  Congregational  church  and  is 
independent  in  politics. 


C.    p.    KRAinVAY. 


CHARLES  PHILIP  BRADWAY,  West  Staf- 
ford :  Inventor,  and  Manufacturer  of  Turbine 
Water  Wheels  and  Motors. 

C.  P.  Bradway  was  born  in  South  Glastonbury, 
May  23,  1S43.  Having  completed  his  education  at 
Monson  Academy,  he  served  the  Monson  firm  of 
Merrick,  Fay  &  Co. ,  straw 
hat  manufacturers,  as 
boiler  tender  the  follow- 
ing winter.  His  health 
becoming  delicate,  he 
joined  a  fishing  party, 
coasting  along  the  New 
England  shore.  Sable 
Island  banks,  etc.,  taking 
the  position  of  cook  when 
at  every  landing  the  stew- 
ard invariably  became  dis- 
abled. Evidence  of  his 
early  inventive  genius 
may  still  be  seen  on  the 
chamber-floor,  the  pentagonal  checker-board,  and 
the  old  bedstead  head-boards  of  his  boyhood's 
home  in  Monson,  where  designs  of  water-wheels 
formerly  covered  every  available  surface.  His 
knowledge  of  machinery  seemed  intuitive.  His 
first  water-wheel  that  came  into  actual  service  was 
used  for  running  the  home  shop.  In  its  manufac- 
ture he  obtained  permission  to  use  a  lathe  in  a 
factor}',  seven  miles  away,  just  as  the  hands  were 
going  out  to  dinner.  On  their  return  the  superin- 
tendent was  astonished  to  find  the  lad  busily  at 
work.  "Where  did  you  learn  to  turn  iron?"  in- 
quired the  superintendent.  "  Right  here,"  was  the 
reply.  In  this  home  shop  he  spent  his  spare  mo- 
ments, repairing  an  infinite  variety  of  articles  for 
the  neighboring  boys,  manufacturing  pistols,  pow- 
der, etc.,  grinding  the  latter  in  a  coffee  mill  and 
surviving  an  explosion  that  singed  his  eyebrows, 
and  imprinted  the  form  of  the  dish  in  his  forehead. 
In  the  intervals  of  helping  about  the  farm  he  also 
built  a  saw-mill  on  the  home  place,  using  one  of 
his  wheels  as  motive  power.  The  first  wheels  for 
which  he  received  a  remuneration  were  sold  to  a 
Mr.  Finlay  of  East  Glastonbury  and  a  Mr.  Jones  of 
Woodbur}',  for  which  he  received  $150  and  $200  re- 


spectively. On  this  wheel  he  neglected  to  take  out 
a  patent,  and  the  design  was  appropriated  by 
another.  Thus  he  was  obliged  to  abandon  the 
manufacture  of  his  own  invention.  He  then  tried 
his  fortune  as  a  book  agent  with  marked  success,  in 
Vermont  and  Pennsylvania.  He  afterward  fitted 
up  a  store  in  Danville,  Pa.,  from  which  he  equipped 
scores  of  agents.  It  was  in  Danville  that  he  found 
his  wife,  Sarah  J.  Houghawout.  They  were  mar- 
ried in  1873.  Eight  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  seven  of  whom  are  living.  Mr.  Bradway 
has  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  is  connected  with  the  Congregational  church. 
In  politics  his  principles  are  republican.  Since  his 
return  to  the  east  he  has  purchased  a  pleasant 
home  in  West  Stafford,  including  a  large  machine 
shop  where  he  has  been  engaged  in  producing  cul- 
tivators and  other  agricultural  implements  in  their 
season,  water-motors,  and  especiallj-  the  giant  tur- 
bine wheel,  which  from  the  fact  of  its  having 
twelve  gates,  it  has  been  suggested  should  be 
called  the  "  New  Jerusalem." 


JESSE    MILTON   COBURN,    M.D.,    Brooklyn: 
Physician  and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  Jesse  Milton  Coburn  was  born  in  Pittsfield, 
N.  H.,  March  27,  1853,  being  a  descendant  of  Wil- 
liam Colborne,  Esq.,  herald  under  Queen  Elizabeth 
of  Dudley  Castle,  near 
Dudley,  Worcestershire, 
Eng.  His  father  was 
Rev.  J.  Milton  Coburn  of 
Manchester,  N.  H.  Dr. 
Coburn  was  educated  in 
the  jDublic  schools  of  that 
city,  Pembroke  academy, 
and  the  Boston  Universi- 
ty. He  pursued  his  med- 
ical studies  under  Prof.  J. 
H.  Woodbury  of  Boston 
and  received  the  degree 
of  M.D.  at  the  universitj- 
in  1874.  He  commenced 
the  practice  of  medicine  at  South  Framingham, 
Mass.,  but  subsequently  removed  to  Shrewsbury, 
where  he  married  Miss  Abbie  M.  Cutler,  daughter 
of  Aaron  G.  and  Lucy  Nourse  Cutler.  In  1S80  he 
settled  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  succeeding  to  the  prac- 
tice of  the  late  Dr.  James  B.  Whitcomb  of  that 
town,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He  has  an  ex- 
tensive practice  and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  physicians  in  Eastern  Connecticut.  Dr. 
Coburn  has  two  sons.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Bap- 
tist church  in  Brooklyn  and  is  a  prohibitionist  in 
politics.  He  belongs  to  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
and  is  a  gentleman  of  decided  poj^ularity  in  the 
town  where  he  resides. 


DR.    J.   M.    COIU'RN. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


141 


JOSEPH  SELDEN,  Norfolk:  Manufacturer. 

Joseph  Selden  was  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly  in  1SS5,  serving  on  the  republican  side  of 
the  house.  He  is  connected  with  the  ^Etna  Silk 
Company,  and  is  one  of 
the  leading  business  men 
in  this  section  of  the  state. 
He  was  born  in  West 
Hartford,  October  17, 
1S23,  and  was  educated  in 
the  common  schools  and 
the  Westfield  Academy. 
In  the  military  service  he 
attained  the  rank  of  lieu- 
tenant-colonel. Prior  to 
his  election  to  the  legisla- 
ture he  was  honored  with 
political  position  and  had 
served  on  the  board  of 
selectmen.  The  business  life  of  Colonel  Selden  has 
been  spent  in  the  town  of  Norfolk  for  the  most  part. 
A  part  of  his  career,  however,  was  passed  in  Rock- 
ville.  He  has  been  married  twice;  his  first  wife, 
Lavinia  Fuller,  died  in  1857.  The  present  wife  was 
Miss  Emma  Fuller.  One  child  is  living.  Colonel 
Selden  is  a  member  of  the  Norfolk  Congregational 
church,  and  is  held  in  high  esteem  in  the  com- 
munity where  he  resides. 


'/', 


^l/ijIW/./lj 


JOSEPH  SELDEN. 


STEPHEN  BALL,  Hartford:  Secretary  Hart- 
ford Life  and  Annuity  Insurance  Company. 
The  accompanjnng  vignette  fairly  presents  the 
familiar  features  of  Stephen  Ball,  who  for  twenty- 
four  years  has  been  officially  connected  with  one  of 
the  most  popular  and  pro- 
gressive life  insurance 
corporations  of  Connecti- 
cut. Mr.  Ball  is  a  native 
of  New  Haven,  where  he 
was  born  in  1839.  Most 
of  his  life  has  been  spent 
in  this  state,  and  a  large 
part  of  his  active  business 
experience  has  been  in 
Hartford  with  the  com- 
pany in  whose  service  he 
is  still  engaged.  He  was 
in  the  employ  of  the  gov- 
ernment at  New  Oiieans 
before  coming  from  that  city  to  Hartford  in  April, 
1S67.  In  the  following  August  he  formed  a  con- 
nection with  the  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Com- 
pany as  its  assistant  secretary.  In  1S74  he  became 
its  secretary,  and  has  since  been  its  chief  manager. 
Mr.  Ball  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  science 
and  practice  of  life  insurance,  and  in  the  manage- 
ment of  that  company  he  has  been  instrumental  in 
giving    it   a   reputation    and   standing  which   few 


STEPHEN    B.'\LL. 


kindred  corporations  have  achievefi.  He  is  so 
thoroughly  identified  wnth  the  company  that  its  his- 
tory is  practically  his  biography.  Mr.  Ball,  at 
fifty-two  years  of  age,  is  still  in  the  prime  of  life, 
and  devoting  his  undivided  energies  to  the  main- 
tenance of  the  high  standard  of  excellence  in  life 
insurance  which,  under  his  management,  this  com- 
pany long  ago  reached. 


E.    M.    GRANT. 


REV.  EUGENE  MELNOTTE  GRANT,  Stam- 
ford: Universalist  Clergyman,  Editor,  and  Cor- 
respondent. 

Mr.  Grant  was  born  at  Auburn,  N.  Y.,  August 
29,  1847.  His  father,  Franklin  W.,  was  born  at 
Nashua,  N.  H.  The  family  is  descended  from  a 
Scotch  clan  of  Grants  in 
the  same  line  with  the 
late  General  U.  S.  Grant, 
but  which  separated  some 
four  generations  back. 
His  mother,  Miss  Sarah 
Ann  Dias,  was  born  of 
English  parents  in  the 
city  of  London,  but  came 
to  this  country  when  only 
seven  years  old,  and  never 
returned.  The  Grant 
family  of  the  last  genera- 
tion were  all  educated 
machinists  and  successful 
railroad  men,  Franklin  holding  various  positions, 
including  master  machinist,  assistant  superintend- 
ent, and  contractor.  This  made  the  child  life  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch  a  roving  one.  Auburn, 
Syracuse,  Corning,  Rome,  Sackett's  Harbor,  Cape 
Vincent,  and  Buffalo,  in  New  York  state,  and 
Toronto,  Ontario,  were  successively  places  of  resi- 
dence until  the  family  returned  to  Auburn  to  settle 
down.  Here  the  young  man  was  early  put  to  learn 
the  trade  of  his  father,  machinist,  soon  after  which 
the  latter  died,  leaving  him  the  eldest  of  five  child- 
ren at  seventeen  years  of  age,  with  the  responsi- 
bility of  their  maintenance.  His  trade  completed, 
he  accepted  a  business  offer,  which  he  piirsued  for 
somewhat  more  than  two  years,  when  his  attention 
was  attracted  to  the  ministry.  He  at  once  began 
preparations  for  study,  which  ended  with  the  Theo- 
logical school  of  St.  Lawrence  University.  His 
first  pastoral  settlement  was  at  Madrid,  N.  Y.,  in 
the  spring  of  1870,  some  months  before  leaving 
school.  A  year  later  he  removed  to  Churchville, 
N.  Y.,  where  he  was  elected  standing  clerk  of  the 
Niagara  Association  of  L^niversalists,  and  again  to 
Tidioute,  Penn.,  then  a  thriving  oil  town.  While 
there  he  married  Miss  Emma  E.  Pepper  of  Little 
Falls,  N.  Y.  Fovn-  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  one  son  and  three  daughters.  A  call  to  a 
double  pastorate  at  Waterville  and  West  Waterville 


142 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


(now  Oakland)  took  him  to  Maine,  where  he  held 
his  only  public  office  —  that  of  chairman  of  the 
school  committee,  to  which  he  was  elected  by  a 
large  majority  for  the  purpose  of  reorganizing  and 
properly  grading  the  public  schools,  according  to 
his  expressed  ideas,  which  was  afterwards  accom- 
plished to  the  satisfaction  of  the  town.  In  the  fall 
of  1S76  he  accepted  a  call  to  the  church  at  Ports- 
mouth, N.  H.,  one  of  the  oldest  in  the  denomina- 
tion, having  had  for  pastors  some  of  the  most  noted 
of  her  preachers.  During  a  harmonious  and  suc- 
cessful pastorate  of  more  than  five  years  he  held 
the  office  of  standing  clerk  of  the  Rockingham  As- 
sociation of  Universalists,  and  successively  trustee 
and  president  of  the  New  Hampshire  Universalist 
convention.  Late  in  18S1  he  removed  to  Stamford, 
Conn.,  to  take  charge  of  the  Second  Universalist 
church  (the  First  church  being  at  Long  Ridge,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  town),  where  he  still  con- 
tinues. LTnity  and  prosperity  have  accompanied 
his  ten  years'  pastorate.  He  has  established  a 
promising  mission  at  Mianus,  under  the  care  of  his 
church.  He  and  his  church  are  greatly  respected, 
and  their  works  highly  commended  by  the  people 
of  the  town.  Every  department  of  church  activity 
is  carefully  superintended  by  the  pastor. 

Mr.  Grant  has  been  active  in  every  effort  to  pro- 
mote the  welfare  of  his  church  in  the  state,  as  will 
appear  from  the  number  of  offices  he  holds  in  her 
interest.  He  has  been  several  times  elected  dele- 
gate to  the  general  convention  of  Universalists,  has 
twice  been  elected  assistant  secretary,  and  by  virtue 
of  holding  the  office  of  state  secretary  he  becomes 
a  permanent  member  of  that  body.  He  is  secretary 
of  the  state  convention,  the  executive  committee 
thereof,  and  the  missionary  board;  is  standing 
clerk  of  the  Southern  Association,  and  secretary  of 
the  Connecticut  UniversaUst  Club,  of  which  he  was 
one  of  the  founders.  He  is  editor  of  the  Connecti- 
cut department  of  the  Gospel  Banner  of  Augusta, 
Me.;  Connecticut  correspondent  of  the  Christian 
Leader  of  Boston,  Mass.,  the  leading  denomina- 
tional organ  in  America;  and  he  also  edits  and 
publishes  The  Message,  a  small  weekly  paper, 
having  the  local  importance  of  being  the  recognized 
organ  and  advocate  of  his  own  church,  the  Long 
Ridge  church,  and  the  Mianus  mission.  He  is  the 
author  of  a  vesper  service  book,  and  contributor  to 
various  pubhcations.  He  is  a  Free  and  Accepted 
Mason,  with  the  rank  of  Knight  Templar,  and  an 
Odd  Fellow.  He  has  achieved  considerable  suc- 
cess during  the  last  half  dozen  years  as  the  organ- 
izer and  conductor  of  summer  excursion  parties 
throughout  New  England,  the  St.  Lawrence,  and 
the  Province  of  Quebec.  In  politics  he  has  uni- 
formly voted  the  republican  ticket,  casting  his  first 
vote  for  his  distant  relative.  General  Grant,  for 
president  of  the  United  States. 


W.   X.   AUSTIN. 


WILBERT  N.  AUSTIN,  Plymouth. 

Wilbert  N.  Austin  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Goshen,  June  23,  1859,  and  was  educated  in  the 
Torrington  high  school.  He  is  the  proprietor  of 
the  stage  line  between 
Thomaston  and  Terry- 
ville  and  carries  the  Uni- 
ted States  mail.  He  is  a 
vestryman  of  St.  Peter's 
church  in  Plj^mouth  and 
is  thoroughly  interested 
in  the  work  of  the  church. 
In  politics  Mr.  Austin  is 
a  democrat.  He  lived  in 
the  town  of  Goshen  until 
he  was  thirteen  years  of 
age,  when  he  removed  to 
Torrington,  residing  there 
for  five  years.  Most  of 
his  business  life  has  been  spent  in  Plymouth.  He 
was  married  in  1S82  to  Miss  Minnie  I.  Mattoon  of 
Plymouth.  They  have  one  son,  Ellsworth  Wells 
Austin,  born  May  23,  1891. 


NORRIS  BENNET  MIX,  H.imdex;  Ice  Merchant. 
Norris  B.  Mix  is  a  native  of  the  town  of  Hamden, 
and  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children.  He  was  born 
February  3,  1826.  His  parents  being  in  moderate 
circumstances,  at  the  age 
of  ten  years  the  boy  was 
put  out  to  work  for  his 
board  and  clothes  with 
Judge  Dyer  White  in 
New  Haven.  While  there 
he  had  the  opportunity  of 
attending  John  E.Lovell's 
school,  and  thus  during 
the  four  years  that  he  re- 
mained with  the  judge  he 
acquired  considerable  lit- 
erary culture.  At  four- 
teen he  went  to  West- 
port  to  learn  the  tailor's 
trade,  but  the  length  of  his  legs  rendered  the  fa- 
vorite posture  of  a  tailor  uncomfortable,  and  he 
abandoned  this  design  and  turned  his  attention  to 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade,  at  which  he  worked  until 
the  confinement  of  indoor-life  affected  his  health. 
He  then  for  two  or  three  years  worked  at  house- 
carpentering,  and  in  the  open  air  succeeded  in  fully 
regaining  his  health.  Subsequently  he  was  em- 
ployed in  the  shops  of  the  New  York  &  New  Haven 
railroad,  and  in  1864  moved  back  to  Hamden,  his 
native  town,  where  he  engaged  in  and  has  since 
followed  the  ice  business.  While  in  New  Haven 
he  was  elected  to  the  common  council  and  to  a 
place  on  the  board  of  street  commissioners.     After- 


N.    B.    MIX. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


143 


wards  he  represented  Hamden  in  the  state  legisla- 
ture during  the  sessions  of  1878-79,  and  for  six 
j-ears  served  as  first  selectman  of  the  town,  to 
which  position  he  was  chosen  as  the  candidate  of 
the  democratic  party.  Mr.  Mix  has  been  many 
years  married,  his  wife's  maiden  name  being  ]\Iaria 
N.  Hendrick.  They  have  three  children,  one  of 
his  sons  being  associated  with  him  in  biisiness.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church,  of  the  Odd 
Fellows,  and  of  the  Masonic  fraternitv- 


LUZERNE  I.  MUNSON,  Waterkirv:  Druggist. 
L.  I.  Munson  was  born  in  WaUingford  (North- 
ford  Society),  in  ]\Iarch,  1S38.  He  received  a  com- 
mon school  education,  and  also  attended  for  two 
years  the  Durham  Acad- 
emy. In  1S54,  at  the  age 
of  sixteen,  he  came  to 
Waterbury  and  engaged 
as  a  boy  in  the  service  of 
Apothecaries'  Hall  Coni- 
pan}',  where  he  remained 
tantil  1S61,  when  he  went 
as  bookkeeper  and  ship- 
l^ing  clerk  with  the  City 
Manufacturing  Company, 
since  merged  with  the 
Benedict  &  Burnhain 
Manufacturing  Company, 
occupying  the  position  for 
a  year  and  a  half.  In  1S62  he  moved  to  Meriden 
to  take  the  offices  of  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
Julius  Pratt  &  Co.,  and  later  was  secretarj-  and 
treasurer  of  Pratt,  Read  &  Co.,  when  the  three 
firms,  of  which  that  firm  was  constituted,  were 
consolidated.  In  1863,  at  the  age  of  twent^'-five,  he 
returned  to  Waterbury  and  re-entered,  as  secretar}- 
and  treasurer,  the  establishment  where  he  had  pre- 
viously been  employed  as  a  boy,  the  Apothecaries' 
Hall  Company,  of  which  he  has  since  been  the 
active  manager.  Aside  from  his  large  political  ac- 
quaintance, Mr.  Munson  is  widely  and  popularly 
known  throughout  the  state  as  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Connecticut  Pharmaceutical  Asso- 
ciation, for  several  years  the  chairman  of  its  execu- 
tive committee,  and  for  one  year  its  president.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  American  Pharmaceutical 
Association.  Mr.  Munson's  political  record  is  that 
of  a  party  leader  and  worker  rather  than  that  of  an 
office-holder.  He  has  served  for  years  as  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  fire  commissioners,  assessor, 
and  member  of  the  board  of  sewer  commissioners. 
Twice  he  has  been  the  candidate  of  his  party  for 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Waterbury,  and  in  1885  and 
1886  was  state  comptroller,  having  been  elected  on 
the  republican  state  ticket  with  Hon.  H.  B.  Harri- 
son at  its  head.     His  administration  of  the  atfairs 


L.    1.    MUNSON. 


of  that  important  position  was  conspicuously  suc- 
cessful. 

As  a  business  man  Mr.  Munson  exhibits  industry, 
honesty,  and  ability,  and  has  achieved  a  substan- 
tial success.  As  a  political  leader  he  possesses 
similar  qualities,  with  corresponding  results.  The 
openness  of  his  political  methods  and  the  frankness 
of  his  manners  makes  him  popular  alike  with  sup- 
porters and  opponents,  and  he  has  escaped,  in  a 
large  degree,  the  personal  bitterness  and  hostility 
which  political  activity  often  entails.  He  be- 
longs to  the  Waterbury  Club  and  the  Republican 
League  of  New  Haven.  He  has  a  wife  and  two 
daughters.  He  is  active  in  all  public  affairs  relat- 
ing to  the  community  in  which  he  lives. 


\ 


~^^^ 


'>i 


GEORGE    H.    BURDICK,   H.xrtkord:    Secretary 

Phoenix  Insurance  Company. 

Mr.  Burdick  is  a  native  of  Granville,  Washington 
county.  New  York,  where  he  was  born  in  Decem- 
ber, 1841.     He  is  descended  from  Connecticut  stock, 
his     grandfather,    David 
Burdick,   being   a   native 
and    long  a    resident    of 
Stonington.    He  removed 
to  Granville,  New  York, 
where  his  son,  A.  S.  Bur- 
dick,  the    father    of    the 
subject  of  this  sketch,  was 
born  and  resided  the  most 
of  his  life,  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  the  law.     His 
standing  as  a  lawj'er  was  \      '  ' ^ 

very  high,   and  his  legal  ^ 

practice     extended     over 

^  G.    H.    lU'RDICK. 

"\\  ashington  and  Saratoga 

counties,   in  which  last-named  county  the  closing 

years  of  his  life  were  spent. 

As  a  boy,  Mr.  Burdick  attended  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  town,  and  at  about  the  age  of  fifteen 
came  to  Hartford  and  entered  the  dry-goods  store 
of  C.  S.  Weatherb3%  then  located  on  the  corner  of 
Main  and  Morgan  streets.  The  dry-goods  trade 
did  not,  however,  seem  to  be  well  suited  to  his 
tastes,  and  after  remaining  in  the  store  a  few 
months  he  returned  to  Granville,  and  soon  after 
entered  the  academy  at  Poultney,  Vt.,  where  he 
prepared  for  and  afterwards  entered  the  University 
at  Tro}',  N.  Y.  It  was  the  hope  of  his  father  that 
the  young  man  would  take  a  theological  course  and 
enter  the  ministry,  but  this  plan  did  not  harmonize 
with  his  own  ambitions;  and  after  a  j^ear  at  the 
university  he  fully  decided  to  abandon  all  thoughts 
of  a  profes.sion,  and  to  engage  at  once  in  active 
business.  Having  relatives  in  Hartford,  and  hav- 
ing made  some  pleasant  acquaintances  during  his 
brief  residence  here,  as  before  noted,  he  came  to 


144 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


this  city  in  search  of  business,  and  almost  imme- 
diately entered  the  office  of  the  Phcenix  Insurance 
Company  as  a  clerk.  He  was  advanced  through 
succeeding  grades  of  promotion,  and  in  1867  was 
made  assistant  secretary  of  the  company,  retaining 
that  position  until  September,  iSSS,  when  he  was 
elected  secretary.  This  latter  office  he  now  holds. 
Mr.  Burdick  was  married  in  1865,  and  three  child- 
ren have  been  born  to  him,  only  two  of  whom  —  a 
son  and  a  daughter — are  now  living.  He  is  an 
active  member  of  the  Asylum  Avenue  Baptist 
church,  and  has  been  the  clerk  of  the  church  since 
its  organization  in  1872.  In  politics  he  is  always  to 
be  found  acting  with  the  republican  party. 


HON.  CHARLES  ADDISON  RUSSELL,  Kil- 
lingly:  Manufacturer;  Congressman  from  the 
Third  District. 

Charles  A.  Russell  Avas  born  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  March  2,  1S52.  He  received  his  primary 
education  in  the  common  schools  of  that  city,  and 
prepared  for  college  under 
the  tuition  of  Rev.  Harris 
R.  Greene.  He  gradua- 
ted at  Yale  in  the  class 
of  1873,  taking  high  rank 
as  a  student,  as  well  as 
winning  popularity  in  his 
class  by  his  genial  man- 
ner and  his  enthusiasm  in 
college  sports.  After  his 
graduation,  he  immedi- 
ately devoted  himself  to 
newspaper  work,  and 
was,  up  to  1878,  actively 

C.    A.    RUSSELL.  V,  ,,       ,tt 

engaged  on  the  Worcester 
Press  as  city  editor,  and  was  for  a  short  time  there- 
after connected  with  the  Worcester  Spy.  Since 
that  time  Mr.  Russell  has  been  engaged  in  the 
business  of  manufacturing  at  Dayville,  in  the  town 
of  Killingly,  as  treasurer  of  the  Sabin  L.  Sayles 
Company,  woolen  mills,  incorporated.  In  1881  he 
was  appointed  aid-de-camp  on  the  staff  of  Governor 
Bigelow,  and  was  a  very  popular  member  of  the 
official  gubernatorial  family.  He  served  the  town 
of  Killingly  in  the  house  of  representatives  in  1883, 
and  was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  cities  and 
boroughs  on  the  part  of  the  house.  While  in  the 
legislature  he  distinguished  himself  by  his  readi- 
ness in  debate  and  skill  in  disposing  of  public  busi- 
ness. He  was  secretary  of  the  state  in  1S85-86, 
having  been  elected  on  the  republican  state  ticket 
with  Hon.  H.  B.  Harrison  at  its  head.  Thus  the 
stages  were  very  natural  that  in  the  fall  of  1886  led 
to  his  elevation  as  candidate  for  congress  in  the 
third  district;  and,  as  before  whenever  a  candidate 
for  public  office,  he  received  a  victorious  support  at 


the  polls.  The  honor  thus  bestowed  has  since  been 
twice  repeated,  Mr.  Russell  now  serving  his  third 
term  in  the  house.  The  record  shows  that  the  in- 
terests of  the  third  district  were  wisely  entrusted 
and  have  been  safely  guarded  at  the  national  capi- 
tol  during  Mr.  Russeh's  incumbency  of  the  high 
and  honorable  office. 

Of  Congressman  Russell's  genealogy,  it  may  be 
mentioned  that  his  paternal  ancestors  settled  near 
Cambridge,  Mass.,  and  lived  there  long  enough  to 
take  a  hand  in  the  celebrated  Lexington  fight  be- 
fore they  migrated  to  New  Hampshire,  where  the 
father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in 
1S20.  The  mother  — a  Wentworth  —  traces  her 
Hneage  directly  to  the  old  colonial  Governor  Went- 
worth of  New  Hampshire.  The  well-remembered 
Henry  Dunster,  first  president  of  Harvard  College, 
was  also  of  kin  with  the  ancestry  alluded  to. 

Mr.  Russell  was  married  in  1880  to  Miss  Eha 
Frances  Sayles,  daughter  of  Hon.  Sabin  L.  Sayles 
of  Killingly,  and  they  have  two  children. 


Academy. 


HON.  WILBUR  B.  FOSTER,  Rockville:  Presi- 
dent "  The  Boston  Clothing  Compan3^" 
Wilbur  B.    Foster  was  born  in  Monson,  Mass., 
March    31,    1853,    and    educated   at  the    Monson 
At  twenty  years   of  age   he  went  to 
Rockville  and  established 
himself  in  the  ready-made 
clothing     trade,    which 
business  he  has  continu- 
ously  followed   until   the 
present  time,  being  now 
^-"2  AasE'  I  ^^^  senior  member  of  his 

V*        -^■~.^^^^\         firm,      and     representing 
X,,  '"",,    '  the  largest  clothing  estab- 

t  lishment  in  the  city.     In 

^  i874he  married  Miss  Edna 

Winchell,   only   daughter 
of  Cyrus  Winchell,  Esq., 

one  of  the  leading  manu- 
W.  B.  FOSTER.  ^  .      -r^      ,     .,, 

facturers     of     Rockville. 

In  1886  he  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Rockville, 

holding  the  office  four  years.     He  was  secretary  of 

the  local  board  of  education  for  a  number  of  years, 

and  is  at  present  acting  school  visitor.     He   has 

held  many  important  town  and  city  offices,  and  last 

fall  was  elected  state  senator  from  the  twenty-third 

district,   being    the    candidate  of    the   democratic 

party.       He  is   a  prominent   member    of  several 

secret  organizations;  is  past  Chief  Ranger  Court 

"  Hearts  of  Oak,"  Ancient  Order  of  Foresters  of 

America;  and  has  twice  been  selected  by  Foresters 

as  their  representative  to  national  conventions,  at 

Chicago  and  Minneapolis.     He   has  recently  been 

appointed  a  trustee  of  the  Connecticut  Hospital  for 

the  Insane,  at  Middletown. 


^^'' 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


145 


HENRY     A.     BAKER,    Oakdale     (Muntvili.e): 

Postmaster. 

Henry  Augustus  Baker  occupied  the  offices  of 
judge  of  probate  and  town  clerk  for  twenty-five 
years,  and  has  been  a  notary  pubHc  for  thirty. 
Since  1S75  he  has  been 
engaged  in  the  fire  insur- 
ance business,  but  was 
formerly  a  carpenter  and 
farmer.  He  is  also  the 
postmaster  at  Oakdale, 
receiving  the  appointment 
in  1889  as  a  republican. 
For  the  past  sixteen  years 
Judge  Baker  has  been 
engaged  in  compiling  a 
history  of  Montville  and  a 
genealogy  of  the  first 
settlers  there.     The  work  „     ,     „.,.r-., 

H.    A.    B.-VKER. 

is  now  nearly  ready   for 

publication.  From  1853  until  1S57  he  re;  ided  in 
Norwich.  The  judge  is  a  native  of  Montville,  the 
date  of  his  birth  being  October  29,  1S23.  He  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education.  May  18,  1846, 
he  was  married  to  Miss  Hannah  Fox  Scholfield, 
who'  is  still  living.  There  are  also  two  children 
living,  three  having  died.  Judge  Baker  is  a  deacon 
in  the  First  Congregational  church  at  Montville, 
and  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the  church.  He  is  also 
a  member  of  Oxoboxo  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  at 
Montville,  and  has  held  the  position  of  chaplain  of 
the  organization. 


JAMES     W.      BRASIE,      Washington  :      Town 

Clerk. 

James  W.  Brasie  was  born  at  Norfolk,  February 
I,  1 868,  and  was  educated  at  Winsted.  He  was 
elected  town  clerk  of  Washington  by  the  democrats 
the  first  year  of  his  ma- 
jorit^^  and  is  now  serv- 
ing for  the  second  term. 
He  is  also  clerk  of  the 
probate  court  for  the  dis- 
trict of  Washington.  He 
is  the  station  agent  of  the 
vShepaug,  Litchfield  & 
Northern  road  at  Wash- 
ton  depot,  and  is  an  active 
business  man.  Mr.  Brasie 
is  a  member  of  the  First 
Congregational  church  at 
Winsted.  His  wife,  who 
is  still  living,  was  Miss 
Minnie  G.  Cook  prior  to  her  marriage.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  is  thoroughly  popular  in  his  com- 
munity. His  election  as  town  clerk  was  carried  by 
a  majority  of  47  votes. 

10 


J.    W.    BRASIE. 


C.  W.  B.VRKER,  North  Branford:  Printer. 

Clarence  W.  Barker  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Branford,  Oct.  6,  1856,  and  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools.  He  has  been  engaged  in  the  card 
and  novelty  business  for 
twelve  years,  his  avoca- 
tion being  that  of  a  card 
printer  and  novelty  deal- 
er. Most  of  his  life  has 
been  spent  in  Branford. 
Eight  years  ago  he  re- 
moved to  North  Branford, 
where  he  has  since  resid- 
ed. During  Presi  den  t 
Cleveland's  administra- 
tion he  held  the  office  of 
postmaster.  He  is  a  mem-  ?' 

ber  of  the  grange  at  North  ^.    ^^.    ,..arker. 

Branford   and  of  the 

Knights  of  Pythias  lodge  in  Branford.  He  is 
also  actively  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church,  and  the  Young  People's  Society  of  Christ- 
ian Endeavor  work  and  is  an  influential  member 
of  the  society.  Mr.  Barker  has  a  wife  and  four 
children.  The  former  was  Miss  Minnie  G.  Barthol- 
omew of  Northford  prior  to  her  marriage. 


ANDREW    JACKSON    BOWEN,  Willimantic  : 

Attorney. 

Andrew  J.  Bowen  was  born  in  1S45  at  Eastford, 
and  educated  on  his  father's  farm  and  in  the  schools 
of  his  native  town.  A  desire  at  onetime  to  enlist 
was  not  approved  by  his 
parents,  and  consequent- 
ly his  military  record  did 
not  materialize.  After 
teaching  school  a  few 
terms  he  engaged  in  trade 
in  one  of  the  village  stores 
of  Eastford,  doing  a  good 
business,  amounting  one 
year  to  $20,000.  While 
living  in  his  native  town 
he  held  the  offices  of 
school  visitor,  school  dis- 
trict committee,  bank  di- 
rector, constable,  board 
of  relief,  justice  of  the  peace,  postmaster,  and  rep- 
resentative in  the  state  legislature.  The  latter 
position  was  occupied  in  1880,  when  he  served  on 
the  committee  on  incorporations.  He  introduced 
several  bills  and  resolutions,  part  of  which  were 
passed  and  became  law.  He  studied  law  four 
years,  some  of  the  time  with  Judge  Richmond  of 
Ashford;  after  which,  in  1S81,  he  moved  to  Willi- 
mantic,where  he  has  since  resided  and  practiced  law. 
He  has  become  identified  with  the  moral  and  busi- 


A.   J.   nowEN. 


146 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


ness  interests  of  Willimantic,  and  at  one  time  was 
president  of  the  Morrison  Machine  Company  of  that 
place,  and  is  now  the  treasurer  of  said  company. 
In  poHtics  he  was  reared  a  democrat,  but  always 
votes  republican,  and  uses  pen  and  voice  in  advo- 
cacy of  the  principles  of  the  latter  part}-.  Since 
1S65  he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church.  He  married  Hannah  R.  Rindge  at  the 
age  of  twenty-two,  and  has  three  children,  namely, 
Bessie,  Clarence,  and  Ernest. 


S.     A.     GRANGER. 


S.  A.  GRANGER,  Winsted:  Secretary  and  Treas- 
urer The  Morgan  Silver  Plate  Company. 
vSalmon  Algernon  Granger  was  an  officer  in 
Litchfield  county's  favorite  regiment,  the  Second 
Heavy  sVrtillery,  during  the  war,  and  possesses  a 
record  that  commands 
admiration  wherever  it  is 
mentioned.  He  enlisted 
April  25,  1861,  as  a  pri- 
vate in  the  Second  Con- 
necticut under  the  late 
General  Alfred  H.  Terry, 
and  was  at  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Bull  Run.  He  re- 
enlisted  in  the  nineteenth 
infantry,  which  was  sub- 
sequently designated  as 
the  Second  Connecticut 
Heavy  Artillery  and  com- 
manded Company  I  at 
the  time  of  Lee's  surrender.  In  1864  he  was  with 
Sheridan  in  the  great  Shenandoah  campaign.  At 
the  close  of  the  war  he  accepted  the  position  of  su- 
perintendent of  the  New  England  Pin  Company  of 
Winsted  and  remained  in  that  capacity  for  twenty- 
two  years.  In  18S8  he  was  one  of  the  organizers  of 
the  Morgan  Silver  Plate  Company  of  Winsted,  and 
became  the  secretary  and  treasurer.  Mr.  Granger 
was  born  in  New  Marlborough,  Mass.,  August  12, 
1839,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  school.  He 
acquired  the  trade  of  a  carpenter,  but  failed  to  pur- 
sue it  after  the  war.  He  was  married  December 
19, 1S60,  his  wife  being  Miss  Carrie  A.  Potter,  daugh- 
ter of  Newton  C.  Potter  of  Torrington.  He  has  two 
sons,  one  sixteen  and  the  second  twelve  years  of 
age.  In  politics  his  position  is  that  of  an  indepen- 
dent. He  is  a  member  of  the  school  committee  and 
a  trustee  of  the  Methodist  church  of  which  he  has 
been  a  member  .since  1859.  He  is  a  past  master  of 
St.  Andrew's  lodge  of  Winsted,  F.  and  A.  M.,  past 
H.  P.  of  Meridian  Chapter  R.  A.M.,  and  has  attained 
the  32O  in  Masonry.  He  also  belongs  to  the  order 
of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is  past  grand  regent  of  the 
Connecticut  Royal  Arcanum,  and  grand  treasurer 
of  the  N.  E.  O.  P.  of  Connecticut.  He  has  also  held 
the  office  of  junior  vice-commander  of  the  Grand 
Armv  in  this  state. 


RICHARD     BULLWINKLE,     Mianus     (Green- 
wich):   Stock  Farmer. 

Richard  BuUwinkle  was  born  in  New  York  city, 
May  12,  1S60,  and  was  educated  in  Grammar  School 
No.  18  and  the  College  of  the  City  of  New  York. 
He  began  the  study  of 
medicine,  but  was  com- 
pelled to  relinquish  it  on 
account  of  ill  health.  He 
has  spent  a  great  deal  of 
time  in  traveling  in  this 
country,  and  is  a  gentle- 
man of  extensive  observa- 
tion and  culture.  He  has 
held  the  office  of  town 
treasurer  in  Greenwich, 
and  is  a  republican  in 
politics.  He  is  connected 
with  the  L'niversalist 
church  and  the  Independ- 
ent Order  of  Odd  Fellows.  Formerly  he  was  of 
the  firm  of  R.  BuUwinkle  &  Co.  in  Greenwich,  and 
is  now  president  of  the  Volunteer  Rock  Drill  Com- 
pany at  South  Beach,  Conn.  Practically  he  was 
compelled  to  give  up  business  in  October,  1S90,  and 
is  now  spending  most  of  his  time  on  the  stock  farm 
which  he  owns  at  Mianus.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Estella  A.  Bowen  before  marriage.  There  are 
three  children,  all  of  whom  are  living. 


RICHARD    BULLWINKLE. 


FRANK    ELDRIDGE    HYDE,    Hartfoku:    At- 
torney-at-Law. 

Frank  E.  Hyde,  at  present  a  member  of  the 
prominent  law  firm  of  Hyde,  Gross  &  Hyde  at 
Hartford,  was  born  at  Tolland  January  21,  1S58. 
He  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Hartford, 
and  at  Yale  College,  grad- 
uating in  the  class  of  1879. 
After  completing  his  col- 
lege course  he  pursued  his 
legal  studies  at  the  Colum- 
bia and  Yale  Law  Schools, 
graduating  froin  the  latter 
in  1 8  7 1 .  He  was  immedi- 
ateh-  admitted  to  the  bar, 
and  has  since  been  m  ac- 
tive practice  in  Hartford. 
Mr.  Hyde  represented 
Hartford  in  the  legislature 
in  1887,  and  was  re-elected  for  the  succeeding  ses- 
sion of  1889,  being  the  fourth  generation  in  his 
family  to  be  represented  in  the  general  assembly  of 
the  state.  His  father,  Hon.  A.  P.  Hyde,  served 
several  terms  in  the  house,  reiDresenting  the  town 
of  Tolland;  his  grandfather,  Alvin  Hyde,  and  his 
great-grandfather,   Nathaniel    Hyde,   representing 


V 


F.    E.    HYDE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


147 


the  town  of  Stafford,  each  in  his  day  serving  with 
honor  and  distinction.  All  have  been  democrats. 
The  late  Judge  Waldo,  for  many  years  among  the 
foremost  lawyers  of  the  state,  was  the  grandfather 
of  Mr.  Hyde  on  his  mother's  side,  and  he  also 
achieved  a  most  honorable  legislative  career.  Mr. 
Hyde  has  successfully  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
his  ancestors,  ably  and  honorably  serving  the  in- 
terests of  his  constituents  and  clients,  whether  in 
the  execution  of  public  trusts  or  of  his  professional 
duties. 


JOS.    H.    B.A.RNUM. 


JOSEPH  HALL  BARNUM,  Hartford:  Editor 
and  Proprietor  "The  Hartford  Sunday  Jour- 
nal." 

Captain  Barnum  was  born  in  East  Hartford, 
May  27,  1838,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
academic  education.  His  father  was  Eli  Barnum, 
who  was  a  hatter  by  trade, 
and  a  cousin  of  the  late  P. 
T.  Barnuin,  the  family 
originating  in  Danbtn-y. 
On  his  mother's  side  Cap- 
tam  Barnum  is  a  descend- 
ant of  Colonel  Peter  Har- 
wood  of  Massachusetts, 
^\•ho  served  with  credit  in 
the  Revolutionary  army. 
At  the  age  of  fifteen  years 
the  subject  of  this  sketch 
removed  to  Hartford  and 
entered  the  employ  of  the 
Sawyer  Silver  Spoon 
Works.  At  sixteen  he  went  to  The  Hartford  Times, 
where  he  acquired  an  insight  into  the  printer's  trade. 
From  the  composing  rooms  of  The  Times  he  entered 
the  employ  of  The  Morni/tg  Post,  under  James  M. 
Scofield,  and  was  in  that  office  when  the  war  com- 
menced. jNIeanwhile  he  had  served  in  the  Volun- 
teer Fire  Department  of  the  city,  advancing  from 
old  No.  5  on  Church  Street  to  the  assistant  fore- 
manship  of  the  ^tna  Hose  Company.  Captain 
Barnum  was  among  the  first  in  this  cit}-  to  respond 
to  the  call  for  troops,  and  enlisted  April  20,  1861,  in 
the  Light  Guard  Infantry,  Company  A,  First  Con- 
necticut. During  the  previous  February  he  had 
enlisted  in  the  Light  Guard  as  one  of  the  city  mili- 
tary companies,  and  proceeded  with  it  to  the  field, 
when  the  first  call  for  volunteers  was  issued.  He 
was  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run  with  his  regi- 
ment. At  the  conclusion  of  the  three  months'  ser- 
vice he  returned  home  and  again  found  employ- 
ment on  The  Morning  Post.  In  July  1S62,  his 
ardor  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  remain  longer 
at  the  case,  and  he  became  a  worker  in  enlisting 
the  Bee  Hive  Company  of  the  Sixteenth  Regiment, 
the  old  firm  of  Starr,  Burkett  &  Company  being 
especially  interested  in  the  organization.    Captain 


Barnum  was  mustered  as  first  lieutenant  of  the 
company,  August  24,  the  command  being  assigned 
to  the  left  of  the  regiment,  the  second  place  of 
honor  in  the  organization.  First  Lieutenant  Bar- 
num was  placed  in  charge  of  regimental  supplies  at 
Arlington,  when  the  Sixteenth  started  for  the  mem- 
orable Maryland  campaign  of  1S62,  which  culmi- 
nated in  the  battle  of  Antietam.  After  that  engage- 
ment Lieutenant  Barnum  was  promoted  to  the  cap- 
taincy of  Company  H,  his  commission  dating  Sep- 
tember 20,  1862.  He  was  selected  for  this  position 
by  Colonel  Frank  Beach,  who  was  one  of  the  most 
impartial  judges  of  military  attainments.  Captain 
Barnum  was  at  Fredericksburg,  serving  at  the  head 
of  his  compan3^  Owing  to  the  illness  of  his  wife 
he  was  compelled  to  resign,  February  23,  1862,  and 
return  to  Hartford.  The  vacancy  in  the  company 
was  not  filled,  however,  and  in  May  Captain  Bar- 
num was  called  to  an  interview  with  Governor 
Buckingham,  and  earnestly  requested  to  accept  the 
return  of  his  old  commission.  Governor  Bucking- 
ham supported  his  own  wishes  in  the  matter  by  re- 
ferring to  the  personal  desire  of  Colonel  Beach  that 
Captain  Barnum  should  be  induced  to  return.  He 
was  again  mustered.  May  12,  1863,  and  joined  the 
command  at  Suffolk,  Va. ,  in  time  to  participate  in 
the  Peninsula  campaign  of  that  year.  During  one 
of  the  protracted  marches  of  that  campaign,  Cap- 
tain Barnum  was  prostrated  by  the  heat,  and  coin- 
pelled  for  the  first  time  in  his  life  to  fall  out  of  line. 
The  effects  of  that  day's  service  have  been  felt  from 
that  time  until  now.  When  the  Sixteenth  was 
ordered  from  Virginia  into  North  Carolina,  Jan- 
uary, 1864,  Captain  Barnum,  as  officer-of-the-day  at 
the  time  of  the  regiment's  departure,  was  called 
upon  at  a  critical  juncture  to  perform  an  important 
service.  The  incident  referred  to  was  in  connection 
with  the  destruction  of  the  regimental  camp  at 
Getty's  station  near  Portsmouth,  Va.  The  attack 
at  Plymouth,  N.  C,  which  resulted  in  the  capture 
of  nine  companies  of  the  Sixteenth  was  commenced 
April  17,  1S64.  Three  days  prior  to  that  event, 
Captain  Barnum  was  selected  with  Company  H  to 
relieve  the  Union  forces  on  Roanoke  Island.  Sun- 
day morning,  April  17,  he  started  on  that  mission. 
Ten  hours  later  the  bombardment  of  the  outpost  by 
the  rebels  had  commenced.  During  the  summer  of 
1S64,  Captain  Barnum  remained  at  Roanoke,  where 
the  nucleus  of  the  regiment  was  preserved,  and  the 
field  and  staff  reports  and  muster  rolls  of  the 
absent  companies  kept  intact.  An  important  ex- 
pedition was  made  under  Colonel  D.  W.  Wardrop, 
the  destruction  of  mills  and  property  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Ph-mouth  being  the  objective  point. 
Captain  Barnum  commanded  the  Sixteenth,  and  is 
deserving  of  the  greatest  credit  for  the  work  which 
he  accomplished  in  its  behalf.  In  March,  1865,  he 
was  ordered  with  his  command  to  Newberne,  N.  C, 


148 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


and  relieved  the  troops  in  that  city,  which  were 
then  performing  provost  duty.  He  commanded  the 
escort  that  accompanied  General  Grant  from  New- 
berne  to  Raleigh,  the  object  of  General  Grant's 
visit  being  a  conference  with  General  Sherman. 
Captain  Barnum  remained  in  command  of  the  Six- 
teenth until  April  19,  1S65,  when  he  was  relieved  by 
the  late  Captain  Thomas  F.  Burke  of  this  city,  the 
senior  line  officer.  June  24,  1865,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  mustered  out  of  service,  and  returned 
home  at  the  head  of  his  company.  His  military 
career  was  one  of  strict  devotion  to  duty.  He  was 
one  of  the  best  disciplinarians  in  the  regiment,  and 
instinctively  a  soldier  from  head  to  foot.  After  re- 
turning home  he  started  77^1?  Soldiers'  Record  in 
company  with  Lieutenant  Wm.  E.  Simonds,  who 
has  since  represented  the  First  district  in  congress. 
Afterwards  he  assumed  the  management  of  T/ie 
Gas  Light,  a  bright  theatrical  paper  of  the  time, 
and  Tke  Travelers  Journal.  In  1874  The  Gas 
Light  was  dropped,  and  in  April  of  that  year  The 
Journal  was  established  as  a  Sunday  paper,  the 
Captain  becoming  one  of  the  pioneers  in  Sunday 
journalism  in  Connecticut.  The  Sunday  Journal 
has  been  his  life  work  in  the  field  of  business. 
From  the  outset  it  has  been  a  successful  enterprise. 
Its  owner  and  manager  is  an  able  newspaper  man, 
and  the  success  which  it  has  attained  is  due  to  his 
intelligence  and  administration.  Captain  Barnum 
was  unanimously  elected  commander  of  the  Buck- 
ingham Rifles  after  the  war,  and  served  in  the 
National  Guard  for  a  while.  His  military  instincts, 
however,  found  full  opportunity  for  development  in 
Washington  Commandery  No.  i,  K.  T.,  of  which 
he  has  long  been  a  member.  He  held  the  position 
of  Captain-General  in  the  Commandery  for  three 
terms,  and  was  in  military  command  of  the  organ- 
ization during  the  Chicago  pilgrimage.  Captain 
Barnum  is  a  32°  Mason,  and  is  also  a  member  of 
Pyramid  Temple,  Nobles  of  the  Mystic  Shrine, 
Bridgeport.*  He  is  a  Past  Chancellor  of  Crescent 
Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias.  Captain  Barnum  was 
one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  great  assemblage 
that  was  held  here,  in  recognition  of  General 
Grant's  death.  He  has  never  sought  political  office 
of  any  kind,  having  devoted  himself  to  his  news- 
paper enterprises.  Captain  Barnum  has  been 
married  twice.  His  present  wife,  Marjr  A.  Root, 
was  the  daughter  of  Lyman  Root  of  Westfield, 
Mass.  On  her  mother's  side  Mrs.  Barnum  is  con- 
nected with  the  poet,  "William  Cullen  Bryant,  and 
with  General  Nathaniel  Lyon.  The  surviving  son  by 
the  first  marriage,  Charles  H.  Barnum,  is  connected 
with  The  Sunday  Jour 7ial,  occupying  a  responsi- 
ble position  in  the  management.  Captain  Barnum 
has  been  a  resident  of  Hartford  since  1853.  He  is 
an  independent  in  politics,  and  his  paper  has  been 
guided  essentially  on  that  principle. 


G.    GREGORY. 


JAMES  G.  GREGORY,  M.D.,  Norwalk. 

Dr.  Gregory  was  born  in  Norwalk  in  1843.  After 
a  thorough  course  of  preparatory  training  in  the 
public  schools  of  his  native  town,  he  entered  Yale 
College,  from  which  insti- 
tution he  graduated  with 
the  class  of  1 86  5,  and  from 
the  New  York  College  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons- 
in  1868.  He  was  for  two 
years  connected  with  the 
medical  staff  of  the  Brook- 
lyn City  Hospital.  In  1870 
he  returned  to  Norwalk, 
where  he  has  since  resid- 
ed and  been  in  almost 
constant  practice.  Dr. 
Gregory  represented  Nor- 
walk in  the  legislature  in 
1879,  serving  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  fed- 
eral relations,  and  a  member  of  the  committee  on 
claims.  He  was  also  on  the  staff  of  Governor  Big- 
elow,  as  surgeon-general,  in  1881-82.  He  has  filled 
various  local  offices  in  Norwalk,  including  that  of 
burgess  and  warden  of  the  borough ;  and  is  a  trus- 
tee on  the  part  of  Fairfield  county  of  the  Middle- 
town  Asylum  for  the  Insane.  He  has  taken  an  act- 
ive part  in  educational  interests,  and  has  been  in- 
strumental in  securing  many  important  advantages 
in  this  direction  to  the  rising  generation  of  his  na- 
tive town. 

OZIAS   HOLMES  KIRTLAND,  Old  Savbrook: 
Town  Clerk. 

Ozias  H.  Kirtland  has  had  three  years  of  service 
in  the  general  assembly  of  this  state.  He  was  first 
elected  a  member  of  the  house  in  1852,  representing 
the  town  of  Saybrook. 
That  year  the  town  of 
Old  Saybrook  was  incor- 
porated by  the  legisla- 
ture. During  the  years 
of  1882  and  1883  he  rep- 
resented Old  Saybrook  in 
the  house,  serving  on  the 
republican  side.  He  was 
a  member  of  decided  in- 
fluence. He  was  born  in 
.Saybrook,  Sept.  24,  iSig, 
and  received  an  academic 
education.  His  early  life 
was  spent  in  farming  and 
in  teaching.  Subsequently,  he  became  interested 
in  fishing  enterprises  in  the  Connecticut  river;  also 
on  Lake  Ontario  in  Jefferson  count3\  N.  Y.,  and  at 
Savannah,  Ga.  In  i860  he  organized  with  David 
W.  Clark  the  firm  of  Kirtland  &  Clark  and  engaged 
in  .shipping  fish  in  large  quantities  to  New  York. 


KIR-JLAND. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


149 


In  1S69  the  lumber  business  was  added,  being  re- 
tained until  the  present.  In  1864  Mr.  Kirtlandwas 
elected  town  clerk  of  Old  Saybrook  and  has  held 
the  position  continuously  since  that  time.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church  and  held  the 
office  of  deacon  from  1850  to  1890.  He  was  in  the 
state  militia  for  ten  years.  Mr.  Kirtland  has  been 
married  twice,  his  first  wife,  who  died  Feb.  3,  1879, 
being  Miss  Elizabeth  R.  Clark.  The  second  wife 
was  Miss  Elizabeth  R.  Whittlesey  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage. The  family  also  includes  two  sons  and  one 
daughter. 

BENNET    JERALDS,   Yalesvillk  :     Contractor 

with  the  Charles  Parker  Company. 

Bennet  Jeralds  was  born  in  Watertown,  October 
10,  181S,  and  received  a  common  school  education. 
His  life  has  been  spent  chiefly  in  the  towns  of  Pros- 
pect and  Wallingford. 
He  has  held  various  pub- 
lic offices  in  the  town 
where  he  resides,  and  is 
at  present  a  member  of 
the  board  of  relief.  He  is 
also  a  notary  public  and 
is  a  republican  in  politics. 
Years  ago  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  state  mili- 
tia. At  the  age  of  iS 
years  Mr.  Jeralds  entered 
the  employ  of  William 
Mi.K  of  Prospect,  the  first 
spoon  manufacturer  in 
the  United  States,  and  remained  with  him  three 
years.  When  he  attained  his  majority,  he  began 
the  manufacture  of  britannia  spoons  on  his  own  ac- 
count, and  continued  in  the  business  in  Prospect 
tmtil  184S,  when  he  formed  a  copartnership  with 
Eli  Ives  of  Meriden  and  prosecuted  the  business 
until  1S53.  During  that  year  Mr.  Jeralds  bought 
out  the  interest  of  Mr.  Ives  and  subsequently  dis- 
posed of  the  plant  to  Mr.  Charles  Parker  of  Meri- 
den. He  immediately  became  the  superintendent 
of  Mr.  Parker's  spoon  factory  in  Yalesville  and  re- 
moved to  that  place  in  1854.  He  retained  the  posi- 
tion of  superintendent  until  1876,  when  the  contract 
system  was  inaugurated,  and  Mr.  Jeralds  became 
a  contractor  in  the  establishment.  In  politics  Mr. 
Jeralds  identified  himself  with  the  free-soil  party 
and  was  defeated  as  a  candidate  for  the  legislature 
on  the  free-soil  ticket  in  1851  by  one  vote.  Since  the 
organization  of  the  republican  party  he  has  uni- 
formly voted  for  its  candidates  and  interests.  He 
was  for  years  a  justice  of  the  peace  in  Wallingford 
and  has  been  actively  associated  with  school  afliairs 
in  his  community.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has 
been  married  five  times.  The  surviving  wife  was 
at  the  time  of  her  marriage  with  Mr.  Jeralds  the 


widow  of  Charles  T.  Sherman  of  West  Haven.  He 
has  six  children,  five  daughters  and  one  son,  twentj-- 
five  grandchildren,  and  two  great-grandchildren. 
Mr.  Jeralds  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church  in 
Yalesville. 


BENNET  JERALDS. 


J- 


KNOWl.TON. 


COL.    JULIUS   W.    KNOWLTOX,    BKincEi-OKT: 

Postmaster. 

Julius  W.  Knowlton  was  born  in  Southbridge, 
Mass.,  November  28,  1S38.  He  is  the  son  of 
William  S.  Knowlton,  and  traces  his  American 
ancestry  to  Thomas 
Knowlton,  who  emigrated 
from  England  in  1632 
and  settled  in  Ipswich, 
Mass.  When  Julius  W. 
was  seven  years  of  age 
his  parents  removed  to 
Norwich,  Conn.,  and 
three  years  later  to 
Bridgeport,  where  he  was 
educated  in  the  public 
and  private  schools.  In 
1S60  he  engaged  in  busi- 
ness in  Bridgeport,  con- 
tinuing until  the  breaking 
out  of  the  rebellion,  when  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  A,  Fourteenth  Connecticut  Volunteer 
Infantry,  and  upon  the  organization  of  the  regi- 
ment was  made  commissary-sergeant.  He  was 
promoted  to  the  second  lieutenancy  of  Company  C, 
and  was  in  command  of  that  company  at  the  battle 
of  Gettysburg.  On  the  third  day  of  that  battle  he 
was  wounded,  and  remained  in  a  hospital  on  the 
field  eleven  days,  when  he  was  removed  to  Balti- 
more, and  soon  after  to  his  home  in  Bridgeport. 
The  following  January  he  returned  to  the  front, 
but  on  account  of  his  wounds  was  unable  to  per- 
form arduous  military  duty,  and  in  1864  was  dis- 
charged for  physical  disability. 

In  October,  1866,  Colonel  Knowlton  was  one  of 
three  who  purchased  The  Bridgeport  Standard, 
organizing  under  the  joint  stock  laws  of  Connecti- 
cut, with  Mr.  Knowlton  as  secretary  and  treasurer 
and  business  manager.  He  resigned  this  position 
in  1873,  to  take  the  superintendency  of  the  Moore 
Car  Wheel  Company  of  Jersey  City,  N.  J.  In  1874 
he  accepted  a  position  in  the  post-office  department 
at  Washington,  D.  C,  and  was  later  made  chief 
clerk  of  the  department  by  P.  M. -General  Marshall 
Jewell.  In  1875  he  received  the  appointment  of 
postmaster  at  Bridgeport,  which  position  he  now 
occupies. 

Colonel  Knowlton  is  a  republican,  and  is  active 
and  prominent  in  the  councils  of  his  party.  He  has 
served  two  terms  in  the  legislature,  has  been  a 
member  of  the  republican  state  committee,  and  was 
on  Governor  Jewell's  staff,  with  the  rank  of  colonel. 


ISO 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  ]Masonic  fra- 
ternity, having  taken  all  degrees  to  and  including 
the  thirty-second  —  Scottish  Rite.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  military  order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the 
United  States,  the  Arm}'  and  Nav}'  Club,  Grand 
Army,  and  the  Seaside  Club.  He  has  been  assist- 
ant adjutant-general  G.  A.  R.,  a  member  of  the 
National  Council,  and  in  iSSo  was  a  delegate  to  the 
National  Encampment.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
First  LTniversalist  society  of  Bridgeport.  He  mar- 
ried, December  17,  1S66,  Miss  Jennie  E.  Fairchild, 
of  Newtown,  Conn.,  and  they  have  had  two  child- 
ren, neither  of  whom  is  at  present  living. 


L.    Y.   KETCHUM. 


LEANDER   Y.    KETCHUM,    Woodbury:    Post- 
master. 

Leander  Y.  Ketchum  was  born  at  Clyde,  Wayne 
county,  N.  Y.,  December  15,  1S50,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  Mass.,  and  at 
Dickinson  College,  Car- 
lisle, Pa.  His  professional 
studies  were  pursued  in 
the  medical  department 
of  the  University  of  New 
York.  He  also  took  a 
full  course  in  the  New 
York  College  of  Pharma- 
cy, graduating  from  the 
latter  in  1876.  His  father 
was  Judge  Leander  S. 
Ketchum  of  Clyde,  a  law- 
yer of  prominence  in 
western  New  York,  judge 
of  the  county  court 
through  successive  terms,  and  member  of  the  New 
York  constitutional  convention  in  i860.  Dr.  Ketchum 
was  educated  for  West  Point  originally,  but  owing 
to  the  death  of  his  father  that  project  was  gi\en 
up.  Prior  to  1876  he  spent  several  years  in  Califor- 
nia. After  receiving  the  degree  of  M.D.,  he  prac- 
ticed in  New  York  cit}',  at  Arcade,  Wyoming  Co., 
N.  Y.,  and  in  Ansonia,  finally  settling  at  AVood- 
bury.  He  is,  in  addition  to  his  medical  practice, 
the  proprietor  of  the  leading  drug  store  in  the  town, 
postmaster,  ha\nng  received  his  appointment  from 
President  Harrison,  medical  examiner,  and  post 
surgeon.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Litchfield  county 
and  state  medical  societies.  He  also  belongs  to 
King  Solomon's  Lodge,  No.  7,  of  Woodbury,  which 
posses.ses  one  of  the  most  interesting  historical 
structures  in  the  state.  Dr.  Ketchum  has  been  mar- 
ried twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  M.  Belle  Coth- 
ren  (daughter  of  the  Hon.  Wm.  Cothren  of  Wood- 
bury), whose  death  occurred  within  a  few  years. 
The  present  wife  was  Miss  Sophia  Horton,  niece  of 
Prof.  James  L.  Ensign  of  New  Haven.  The  doc- 
tor has  a  large  practice  in  the  town.  In  politics  he 
is  a  republican. 


J.    L.     HOWARD. 


HON.  JAMES  L.  HOWARD,  Hartford:  Mam;- 
facturer,  President  James  L.  Howard  &  Com- 
pany and  Hartford  City  Gas  Light  Company. 
Hon.  James  L.  Howard,  Lieutenant-Governor  of 
the  State  of  Connecticut  in  1887  and  1888,  is  the 
eldest  son  of  the  late  Rev.  Leland  Howard,  and 
was  born  in  Windsor,  Ver- 
mont, January  18,  181S. 
He  received  an  academic 
education,  and  began  his 
business  career  as  a  clerk 
in  the  city  of  New  York. 
In  1 838  he  came  to  reside 
in  Hartford,  and  in  1841 
engaged  in  the  manufac- 
turing business  on  his 
own  account,  and  has 
been  a  manufacturer  ever 
since.  His  firm  was  in- 
corporated in  1876  as 
James  L.  Howard  & 
Company,  of  which  he  became  and  is  now  presi- 
dent. He  is  widely  known  to  the  railroad  interests 
of  the  countrj'  as  a  manufacturer  of  railroad  supplies. 
Since  his  residence  in  Hartford,  he  has  frequently 
been  called  to  serve  the  city  in  various  public 
capacities,  having  been  a  councilman,  alderman, 
police  commissioner,  chairman  of  the  board  of  park 
commissioners,  member  for  many  years  of  the  high 
school  committee,  and  one  of  the  building  committee 
in  the  erection  of  the  fine  high  school  building.  In 
all  these  capacities  he  has  won  the  esteem  of  citi- 
zens irrespective  of  party.  His  exceptional  biisi- 
ness  abilities  have  also  met  recognition  from  the 
institutions  of  the  city.  Additional!}^  to  his  official 
connection  with  his  own  house,  he  is  president  of 
the  Hartford  City  Gas  Light  Company,  a  director 
in  the  Phoenix  National  Bank,  a  director  in  the 
Traveler's  Insurance  Company  ever  since  its  forma- 
tion, and  sustains  the  same  relation  to  the  Hartford 
County  Fire  Insurance  Company,  the  Retreat  for 
the  Insane,  the  Farmington  River  Power  Company, 
and  several  important  manufacturing  companies. 
He  is  also  on  the  board  of  directors  of  the  New 
York  &  New  England  Railroad  Company.  His 
election  to  the  position  of  lieutenant-governor  in 
1S87  was  a  recognition  not  only  of  his  sterling 
qualities  as  a  loyal  and  patriotic  citizen,  but  of  his 
practical  business  ability ,  his  administrative  tact,  and 
his  familiarity  with  parliamentary  rules  and  tisages. 
Mr.  Howard  is  a  representative  layman  of  the 
Baptist  church  of  the  country,  his  local  connection 
being  with  the  First  Baptist  church  of  Hartford,  of 
which  he  is  and  has  long  been  a  deacon.  He  is  held 
in  high  esteem  and  has  been  greatly  honored  by 
the  denomination,  which  he  represents  in  a  wider 
than  state  limit.  He  was  president  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Baptist  Convention  from  1871  to  1S76,  and  is 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


151 


now  a  trustee  and  member  of  its  executive  commit- 
tee; he  was  one  of  the  originators  and  first  presi- 
dent (and  re-elected  additional  terms)  of  the  Baptist 
Social  Union,  and  is  now  president  of  the  board  of 
trustees  of  the  Connecticut  Literary  Institution ,  the 
leading  educational  corporation  of  the  church  in 
Connecticut;  he  was  also  president  of  the  American 
Baptist  Publication  Society  from  1873  to  1877,  and 
of  the  American  Baptist  Home  Mission  Society 
from  1881  to  1884.  He  is  now  one  of  the  trustees 
of  Brown  University. 

Mr.  Howard  was  originally  a  whig,  and  nat- 
urally became  a  republican  when  the  party  of 
"  free  men,  free  soil,  and  free  speech  "  was  organ- 
ized in  1856,  and  has  always  given  earnest  and 
active  support  to  republican  principles.  He  is 
distinctively  a  leader  in  everything  that  goes  to 
make  up  good  citizenship,  and  in  the  tokens  of  con- 
fidence which  his  fellow-citizens  have  showered  upon 
him. 

Mr.  Howard  was  married,  Jvme  i,  1842,  to  Miss 
Anna  Gilbert,  daughter  of  the  late  Joseph  B.  Gil- 
bert of  Hartford.  There  have  been  five  children, 
of  whom  three  are  living;  the  eldest,  Alice,  is  now 
the  wife  of  Judge  E.  B.  Bennett  of  this  city. 


FRANCIS    HAYDEN     TODD,    North    Haven: 

Farmer. 

F.  Hayden  Todd  was  born  in  the  town  where  he 
still  resides,  August  8,  1827.  He  was  educated  at 
public  and  private  schools,  and  has  followed  agri- 
cultural pursuits  all  his 
life.  He  was  one  year  in 
the  New  Haven  Foot 
Guards,  but  boasts  no 
other  military  record.  He 
has  held  many  public  of- 
fices, including  that  of 
selectman  for  four  years, 
grand  juror  for  nearly 
thirty  years,  treasurer  of 
the  town  for  the  last  four- 
teen years,  and  various 
other  town  offices  since 
1864.  In  1883  he^repre- 
sented  North  Haven  in 
the  legislature,  serving  on  the  committee  on  agri- 
culture, having  been  elected  by  the  republicans. 
He  is  a  Congregationalist  bj^  profession,  also  a 
member  of  the  North  Haven  grange.  He  united 
in  marriage  with  Miss  Elizabeth  M.  Gill,  who  is 
still  living,  and  they  have  three  sons.  Mr.  Todd 
has  had  most  of  the  grand  juror  business  of  the 
town  since  1864,  and  is,  with  one  exception,  the 
longest  in  this  office  of  any  person  in  his  part  of 
New  Haven  county.  His  record  is  that  of  an  hon- 
orable and  useful  citizen. 


F.    H.    TODU. 


W.  H.   BULKELEY, 


WILLIAM   H.    BULKELEY,    Hartford:     Dry- 
Goods  Merchant. 

General  William  H.  Bulkeley  has  been  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  Hartford  for  many  years,  conspicu- 
ous beyond  the  limits  of  the  city  and  county,  in 
political  and  business  cir- 
cles, first,  as  having  occu- 
pied the  second  highest 
oflfice  within  the  gift  of 
the  state,  and  next  as 
the  proprietor  of  one  of 
the  most  noted  dry-goods 
houses  in  this  section  of 
New  England.  He  is  de- 
scended from  one  of  -the 
oldest  New  England  fam- 
ilies, the  representatives  v\_„''i''  ^^il /\  "T 
of  which  have  invariably 
impressed  themselves 
upon  the  moral,  social, 
and  business  life  of  the  communities  in  which  they 
have  lived. 

General  Bulkeley  was  born  in  East  Haddam, 
March  2,  1840.  Seven  years  later,  his  father,  the 
late  Hon.  Eliphalet  A.  Bulkeley,  established  his 
residence  in  Hartford,  and  remained  here  until  his 
death  a  few  years  ago.  The  young  man  was  edu- 
cated in  the  district  and  high  schools  of  Hartford, 
principal  T.  W.  T.  Curtis  being  one  of  his  instruct- 
ors. He  left  the  high  school  before  graduation, 
with  an  admirable  record  for  scholarship  and  appli- 
cation, and  entered  an  old  and  leading  dry-goods 
establishment  here  as  a  clerk.  In  March,  1857,  he 
went  to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  engaged  in  the  same 
business  with  H.  P.  Morgan  &  Co.  Afterwards  he 
entered  the  dry -goods  trade  for  himself,  and  con- 
ducted a  successful  business  for  six  years  on  Fulton 
Street,  Brooklyn.  In  1868  he  returned  to  Hartford 
and  organized  the  Kellogg  &  Bulkeley  Company, 
lithographers,  of  which  he  has  since  been  the  pres- 
ident. He  was  for  several  years  vice-president  of 
the  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent a  member  of  its  board  of  directors.  He  is  also 
a  director  or  otherwise  officially  connected  wnth  a 
number  of  the  banking,  insurance,  and  other  cor- 
porations of  Hartford.  In  1878  he  purchased  the 
"  Bee  Hive,"  a  famous  dry-goods  establishment, 
which  he  has  since  managed  with  great  success,  it 
being  the  chief  secular  object  of  his  attention. 

General  Bulkeley  has  had  large  experience  in 
municipal  and  state  politics,  and  has  been  both  bur- 
dened and  honored  with  official  positions.  He  was 
five  years  in  the  common  council  board  of  Hartford, 
serving  one  year  as  vice-president,  and  one  as  pres- 
ident of  that  body.  At  the  expiration  of  his  mem- 
bership in  the  council,  he  was  appointed  a  member 
of  the  board  of  street  commissioners,  retaining  the 
position  by  successive  appointments  between  seven 


152 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


and  eight  years,  and  proving  one  of  the  most  effi- 
cient members  the  board  has  ever  had.  General 
Bulkeley  was  elected  to  the  office  of  Lieutenant- 
Governor  of  Connecticut  on  the  ticket  with  Governor 
Bigelow,  and  served  through  1881  and  1882  with 
credit.  As  presiding  officer  of  the  senate,  he  won 
and  received  the  approval  of  that  body,  irrespective 
of  party. 

General  Bulkeley  has  a  creditable  war  record, 
having  been  one  of  the  first  to  respond  to  the  call 
for  troops  after  the  attack  on  Fort  Sumter.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Brooklyn  City  Guard,  G  company. 
Thirteenth  regiment,  N.  Y.  N.  G.,  and  advanced  to 
the  front  with  his  command,  April  19,  1861.  The 
organization  was  in  service  iov  four  months.  In 
1862  he  organized  Company  G,  of  the  Fifty-sixth 
regiment,  N.  Y.  N.  G.,  and  was  elected  captain. 
He  was  with  his  command  through  the  Pennsylva- 
nia crisis  of  1863,  being  in  General  "  Baldy " 
Smith's  division.  The  regiment  was  ordered  home 
during  the  New  York  draft  riots,  after  which  it  was 
disbanded,  its  term  of  service  having  expired. 

General  Bulkeley  is  an  active  member  of  Robert 
O.  Tyler  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  of  Hartford,  and  also  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut.  In  private 
life  he  is  a  gentleman  of  superior  traits  of  charac- 
ter; a  member  of  the  Pearl  Street  Congregational 
church,  and  a  generous  contributor  to  its  charities. 


S.  C.  BEERS,  Cornwall:  Merchant. 

Silas  Curtis  Beers  was  the  judge  of  probate  in 
the  Cornwall  district  for  four  years  from  1880,  and 
occupied  the  position  of  town  clerk  and  treasurer 
for  fourteen  consecutive 
years,  discharging  the  du- 
ties of  the  place  with 
great  efficiency  and  suc- 
cess. In  1867  he  was  a 
member  of  the  house 
from  the  town  of  Corn- 
wall, his  colleagues  from 
Litchfield  county  includ- 
ing Henry  B.  Graves  of 
Litchfield,  Seth  Thomas 
of  Plymouth,  Nathaniel 
Smith  of  Woodbury,  and 
the  Rev.  John  Churchill, 
also  of  Woodbury.  In 
politics  Mr.  Beers  is  a  republican.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  First  Congregational  church  in  Cornwall,  in 
which  he  has  held  the  office  of  deacon  for  a  number 
of  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  firm  of  M.  Beers 
&  Sons,  and  is  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits. 
Mr.  Beers  is  unmarried.  He  was  born  at  Cornwall, 
March  13,  1827,  and  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. He  is  one  of  the  most  respected  and  hon- 
ored citizens  of  the  town  in  which  he  lives. 


S.    C.    BEERS. 


ELISHA  B.  GILLETTE,  Canaan:  Farmer. 
Elisha  B.  Gillette  was  born  in  that  town,  Nov. 

27,  1829,  and  received  a  common  school  education. 

His  father,  Joseph  P.  Gillette,  was  from  Milford, 
and  his  grandfather,  Ben- 
jamin Gillette,  was  a  sol- 
dier of  the  revolutionary 
war.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  a  member  of 
the  hoi:se  of  representa- 
tives in  1884 from  Canaan, 


serving  on  the  democratic 
side.  He  has  been  a 
member  of  the  school 
board  and  school  commit- 
tee, occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  clerk  and  treas- 
urer. He  has  also  been  a 
justice  of  the  peace.  Mr. 
Gillette  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  church.  For 
the  past  thirty  years  he  has  been  engaged  in  the 
lumber  and  charcoal  business,  and  in  farming. 
The  wife  of  Mr.  Gillette  was  Miss  Sarah  L.  Abells 
before  her  marriage,  and  is  still  living.  The 
family  includes  five  children. 


E.    B.    GILLETTE. 


CHARLES  BELKNAP,  Bridgeport:  President  of 
the  Belknap  Manufacturing  Company. 
Charles  Belknap  was  born  in  East  Randolph, 
Vermont,  March  29,  1825.  Brought  t:p  on  a  farm 
until  1841,  he  went  to  Chicopee  Falls  to  work  in  a 
cotton  mill.  In  1844  he 
went  to  Cabotville  (now 
Chicopee)  to  learn  the 
machinist  trade  with  the 
Ames  Manufacturing 
Company.  He  was  mar- 
ried in  May,  1845,  to  Mar- 
cia  C.  Goddard.  In  1849 
he  removed  to  Springfield 
and  was  employed  in  the 
United  States  Armory 
shops.  In  August,  i860, 
went  to  Bridgeport  with 
Dwight  Chapin  &  Co., 
manufacturers  of  brass 
and  iron  goods.  In  1S61  was  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  army  appendages.  Did  not  go  to  the 
war  and  was  not  drafted,  but  wishing  to  be  repre- 
sented sent  a  substitute.  In  1863,  in  company  with 
Mr.  E.  G.  Burnham,  he  organized  the  Belknap  & 
Burnham  Manufacturing  Company  for  the  manu- 
facture of  engineers'  supplies,  gas,  steam,  and 
water  goods.  From  small  beginnings  this  business 
grew  to  large  proportions  and  was  afterward 
changed  to  the  Eaton,  Cole  &  Burnham  Co.,  one  of 
the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  country. 

In  1875,  having  retired  from  the  above  corpora- 


CHARLES    BELKNAP. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


153 


DANlt)    HENNEY. 


tion,  and  having  associated  with  him  several  gen- 
tlemen who  had  held  prominent  positions  in  the  old 
firm's  employ,  the  Belknap  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany was  organized  to  manufacture  the  same  line 
of  goods,  in  which  he  has  held  the  position  of  presi- 
dent since  its  organization,  owning  the  majority  of 
the  capital  stock. 

DAVID  HENNEY,  Hartfokd  :  President  and 
Treasurer  Hartford  Light  and  Power  Company. 
Alderman  David  Henney  was  born  iti  Onslow, 
la.,  Oct.  7,  1S55,  his  parents  at  the  time  being  resi- 
dents of  that  state.  One  year  later  the  familj'  re- 
turned to  Connecticut  and 
settled  in  ^Villimantic. 
After  a  residence  of  severi 
years  in  that  place,  Mr. 
Henney,  the  father  of  the 
alderman,  decided  to  re- 
move to  this  city,  where 
he  could  give  his  children 
the  best  of  educational 
opportunities.  It  was  the 
question  of  education,  in 
fact,  that  determined  his 
return  east  from  Iowa. 
All  of  his  children  have 
been  thoroughlyeducated, 
and  each  of  the  five  sons  occupies  a  responsible  and 
influential  position  in  the  communitj'  where  he  re- 
sides. The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  educated  in 
the  public  schools  of  this  city,  graduating  from  the 
Hartford  High  School  in  the  class  of  1874.  He  was 
a  clerk  in  the  Mechanics  Savings  Bank  here  for 
four  years,  after  which  he  engaged  in  the  broker- 
age business.  In  1887  he  organized  the  Hartford 
Light  and  Power  Company  and  has  been  its  presi- 
dent and  treasurer  from  the  start.  At  the  session 
of  the  legislature  in  1887  the  company  was  incorpo- 
rated under  a  special  charter  and  was  the  first  to 
introduce  the  incandescent  system  in  this  city.  It 
was  also  the  first  to  establish  electric  motors, 
furnishing  power  for  industries  of  various  kinds. 
President  Henney  was  mainly  instrumental  in 
getting  the  electric  street  railroad  line  established. 
He  is  also  the  originator  of  the  project  for  running 
electric  railroad  lines  from  West  Hartford  Center 
by  way  of  Farmington  to  Unionville  and  from  the 
Windsor  town  line  on  North  Main  street  to  Poquon- 
ock  and  Rainbow.  These  plans  will  be  carried 
into  eft'ect  as  soon  as  acts  of  incorporation  are 
granted  by  the  legislature.  Mr.  Henney  is  the 
president  and  treasurer  of  the  Hartford  Steam 
Company.  He  also  owns  a  valuable  farm  in  Union- 
ville, which  is  carried  on  under  his  immediate 
supervision.  He  is  one  of  the  shrewdest  business 
men  in  the  city.  Alderman  Henney  has  been  a 
member   of   the   court   of  common   council    seven 


years,  six  of  the  number  being  spent  in  the  board 
of  alderman.  He  was  chairman  of  the  ways  and 
means  committee  for  four  years,  the  position  being 
the  most  important  one  in  city  government  and  re- 
quiring special  knowledge  of  municipal  finances 
and  management.  Mr.  Henney  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  place  with  complete  success.  He  is 
the  chairman  of  the  eighth  ward  republican  com- 
mittee and  is  the  only  republican  who  has  been 
able  to  win  an  election  in  that  stronghold  of  de- 
mocracy for  three  consecutive  terms.  The  alder- 
man is  a  member  of  the  First  Presbyterian  church, 
and  was  for  a  number  of  years  the  president  of  the 
young  people's  association  in  that  church.  He  has 
a  wife  and  two  children.  The  former  was  Miss 
Elizabeth  Simonds  of  this  city  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage. The  brothers  of  the  alderman  are  James  B. 
Henney  of  Boston,  formerly  superintendent  of  mo- 
tive power  on  the  New  York  &  New  England,  John 
Henney,  Jr.,  superintendent  of  motive  power  on 
the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford,  Charles 
M.  and  Judge  Wm.  F.  Hennej',  both  of  whom  have 
held  influential  offices  in  the  city.  The  only  sister 
resides  at  the  family  home  here.  Alderman  Hen- 
ney is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Order  of  Elks. 
His  career  as  a  business  man  and  citizen  has  enti- 
tled him  to  the  honor  and  esteem  of  the  entire  com- 
munity. 

E.    H.    BARTRAM,    Sharon:    Town   Clerk   and 

Treasurer. 

Ezra  Harris  Bartram  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Sherman,  Fairfield  County,  Conn.,  July  26,  1S20. 
He  depended  upon  the  district  schools  of  his  native 
town  for  his  education, 
and  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
quitted  both  the  town 
and  school  and  took  up 
his  residence  in  Sharon, 
where  he  has  since  re- 
mained. He  has  followed 
inercantile  pursuits  for  a 
considerable  part  of  his 
life,  and  has  otherwise 
been  engaged  in  farming. 
At  twenty-two  years  of 
age  he  was  married  to 
Miss  Laura  Williams,  who 
died  March  9,  1884.  Six 
childi-en  survive  her.  Mr.  Bartram  is  a  member  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  of  Sharon.  He  is 
also  a  democrat,  and  has,  as  the  candidate  of  that 
party,  been  frequently  chosen  to  fill  public  offices 
in  his  town.  He  has  been  constable,  assessor,  and 
was  a  justice  of  the  peace  until  excluded  from  fur- 
ther holding  that  office  by  his  age.  He  is  still  a 
notary  public,  and  continues  to  fill  the  important 
position  of  town  clerk  and  treasurer.     Mr.  Bartram 


E.     H.    BARTRAM. 


154 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


has  not  been  conspicuously  prominent  in  public 
affairs,  on  account  of  his  quiet  disposition  and 
habits;  but  his  life  has  been  one  of  great  usefulness, 
and  he  has  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  who 
know  him. 


ADOISON   KINGSBURY. 


ADDISON  KINGSBURY,  Coventrv:  Box  Manu- 
facturer. 

Addison  Kingsbury  of  South  Coventry,  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of  A.  Kingsburj^  &  Son,  is  one 
of  the  most  noted  and  successful  paper  box  manu- 
facturers in  New  England. 
The  business  includes  the 
product  from  five  facto- 
ries which  are  located  in 
South  Coventry,  Rock- 
ville,  New  London,  and 
Willimantic  in  this  state, 
and  at  Northampton, 
Mass.  Mr.  Kingsburj'  is 
the  inventor  of  the  ma- 
chine for  c  u  1 1  i  ng  the 
blanks  for  the  boxes.  The 
industry  was  started  at 
South  Coventry  in  iS6S 
and  rapidly  developed, 
becoming  in  the  course  of  a  dozen  years  one  of  ex- 
tensive proportions  and  standing.  jMillions  of  boxes 
are  now  turned  out  annually  by  aid  of  the  machin- 
ery devised  by  !Mr.  Kingsburj'.  In  iSSo,  after  hav- 
ing established  an  extensive  plant  at  Rockville,  the 
far-sighted  manager  of  the  industry  located  a  fac- 
tory at  Northampton.  In  1883  Arthur  L.  Kings- 
bury was  admitted  to  the  firm  and  has  since  been 
an  active  participant  in  its  interests  and  business. 
In  1SS5  the  subject  of  this  sketch  invented  a  glue- 
ing machine,  which  is  still  in  use,  and  also  the  ma- 
chine for  cutting  box  blanks.  These  inventions 
have  contributed  materially  to  the  firm's  success. 
The  combined  production  of  the  firm's  factories 
amounts  to  upwaixls  of  ten  million  boxes  a  year, 
giving  employment  to  over  150  hands  and  doing 
over  $100,000  business  annually.  One  of  the  spe- 
cialties by  which  Messrs.  Kingsbury  achieved  their 
success  is  the  furnishing  of  pinnted  labels  with  the 
boxes.  The  founder  of  the  business  is  also  inter- 
ested in  the  Kingsbury  &  Davis  Machine  Company 
of  Contoocook,  N.  H.,  which  turns  out  the  machine 
he  invented  for  cutting  blanks,  as  well  as  other  pa- 
per-box machinery.  He  has  spent  much  of  his  time 
in  New  York  and  is  a  gentleman  of  wide  business 
acquaintance.  His  career  has  been  one  of  superb 
success  and  may  be  adduced  as  an  illustration  of 
the  prosperity  that  awaits  ability  and  energy  in  the 
industrial  pursuits  of  this  country.  The  manufac- 
turers of  America,  of  whom  Mr.  Kingsbiiry  is  a 
worthy  representative,  are  entitled  to  the  highest 
credit  for  the  part  which  they  have  performed  in  the 


development  of  the  American  people.  Mr.  Kings- 
bury was  born  at  South  Coventry,  November  15, 
1835,  and  received  a  common  and  select  school  ed- 
ucation. He  began  life  as  an  accountant,  but  the 
most  of  his  business  career  has  been  in  connection 
with  his  paper  box  industry  and  inventions.  In  pol- 
itics he  is  a  republican.  He  is  connected  with  the 
Congregational  church.  He  has  been  twice  married. 
The  second  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  IMiss  Sara 
yi.  Scott  prior  to  marriage.  There  are  two  child- 
ren living,  one  of  whom,  Arthur  L.  Kingsbury,  is 
associated  with  his  father  in  the  firm  and  business, 
as  before  intimated. 


HORACE   JOHNSON. 


HORACE  JOHNSON,  Plainville:  Carriage  Man- 
ufacturer. 

Horace  Johnson  was  born  in  Decatur,  Otsego 
county,  N.  Y.,  December  25,  1822,  and  received  a 
district  school  education.  He  was  only  five  years 
old  when  his  father  died. 
Since  that  time  he  has 
made  his  own  way  in  the 
world,  working  on  a  farm 
during  his  early  years  for 
his  board  and  schooling. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen, 
after  completing  the  sea- 
son on  a  farm  at  three 
dollars  a  month,  he  made 
his  way  back  to  Connecti- 
cut, where  his  parents 
were  born,  with  only  sev- 
enteen dollars  in  his  pos- 
session. The  subsequent 
three  years  were  spent  in  the  town  of  Litchfield, 
where  he  learned  the  carriage-maker's  trade.  He 
then  removed  to  New  Britain  and  worked  four  j-ears 
for  Normand  Warner,  who  is  still  remembered  by 
manjr  people  in  that  locaHty.  Mr.  Johnson  after- 
wards eff'ected  a  partnership  with  L.  S.  Gladding 
and  carried  on  a  successful  carriage  business  until 
the  commencement  of  the  war.  The  firm  con- 
trolled an  extensive  business  in  the  south  and  lost 
heavily.  Mr.  Johnson's  partner  died  soon  after  the 
war  was  ended  and  the  whole  management  of  the 
business  devolved  upon  him.  His  plant  was  de- 
stroyed by  fire  seven  years  ago,  causing  the  loss  of 
nearly  one-third  of  his  property.  The  works  were 
rebuilt  immediately  and  the  business  continued. 
Mr.  Johnson  manufactures  only  first-class  goods, 
which  are  sent  throughout  the  country,  principally 
in  the  south.  His  "Jefferson  spindle  "  buggy  has 
taken  several  prize  medals  at  state  fairs,  and  is  to 
be  found  in  every  city  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen  at 
Plainville  and  treasurer  of  the  grand  lodge  of  Good 
Templars  in  this  state.     He  is  a  prohibitionist  in 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


155 


politics  and  a  member  of  the  Congregational  church. 
Mr.  Johnson  also  belongs  to  the  Order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows. His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  three  child- 
ren. The  former  was  Miss  Susan  L.  Adams  prior 
to  marriage.  In  the  management  of  his  business 
since  the  war,  Mr.  Johnson  has  frequently  visited 
the  south  and  has  extensive  transactions  in  that 
section.  His  life  has  been  characterized  by  the 
strictest  business  integrity,  and  he  has  thoroughly 
deserved  the  success  which  he  has  attained. 


JARED  AV.  LINCOLN,  Chaplin:  Postmaster. 
Jared  W.  Lincoln  was  born  in  Windham,  Sept.  8, 


public   school   at   North 
schools    in   Chaplin   and 


J.    w, 


1823.  He  attended  the 
Windham,  and  private 
Willimantic,  and,  at  the 
age  of  seventeen  com- 
menced teaching  school. 
He  taught  fourteen  win- 
ter terms.  He  was  mar- 
ried to  Joanna  Spafford  in 
April,  1S44.  They  have 
had  two  children,  Edgar 
and  Clinton;  the  latter 
died  in  1862;  Edgar  is  liv- 
ing in  Chaplin.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln moved  to  Chaplin 
in  1856,  and  entered  the 
store  of  his  brother  Allen 
Lincoln,  as  a  clerk.  Soon 
afterwards  he  bought  the  store  and  has  conducted 
a  business  in  general  merchandise,  until  within  a 
few  years,  having  been  succeeded  in  the  business 
by  his  son,  Edgar  S.  Lincoln.  Mr.  J.  W.  Lincoln 
has  retired  from  trade  and  is  farming  on  a  small 
scale,  preferring  outdoor  life  for  health,  principally, 
but  also  for  comfort  and  independence.  Mr.  Lin- 
coln has  served  his  town  in  various  public  capaci- 
ties since  his  re.sidence  there.  He  was  a  represent- 
ative in  the  state  legislature  in  1862;  was  elected 
town  clerk  and  treasurer  in  1863,  both  which  offices 
he  now  holds,  and  has  held  for  twenty-seven  years. 
Although  a  republican  in  politics,  and  the  candi- 
date of  that  party  whenever  nominated  for  office, 
he  has  generally  received  the  votes  of  both  political 
parties.  He  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Chaplin 
in  1863,  under  President  Lincoln,  and  held  the 
office  until  Mr.  Cleveland's  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency. He  was  again  appointed  in  1889,  under 
President  Harrison,  and  is  still  in  office.  He  re- 
ceived a  notary  public's  commission  from  Governor 
English  in  1868,  and  has  held  that  office  contin- 
uously since. 

Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  member  of  the  Chaplin  Congre- 
gational church,  of  which  he  was  elected  clerk  and 
treasurer  in  1870,  and  has  remained  such  to  the 
present  time,  being  still  in  office. 


CHARLES    H.  LADD,    Spk.vgue  :  Farmer. 

Charles  H.  Ladd  was  born  in  the  town  of  Frank- 
lin, July  31,  1848,  and  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. Most  of  his  Hfe  has  been  devoted  to  agri- 
cultural pursuits,  and  he 
has  taken  an  active  part 
in  advancing  the  interests 
of  the  town.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of 
trade,  which  was  organ- 
ized for  the  purpose  of  re- 
viving the  industrial  en- 
terprises in  Sprague, 
which  in  5'ears  past  have 
made  that  town  the  cen- 
ter of  so  much  interest. 
He  has  held  the  offices  of 
selectman  and  justice  of  ,.    ^    ,  ,r<r. 

■^  (  ,    H.    l.AUU. 

the    peace,    and    was  •  a 

member  of  the  general  assembly  from  the  town  of 
Sprague  in  1878.  The  legislature  of  that  year  was 
the  first  to  occupy  the  new  capitol,  spending  a  few 
days  there  at  the  last  of  the  session.  In  poHtics 
Mr.  Ladd  is  a  democrat.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
*]Methodist  church.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife 
and  three  children.  The  former  was  Miss  Rebecca 
A.  Steere  prior  to  her  marriage. 


GEORGE  AUGUSTUS  HARRIS,  Preston: 
Division  Freight  Agent,  New  York  &  New  Eng- 
land Railroad. 

George  A.  Harris  was  born  in  the  town  where  he 
now  resides,  August  12,  1840.  After  graduating 
from  the  public  schools,  at  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
entered  the  employ  of 
Nash,  Brewster  &  Co., 
lumber  dealers  of  Nor- 
Avich,  as  bookkeeper  and 
accountant,  remaining 
with  the  firm  four,  and  a 
half  years.  In  1861,  at 
the  close  of  his  connectjpn 
wdth  the  above  firm,  he 
began  his  career  in  the  rail- 
way service  with  the  old 
Norwich  &  Worcester 
Railroad  Company — now 
a  division  of  the  New  York 
&  New  England  system. 
His  service  on  this  line  has  been  continuous  since 
that  date,  covering  a  period  of  thirtj-  years,  and 
embracing  bj'  successive  promotions  the  grades  of 
receiving  freight  clerk,  freight  conductor,  passen- 
ger conductor,  clerk  in  the  ticket  department, 
superintendent's  office,  president's  office,  freight 
department,  agent  at  Norwich,  and  division  freight 
agent, —  which  latter  position  he  now  holds. 

Mr.  Harris  is  married  and  has  five  children;  his 


A.     HARRIS. 


156 

wife  Avas  Miss  Catherine  Amelia  Dewey  previous  to 
marriage.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  as 
such  has  held  the  treasuryship  of  the  town  of  Pres- 
ton. He  is  a  member  of  the  masonic  fraternity, 
and  has  taken  all  degrees  up  to  and  including  the 
thirtv-second. 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


T.     I.    PEASE. 


THEODORE  L  PEASE,  Thompsonville:  Whole- 
sale Lumber  Dealer. 

Theodore  Isaac  Pease  was  b^rn  in  the  town  of 
Enfield,  September  iS,  1844,  and  received  a  thor- 
ough common  school  and  academic  education,  com- 
pleting the  course  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  In- 
stitute. His  business  ed- 
ucation was  acquired  at 
Eastman's  College.  I  n 
1 860-1  he  was  assistant 
bookkeeper  with  the  Nay- 
asset  Paper  Company. 
SubsequenJ;ly,  1S64-5,  he 
served  as  bookkeeper  with 
C.  Blodgett  &  Son,  whole- 
sale lumber  dealers  at 
Burhngton,  Vt.  In  No- 
vember, 1865,  he  returned 
home  and  assumed  the 
lumber  business  of  Judge  Seth  Terry,  who  had  been 
in  partnership  with  his  father,  Theodore  Pease,  the 
new  firm  becoming  T.  Pease  &  Son.  In  1869  Henry 
S.  Pease,  a  brother,  was  admitted  to  the  concern, 
which  was  rapidly  increasing  its  transactions.  The 
subject  of  this  sketch  obtained  a  complete  knowl- 
edge of  the  lumber  business  in  Michigan,  Vermont, 
and  Canada.  He  was  president  of  the  Pease,  Rob- 
inson &  Jackson  Company  of  Stanton,  Mich.,  for 
several  years,  till  he  sold  out  his  interest  in  J'anu- 
uary,  iSSq.  He  is  treasurer  and  manager  now  of 
The  Quebec  Lumber  Company,  with  dressing  mills 
at  West  Burke,  Vt.,  where  the  company  dresses 
and  ships  annually  nearly  six  million  feet  of  pine, 
spruce,  and  hard  woods,  mostly  imported  from  Can- 
ada. To  this  and  the  management  of  the  whole- 
sale business  of  The  T.  Pease  &  Sons  Company  he 
devotes  his  whole  time.  The  company  keeps  two 
salesmen  on  the  road  selling  to  the  lumber  dealers 
through  New  England,  and  it  is  known  as  among 
the  largest  shippers  of  lumber  in  this  section  of  the 
country. 

Although  a  very  busy  man,  and  for  years  carry- 
ing the  burdens  of  a  large  and  increasing  business, 
he  has  been  more  or  less  identified  with  the  devel- 
opment of  the  town.  He  is  always  public-spirited 
and  interested  in  public  matters.  For  year's  he  has 
been  an  active  member  of  the  Enfield  Congrega- 
tional church,  and  early  identified  himself  with  the 
Christian    Endeavor   movement.     He   became  the 


first  president  of  the  Christian  Endeavor  Society 
formed  in  his  church,  and  one  of  the  first  to  move 
for  the  organization  of  the  Enfield  Christian  En- 
deavor Union,  and  was  elected  its  first  president. 
He  is  now  serving  his  third  term  as  superintendent 
of  the  Sunday-school  of  his  church,  and  is  earnestl}" 
engaged  in  religious  and  benevolent  work. 

He  has  held  important  offices  in  Enfield  and  rep- 
resented that  town  on  the  republican  side  of  the 
state  legislature  during  the  session  of  1874.  He  has 
held  the  oflfices  of  town  clerk,  treasurer,  and  regis- 
trar, and  has  been  the  clerk  of  the  probate  court. 
He  is  a  member  of  Doric  Lodge,  No.  94,  F.  and  A. 
M.,  of  Thompsonville,  and  also  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  Honor.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the 
Putnam  Phalanx  of  Hartford,  occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  sergeant-major  on  the  non-commissioned 
staff  of  Major  O.  H.  Blanchard.  He  was  married 
Januarjr  I,  .1868,  to  Miss  Jennie  E.  Ellis,  and  has 
one  daughter.  Miss  J.  Estella  Pease,  who  was  born 
January  15,  1874.  His  famil}'  hold  a  prominent 
place  in  the  social  life  of  Thompsonville,  and  have 
hosts  of  friends  throughout  the  state. 


LEWIS  BISSELL,  East  Hartford:  Farmer  and 
Dealer  in  Real  Estate. 

Mr.  Bissell  was  born  in  South  Windsor,  July  6, 
1829,  and  grew  up  as  does  the  average  farmer's 
boy,  dividing  his  time  between  the  farm  and  the 
district  school.  His  early 
life  was  spent  in  his 
native  town,  after  which 
he  removed  to  Vernon, 
then  to  Manchester,  and 
finall}^  to  East  Hartford, 
which  has  since  1S86  been 
his  permanent  place  of 
abode.  Early  in  life  he 
married  Miss  Cornelia  A. 
Palmer  of  Vernon ,  a  lady 
of  man)'  excellent  traits 
of  character,  to  whom  he 
is  indebted  for  much  of 
the  domestic  happiness 
with  which  his  home  has  been  filled,  and  to  whose 
counsel  and  cooperation  he  attributes  a  gbod  share 
of  the  success  he  has  attained  in  business  affairs. 
They  have  one  child,  a  son,  Robert  P.  Bissell,  who 
is  a  prosperous  merchant  in  North  Manchester,  in 
which  town  he  has  resided  since  infancy,  having 
been  a  native  of  South  Windsor,  as  was  his  father. 
Mr.  Bissell  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church  at  North  Manchester,  with  which  he  united 
when  a  resident  of  that  town.  His  life  in  Man- 
chester was  one  of  great  activity,  having  been  ex- 
tensively engaged  in  building  operations.  He 
built  the  largest  block  in  the  village,  containing  the 


lewis  hissell. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


157 


hall  that  bears  his  name.  While  there  he  was 
called  to  fill  the  office  of  first  or  second  selectman 
of  the  town  for  six  consecutive  years,  and  was 
prominent  in  various  ways  in  improving  the  town 
and  advancing,  its  interests.  More  recently  he  has 
devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  bus:-0:ss  affairs, 
and  has  declined  public  offices  of  every  k.:id.  He 
is  a  republicari  in  politics,  having  been  cojr.^cted 
with  that  party  ever  since  its  organization.  H^  is 
a  good  judge  of  values  in  real  estate,  and  has  made 
several  successful  ventures  in  this  line.  Since  1S86 
he  has  foreseen  the  advance  which  was  likely  to 
take  place  in  East  Hartford  real  estate,  and  has  in- 
vested there  quite  advantageously.  His  sound 
judgment,  honesty,  and  strict  integrity  are  unques- 
tioned, and  his  superior  ability  as  a  business  man 
is  sufficiently  attested  by  the  fact  that  he  began  life 
without  means  or  influential  friends,  and  has  by 
his  own  unaided  exertions  accomplished  the  degree 
of  success  and  prosperity  by  which  he  is  now 
attended. 

JOHN  M.  HOLCOMBE,  Hartford  :  Vice-Presi- 
dent Phtenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Holcombe  is  a  native  and  has  always  been  a 
resident  of  Hartford,  still  living  in  the  house  where 
he  was  born  June  8,  1848.  He  prepared  for  college 
at  the  Hartford  High 
School,  and  graduated 
from  Yale  University  in 
the  class  of  1870.  In  1875 
he  became  secretary  of  the 
Phoenix  Mutual  Life  In- 
surance Company,  and  re- 
tained that  position  until 
elected  to  the  vice-presi- 
dency in  1889.  He  has 
been  a  member  and  presi- 
dent of  both  branches  of 
the  Hartford  city  govern- 
ment for  several  terms, 
being  elected  to  these 
positions  by  the  republicans  of  the  second  ward; 
and  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  board  of  health 
commissioners.  His  business  connections,  aside 
from  the  official  relation  he  sustains  to  the  Phoenix 
Life,  are  as  director  in  the  American  National 
Bank,  the  Mechanics  Savings  Bank,  and  the  Con- 
necticut Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  as  vice-presi- 
dent of  the  Fidelity  Company,  all  of  Hartford.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Center  church  congregation 
(Dr.  Walker's),  the  oldest  church  organization  in 
Connecticut. 

Mr.  Holcombe  was  married,  in  1873,  to  Miss 
Emily  S.  Goodwin,  daughter  of  E.  O.  Goodwin  of 
Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  they  have  three  children, 
two  sons  and  a  daughter. 


J.    M.     lIOLCi)M]iE. 


BENJAMIN  A.  BAILEY,  Damelsonville:  Agent 

Ouinebaug  Companjr. 

Mr.  Bailey  was  born  at  ]\Iarblehead,  Mass.,  June 
ig,  1828,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of 
Massachusetts.  He  is  connected  with  the  Ouine- 
baug Company  at  Daniel- 
sonville  and  is  a  director 
in  the  Windham  County 
National  Bank  of  Brook- 
lyn. Mr.  Bailey  has  been 
engaged  in  the  maniifac- 
ture  of  cotton  products 
and  in  mechanical  inter- 
ests during  a  large  por- 
tion of  his  life.  Since  1S74 
he  has  been  the  agent  of 
the  Quinebaug  Company. 
He  has  resided  at  Great 
Falls,  N.  H.,  and  at 
Biddeford  and  Lewiston, 
Me.  In  the  latter  city  he  was  a  member  of  both 
branches  of  the  court  of  common  council,  serving 
as  a  republican.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was 
Miss  Emily  W.  Burbank  of  Conway,  N.  H.  They 
have  had  six  children,  five  of  whom,  four  sons  and 
one  daughter,  are  Hving.  Mr.  Bailey  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church  at  Danielsonville. 


B.    A.    BAILEY 


MARCUS  A.  PINNEY,  Ellington:  Dairy  Farmer. 

Marcus  A.  Pinney  was  born  in  Ellington,  Octo- 
ber 14,  1850,  the  son  of  Albert  and  Lavinia  Pinney, 
grandson  of  the  once  noted  Benjamin  Pinney,  bet- 
ter known  as  Judge  Pin- 
ney, who  was  justice  of 
the  peace  for  many  years, 
judge  of  probate  and  of 
the  county  courts  of  Tol- 
land county  several  years; 
representative  in  the  gen- 
eral assembl}'  a  nuniber  of 
times;  and  senator  from 
the  old  twentieth  district 
in  1S33.  The  Pinney  fam- 
ily is  the  most  ancient  and 
one  of  the  most  numerous 
families  that  ever  lived  in 
Ellington. 

Marcus  A.  Pinney,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
since  completing  his  education  at  the  Ellington  high 
school,  has  followed  the  same  occupation  as  his 
father  —  dairy  farming.  He  has  always  shown  a 
natural  taste  and  inclination  in  that  direction,  and 
has  managed  his  affairs  in  a  way  which  entitles  him 
to  be  considered  a  thrifty  and  successful  farmer.  In 
politics  he  is  a  democrat,  and  was  elected  by  that 
party  a  representative  in  the  general  assembl}^  of 
1889-90.     He  was  one  of  the  state  delegates  to  the 


M.    A.    IMNNEV. 


158 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


Washington  centennial  at  New  York  in  April,  1SS9. 
He  was  one  of  the  charter  members  of  the  Elling- 
ton grange,  and  is  prominent  in  the  organization, 
having  been  unanimously  elected  to  the  office  of 
worthy  master  for  the  present  year. 

Mr.  Pinney  married  Julia  E.  Peck  of  Ellington, 
and  has  one  child,  a  son. 


E.    HOWE. 


E.  Howe  for  the  position 
firmed   the   nomination, 


GEORGE  E.   HOWE,  Meride.n  :    Superintendent 
of  Reformatories. 

He  was  born  in  Livonia,  N.  Y. ,  May  31,  1825. 
It  was  while  Mr.  Howe  was  superintendent  of  the 
public  or  union  schools  of  Painesville  and  of  Hamil- 
ton, Ohio,  fi-om  1853  to 
1859,  that  the  attention  of 
Governor  Salmon  P. 
Chase  was  drawn  to  him 
as  an  accomplished  dis- 
ciplinarian and  school 
supervisor.  The  Ohio 
Reform  School  for  boj-s, 
located  near  Lancaster, 
which  was  now  in  its  rude 
incipiency,  was  in  need 
of  a  superintendent;  and 
Governor  Chase  sent  for- 
ward to  the  Ohio  state 
senate  the  name  of  George 
The  senate  at  once  con- 
and  Mr.  Howe  entered 
in  1859  upon  his  life  work  in  reformatories.  He 
found  the  Ohio  institution  in  a  very  crude  condi- 
tion. Two  of  the  buildings  were  built  of  logs. 
To  the  great  work  of  improvement  and  develop- 
ment, he  at  once  gave  his  best  energies,  and  so 
signally  did  his  enterprise  and  his  methods  com- 
mend themselves  to  the  state  officers  of  the  time, 
that  they  became  not  only  the  official  acquaintances 
of  the  superintendent,  but  many  of  them,  like  Gov- 
ernor Salmon  P.  Chase  and  the  Hon.  John  A.  Foot, 
state  senator  from  Ohio,  and  commissioner  of  re- 
form schools,  his  personal  friends.  As  soon  as  Mr. 
Howe  revolved  in  his  own  mind  what  was  the 
proper  system  for  a  reformatorj'  of  youth,  he  came 
to  the  same  plans  so  successfully  installed  by  the 
famous  Dr.  Immanuel  Wichern  of  Germany.  It 
seemed  to  him  that  the  nearer  a  reformatory  for 
youth  could  be  constructed  and  carried  on  like  an 
excellent  Christian  family,  the  more  easily  and  suc- 
cessfully could  it  attain  to  its  object.  Accordingly 
he  sought  to  apply  the  "family  system"  of  Dr. 
Wichern  to  the  Ohio  reformatory.  That  system 
had  not  been  known  in  this  countrj',  and  Mr.  Howe 
was  the  first  to  apply  it.  So  natural  a  system  did 
it  prove  to  be,  and  so  fraught  with  the  best  results, 
that  Mr.  Howe  has  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  it 
transplanted  into  many  other  states.     It  has   be- 


come the  popular  sj-stem  of  the  whole  country,  and 
the  counsel  of  Mr.  Howe,  as  the  founder  of  the 
system  in  this  countr5^  has  been  sought  for  in 
establishing  it  in  the  many  new  institutions  of  the 
land.  As  soon  as  the  achievements  of  the  Ohio 
reforrnatory  became  known  abroad,  Mr.  Howe  was 
sought  for  at  reformatory  and  prison  congresses, —  as 
in  1870,  at  Cincinnati,  by  the  National  Prison  Re- 
form Congress;  and  in  1S72,  in  London,  England, 
by  the  International  Prison  Congress;  in  1874,  in 
St.  Louis,  Mo.,  by  the  National  Prison  Congress; 
and  in  1880,  in  Cleveland,  Ohio,  by  the  national 
meeting  of  the  same  distinguished  body.  In  all  of 
these  deliberative  assemblies  he  expounded  the 
"  family  system  "  and  its  working;  and  at  the  Lon- 
don congress  was  called  before  the  body  three 
times,  in  sessions  of  twenty  minutes  each,  to  ex- 
plain as  fully  as  he  might  the  system  as  operating 
in  the  Ohio  reformatory,  as  well  as  in  other 
reformatory  institutions  of  the  United  States. 

While  in  Europe  he  visited  the  principal  reforma- 
tories of  Great  Britain  and  the  continent,  and  at 
Hamburg  met  Dr.  Immanuel  Wichern,  founder  of 
the  celebrated  "  Rauhe  Haus,"  from  whom  had 
been  derived  the  germinal  idea  which  had  given  its 
present  form  to  the  Ohio  institution.  He  also  was 
welcomed  to  an  interview  with  the  celebrated  De 
Metz,  in  Paris,  the  founder  of  the  colony  at  Mettray. 

At  Lancaster  the  old  and  rough  buildings  disap- 
peared; new,  commodious,  and  architecturally 
beautiful  buildings  took  their  places;  and  the  Ohio 
reformatory  became  a  model  for  the  erection  of 
similar  reformatories  in  other  places,  and  an 
example  of  what  may  be  done  in  public  institutions 
for  the  building  up  of  good  character  in  vicious  or 
wayward  youth. 

Mr.  Howe  has  the  gift  of  government,  is  able  to 
rule  by  his  presence,  and  does  not  need  to  employ 
the  coarser  means  of  discipline,  except  to  a  very 
limited  extent.  He  teaches  that  all  prison  sugges- 
tions should  be  banished  nearly  or  entirely  from  such 
reformatories,  "  believing  that  the  strongest  wall  is 
no  wall";  and  that  every  family  in  the  system 
should  be  well  regulated  by  a  kind,  loving,  family- 
like, confiding,  but  yet  steady  and  firm  discipline; 
and  well  supported  by  excellent  school  instruction, 
while  yet  our  ambitious  esprit  de  corp  for  good 
living,  and  reverence  for  things  high  and  sacred, 
should  pervade  the  whole  life  of  the  institution. 

In  April  of  1878,  Mr.  Howe  was  called  to  the 
superintendency  of  the  State  Reform  School  of 
Connecticut,  located  at  Meriden,  and  assumed  the 
duties  of  the  position  on  the  23d  of  that  month. 
Here  he  applied  the  same  system,  and  has  seen 
similar  results,  similar  growth,  and  similar  pride  in 
the  institution  spring  up  over  the  state.  The  courts 
no  longer  hesitate  to  send  bad  boys  to  his  care  and 
training,  but  rather  seem  to  covet  the  opjiortunity. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


159 


From  the  Connecticut,  as  from  the  Ohio  reformatorj', 
many  boys  once  bad  have  gone  out  to  become  good 
citizens  of  the  body  poHtic,  and  worthy  members  of 
society,  some  of  them  attaining  to  professional  dis- 
tinction. Five  new  large  cottages,  built  of  brick, 
have  been  erected,  each  one  now  tenanted  by  about 
fifty  boys,  while  the  large  congregate  department 
is  also  full,  the  superintendent  presiding  with  such 
ease  over  the  large  farm  and  its  appurtenances, 
the  institution  homes,  and  the  inmates,  as  that 
not  a  ripple  of  disturbance  is  seen,  and  kind,  joj'ous 
feeling  prevails  everywhere. 

]\Ir.  Howe  has  had  tempting  offers  placed  before 
him  to  draw  him  from  his  Connecticut  position.  In 
1S8S  the  board  of  managers  of  the  State  Industrial 
School  of  New  York,  located  at  Rochester,  invited 
him  to  take  the  charge  of  that  institution,  to  install 
there  .the  "family  system";  but  he  remains  in 
charge  of  the  Connecticut  reformatory  to  the  great 
satisfaction  of  the  governing  body  of  trustees,  and 
of  the  citizens  of  Meriden  with  whom  he  holds 
relations  of  high  esteem. 


oflficial  connection  therewith  for  a  great  number  of 
years.  He  now  holds  the  office  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  is  otherwise  more  or  less  active  in  the 
public  affairs  of  his  town. 


CLINTON   PHELPS,   East  Granuy:  Farmer. 

Mr.  Phelps  has  been  the  town  treasurer  of  East 
Granbyfor  eleven  years.  He  has  been  a  deacon  of 
the  Congregational  church  in  that  town  for  eighteen 
3'ears.  It  is  needless  to 
add  that  he  is  a  highly  es- 
teemed citizen,  who  pos- 
sesses the  complete  confi- 
dence and  esteem  of  all 
his  fellow-townsmen.  Mr. 
Phelps  is  a  native  of  East 
Granby,  where  he  was 
born,  July  i,  1S42.  His 
elementary  education  was 
acquired  in  the  common 
school,  and  supplemented 
with  a  full  course  of 
studies  at  Schofi  eld's 
Commercial  College  in 
Providence,  R.  I.  He  married  Miss  Mary  J.  Ris- 
ing, a  daughter  of  David  Rising  of  Sufheld,  by 
whom  he  has  had  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
now  living.  He  is  more  extensively  engaged  in 
farming  than  any  other  person  in  his  town,  and 
combines  with  his  agricultural  pursuits  the  milk 
business,  milling,  and  dealing  in  grain,  feed,  and 
fertilizers.  He  is  an  owner  in  and  patron  of  the 
East  Granby  creamery,  of  which  he  was  for  a  long 
time  the  president  and  manager.  He  has  also  had 
considerable  experience  in  the  settlement  of  estates. 
Politically  he  is  a  democrat,  and  as  such  represented 
East  Granby  in  the  legislature  in  1S87.  His  church 
relations  are  with  the  Congregational  society  of  his 
town,  and,  as  already  stated,  he  has  maintaine;! 


CLI.NTON    PHELPS. 


SYLVESTER    BAKBOL'R. 


SYLYESTER  BARBOUR,  Harteokd:  Lawyer. 
Mr.  Barbour  was  born  in  Canton,  this  state,  Jan.  20, 
1 83 1,  the  son  of  a  farmer  of  moderate  means,  one  of  a 
family  of  nine  children,  all  of  whom  lived  until  the 
j'oungest  was  fort}'  j-ears 
old ;  the  mother  being  a  sis- 
ter of  Rev.  Dr.  Heman 
Humphrey, for  many  years 
president  of  Amherst  Col- 
lege, and  first  cou.sin  of 
John  Brown.  He  spent 
his  childhood  and  youth 
partly  at  hard  work  on 
the  rugged  farm  of  his 
father,  and  partly  in  the 
district  school.  He  spent 
the  subsequent  portion  of 
his  minority  in  like  work 
in  summer,  at  school  in 
autumn  —  first  in  the  Connecticut  Literary  Insti- 
tute in  Sufifteld,  and  afterwards  in  Williston  Semi- 
nary, East  Hampton,  Mass.,  taking  a  classical 
course,  and  teaching  district  schools  in  winter,  to 
obtain  means  for  pursuing  his  education.  The 
next  four  years  of  his  life  were  spent  partly  on  the 
farm,  partly  at  the  seminary,  partly  in  teaching 
select  schools  and  academies,  and  partly  in  the 
studv  of  law  in  the  office  of  his  brother,  the  late 
Judge  Heman  H.  Barbour  of  Hartford,  and  in  the 
Poughkeepsie  Law  School ;  and  he  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Hartford  in  July,  1856,  having  the  honor 
of  being  examined  and  recommended  for  admis- 
sion by  the  late  Governor  Richard  D.  Hubbard. 
In  November  of  that  year,  the  day  after  casting 
his  first  presidential  vote  (for  John  C.  Fremont),  he 
removed  to  Iowa,  practicing  in  Osage,  Mitchell 
county,  until  i860,  when  he  returned  to  Connecti- 
cut, practicing  for  a  year  in  New  Hartford,  fourteen 
years  in  Ansonia,  and  since  that  time  in  Hartford. 

While  practicing  in  Ansonia  he  held  many  offices, 
such  as  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Water  Com- 
pany, Opera  House  Company,  Savings  Bank  (all 
of  which  corporations  he  assisted  in  forming),  town 
clerk,  registrar  of  births,  deaths,  and  marriages, 
chairman  of  school  and  Congregational  society 
committees,  school  visitor,  and  judge  of  probate  for 
the  district  of  Derby. 

Politically  he  acted  with  the  republicans  until 
1872,  when  he  joined  the  liberal  party,  and  sup- 
ported Horace  Greeley  for  president,  and  has  since 
that  time  acted  with  the  democratic  party. 

While  in  New  Hartford  he  was  president  of  the 


i6o 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Wide  Awake  Glub,  and  in  Ansonia,  during  the 
dark  days  of  the  ci\'il  war,  was  a  member  and  offi- 
cer of  the  Union  Loyal  League. 

In  i860  he  married  the  daughter  of  Hon.  J.  F. 
Colhn,  e.x-member  of  Congress,  of  Hillsdale,  New 
York,  and  she  is  still  living,  with  a  son  and  daugh- 
ter, the  latter  being  a  member  of  the  senior  class 
in  the  classical  department  of  Smith  College,  North- 
ampton, Mass.,  with  which  she  graduates  in  June, 
1S91. 

HENRY  P.  HITCHCOCK,  H.^rtford:    Merchant 
Tailor. 

Mr.  Hitchcock  was  born  in  Hartford,  June  i, 
1837,  the  event  of  his  birth  occurring  in  the  his- 
torical mansion  (now  demolished),  corner  of  High 
and  Walnut  streets,  for 
several  years  occupied  by 
Mrs.  LydiaH.  Sigourney. 
During  his  infancy  his 
father's  family  moved  to 
Hitchcockville  in  the  town 
of  Barkhamsted,  and  six 
or  seven  years  later  to 
Farmington,  where  his 
boyhood  was  chiefly 
spent,  and  where  he  at- 
tended the  public  schools 
and  Deacon  Hart's  cele- 
brated institute  at  Farm- 
ington, which  graduated 
in  its  day  a  great  many  pupils  who  have  since 
become  distinguished  in  the  various  walks  of  life. 
After  the  death  of  his  father  in  1S52,  the  young 
man  returned  to  Hartford,  and,  being  obliged 
to  abandon  all  thought  of  further  educational  ad- 
vantages, turned  his  attention  toward  the  means  of 
obtaining  a  livelihood.  Noticing  in  the  Hartford 
Coitrant  one  morning,  in  startling  type,  the  head- 
line, "  Boy  wanted,"  he  applied  as  directed  to  N.  J. 
Brocket  &  Co's  gents  furnishing  store,  No.  10  State 
street.  The  vacant  position  was  a  subordinate  one, 
but  he  took  it  and  gave  to  the  firm  his  best  efforts, 
with  such  satisfaction  and  success  that  he  was  ad- 
vanced step  by  step  and  continued  with  the  house 
for  ten  years,  finally  resigning  to  accept  a  position 
with  Kelsey  &  Carpenter,  to  become  one  year  later  a 
partner  under  the  firm  name  of  Kelsey,  Carpenter 
&  Hitchcock.  In  1863  Mr.  Carpenter  retired  and 
under  the  style  of  Kelsey  &  Hitchcock  the  remain- 
ing partners  continued  the  business  on  the  corner 
of  Main  and  Pearl  streets  for  nineteen  years.  Sub- 
sequently, after  a  brief  period  of  entire  freedom 
from  business,  he  established  himself  on  the  identi- 
cal spot  where  he  learned  the  trade  in  1852,  and  is 
now  conducting  a  flourishing  business  there. 

Mr.  Hitchcock  has  been  active  in  social  and  po- 
litical, as  well  as  business  life,   during  the  many 


H.    V.    HITCHCOCK. 


years  of  his  residence  in  Hartford.  As  a  3-oung  re- 
publican he  was  one  of  the  original  ' '  Wide 
Awakes"  of  Hartford,  the  parent  company  of  that 
important  organization  which  doubtless  accom- 
plished the  election  of  Abraham  Lincoln  to  the  pres- 
idency. He  has  repeatedly  occupied  positions  of 
honor  as  the  candidate  of  the  republican  party, 
having  been  in  the  city  council  once  from  the  fourth 
ward  and  four  times  from  the  first  ward,  and  on 
the  board  of  aldermen  two  years  from  the  first.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Veteran  Association  Hartford 
City  Guards,  and  has  been  for  thirteen  3'ears  its 
secretary  ;  quartermaster  of  the  Veteran  City 
Guard,  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution, 
second  vice-president  of  the  Young  Men's  Republi- 
can Club,  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Board  of 
Trade,  the  Hartford  Historical  Society,  and  the 
Connecticut  Congregational  Club.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Pearl  Street  Congregational  church ,  and 
has  sustained  that  relation  since  1858. 

Mr.  Hitchcock  was  married.  May  23,  1S65,  to 
Miss  Charlotte  F.  Hunt  of  North  Coventry.  Their 
pleasant  home  is  at  119  Trumbull  street. 


SIDNEY   DRAKE,    Hartford  :    Book   Pubhsher 

and  Binder. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  whose  active  life  be- 
gan in  Hartford  sixty-five  years  ago,  is  a  native  of 
Windsor  in  this  state,  where  he  was  born  May  8, 
181 1.      According   to   the 


old  English  genealogists, 
the  Drake  family  is  one 
of  great  antiquity  and  of 
Saxon  origin.  In  the  land 
and  naval  service  of  Great 
Britain,  in  the  professions 
and  in  commerce,  it  has 
furnished  numerous  rep- 
resentatives of  great  emi- 
nence. Among  its  many 
distinguished  branches, 
the  familj^  which  early 
held  its  seat  at  Ashe  was 
ever  prominent;  and  from 
this  branch  most  of  the  Drakes  of  Massachusetts 
and  Connecticut  are  descended.  John  Drake  of 
Ashe,  in  Devon  county,  married  Christian  Billet  in 
1360.  From  him  in  the  ninth  generation  sprang 
John  Drake  of  Wiscomb,  the  emigrant  who  came  to 
Boston  in  1630,  and  to  Connecticut  before  1639,  set- 
tling at  Windsor.  Sidney  Drake  is  of  the  seventh 
generation  from  John,  the  emigrant.  His  father, 
David  Drake,  was  an  extensive  farmer  and  brick 
maker  of  Windsor,  ranking  high  for  ability  and 
judgment. 

The  early  life  of  Sidney  Drake  was  chiefly  spent 
in  the  public  schools  of  Windsor  and  on  his  father's 


SIDNEY  DR.^KE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


I6l 


farm.     At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  came  to  Hartford 
to  learn  the  trade  of  book-binding  with  D.  F.  Rob- 
inson &  Co.     In  1 841  he  became  a  partner  with  J. 
Seymour  Brown,  and  with  several  changes  of  part- 
ners has  carried  on  the  trade  on  his  own  account  for 
over  fifty  years.  The  establishment  has  always  borne 
a  high  reputation  for  the  excellence  of  its  work,  as 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  among  its  early 
patrons  were  such  noted  publishers  as  Phillips  & 
Sampson  of  Boston,  G.  &  C.  Merriam  of  Spring- 
field, and  Pratt,  Oakley  &  Co.  of  New  York;  while 
its  more  recent  customers  have  been  such  as  are 
very  particular  in  regard  to   the  quality  of  their 
bindings.     During  the  palmy  days  of  book  publish- 
ing in  Hartford,  Drake  &  Parsons  bound  millions 
of  books  from  the  home  press,  and  millions  more 
for  pubhshers  in  other  parts  of  New  England  and 
New  York  —  their  list  of  such  customers  numbering 
seventy  different  houses. 

Air.  Drake's  connection  with  the  book-publishing 
business  has  been,  however,  a  very  important  fea- 
ture of  his  active  business  life.    In  1861 ,  being  urged 
thereto  by  Mr.    Drake,  a  purchase  was  made  by 
Walter  S.  Williams  in  connection  with  the  firm  of 
Drake  &  Parsons,  of  the  interest  of  Joseph  Kellogg 
in  the  then  existing  publishing  house  of  Hurlbut  & 
Kellogg;  and  thereupon  was  formed  the  partner- 
ship of  Hurlbut,  Williams  &  Co.,  for  continuing  the 
publishing  business.     This  proved  to  be  the  "  tide 
in  their  affairs  which  led  on  to  fortune."     The  war 
of  the  rebellion  breaking  out  soon  after,  in  1S62  the 
first  volume  of  Headley's  "  History  of  the  Rebel- 
lion "  was  published  by  this  firm,  and  the  sales  in  a 
short  time  ran  up  to  150,000  copies.     The  impulse 
given  by  this  first  successful  issue  of  war  Hterature 
led  to  the  rise  in  this  city  of  several  different  pub- 
lishing   concerns,    the    aggregate    publications   of 
which,  in  addition  to  their  own,  flooded  with  work 
for  several  years  the  printing  office  of  Wilhams  & 
Wiley  and  the  bookbindery  of  Drake   &  Parsons. 
The 'firm  of  Hurlbut,  Williams  &  Co.,  with  some 
changes  of  partners,  continued,  domg  a  very  suc- 
cessful biisiness,  till  1S65,  when  it  was  organized  as 
a  joint  stock  company  under  the  name  of  the  Amer- 
ican PubUshing  Company,  in  which  Mr.  Drake  has 
always  been  a  director;  and  he  was  largely  influen- 
tial in  the  early  history  of  the  business  in  procuring 
such    books    for     publication    as    have    had    the 
largest  sale.      This  company  has  been  one  of  the 
most    successful    and    widely-known    subscription 
publishing  houses  in  the  country,  and  distinguished 
for  making  large  sales  of  many  of  its  publications. 
Among  these  may  be  mentioned  "  Headley's  His- 
tory of  the  Great  Rebellion,"  Richardson's  "  Field, 
Dungeon,  and  Escape"  and  "  Beyond  the  Mis.sis- 
■sippi,"  and  Mark  Twain's  "  Innocents  Abroad." 

Mr.  Drake  was  one  of  the  original  organizers  of 
the  republican  party  in  Hartford,  and  has  retained 

11 


his  connection  therewith  until  the  present  time.  In 
religious  faith  he  is  a  Congregationalist,  worship- 
ing at  the  Asylum  Avenue  Congregational  church. 
In  August,  1S42,  he  married  Miss  Catherine  Brown 
of  Bloomfield;  she  died  May  4.  1SS9,  in  her  eighti- 
eth year;  there  are  no  children. 

Mr.  Drake  through  a  long  career  has  borne  an 
honorable  and  spotless  name,  not  more  for  the 
fidelity  of  his  work  than  the  integrity  of  his  deal- 
ings.   ^ 

REV.     FRANKLIN     COUNTRYMAN,     North 
Brankord:  Pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  Franklin  Countryman  is  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College   and    the   theological   seminary   connected 
with  that  institution ,  completing  his  collegiate  covirse 
in  1 8 70.     He  was  born  in 
New    Haven,    Sept.     23, 
1S49,   his    parents    being 
Nicholas    and     Louisa 
Countryman  of  that  city. 
He  is  a  brother  of  Chief 
Clerk   Wm.   A.   Country- 
man of  the  Bureau  of  La 
bor  Statistics  in  this  state, 
and  is  a  man  of  feUcitous 
culture  and  training.    His 
first    pastorate     was     at 
Prospect,   where   he   was 
settled  in  1874,  remaining 
for  three  years.     In   iSSo 
he  was  settled  at  Georgetown  and  remained  there 
for  two  years.     The  call  to  the  North  Branford 
church  was  accepted  in  1882  and  the  last  eight  years 
have  been  spent  in  that  pastorate.     Mr.  Country- 
man has  been  the  chairman  and  is  at  present  the 
secretary  of  the  North  Branford  school  board  and 
is  president  of  the  Guilford  Christian  Union.    He  is 
the  representative  of  the  New  Haven  East  Consoci- 
ation in  the  state  committee  on  fellowship  and  work, 
and  is  an  earnest  and  influential  co-laborer  with  the 
clergy  of  his  locahty  in  advancing  the  interests  of 
the  church.     Two  of  his  sermons  have  been  printed: 
one     on      "Christian     Service      proportioned     to 
Ability,"    and   a   sermon  preached   /n   inemoriam 
Colonel    George    Rose   of    North    Branford.      He 
has   also    prepared    an   article   for    a    History   of 
New    Haven    County    to     be     pubhshed    in    the 
autumn.     As  a  collegian  at  Yale  his  life  was  one 
of  the  sincerest  fidelity  to  truth,  the  group  of  men 
in  his  class  with  whom  he  maintained  the  happiest 
of  relationships  including  the  Rev.    E.    G.  Selden 
of  Springfield,   Mass.,  the  Rev.  James  G.  K.  Mc- 
Clure  and  the  Rev.  Roderick  Terry  of  New  York, 
the  Rev.  John  S.   Chandler  of  missionary  distinc- 
tion, the  Rev.  Edward  Sackett  Hume,  also  of  the 
foreign   mission  field,  the  Rev.  Lewis  W.  Hicks, 
who  has  occupied  prominent   pulpits  in  Vermont 


REV.    F.   COUNTRYMAN. 


l62 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


and  this  state,  and  the  Rev.  Henry  L.  Hutch- 
ins  of  Kensington.  A  finer  group  of  men  cannot 
be  produced  by  any  of  Yale's  noted  classes.  The 
Yale  associates  and  friends  of  Mr.  Countryman 
hold  him  in  the  highest  esteem.  He  belongs  to  the 
grange  in  his  town  and  is  a  member  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution.  The 
first  wife  of  Mr.  Countryman,  who  was  Miss  Mary 
I.  Pickett,  daughter  of  Judge  Picket  of  New  Haven, 
died  in  1877.  The  second  wife  was  Miss  Ella  S. 
Butricks  of  New  Haven,  who  is  still  living.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Countryman  have  one  child  living,  now 
eight  years  of  age.  He  has  of  late  acted  with  the 
prohibition  party. 

FERDINAND  GILDERSLEEVE,  Portland: 
Merchant,  Postmaster,  President  Freestone  Sav- 
ings Bank. 

Ferdinand  Gildersleeve,  the  fourth  child  of  Syl- 
vester and  Emily  Shepard  Gildersleeve,  was  born 
on  the  twentieth  day  of  August,  1S40,  in  that  part 
of  the  town  of  Portland 
now  called  Gildersleeve. 
He  attended  the  district 
school  in  his  native  village 
till  nearly  twelve,  and 
was  for  the  three  follow- 
ing years  at  boarding 
school.  He  then,  in  1S55, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  en- 
tered his  father's  store, 
and,  soon  after  becoming 
twenty-one,  was  admitted 
to  membership  in  the  firm 
of  S.  Gildersleeve  &Sons, 
ship-builders  and  mer- 
chants. He  is  now,  and  has  been,  continuously 
connected  and  identified  with  all  the  branches  of 
the  business  since  first  entering  it. 

The  establishment  of  the  post-office  at  Gilder- 
sleeve in  May,  1872,  was  largely  the  result  of  his 
efforts.  He  was  the  first  postmaster,  and  continues 
to  hold  the  office. 

In  1879  he  succeeded  his  father  as  president  of 
The  First  National  Bank  of  Portland,  and  held  the 
office  for  two  years;  is  now  a  director  in  the  same 
bank  and  in  The  Middlesex  Quarrjr  Company; 
president  of  The  Freestone  Savings  Bank,  a  vestrj?- 
man  in  Trinity  Episcopal  Parish,  a  member  of  the 
town  board  of  education,  and  for  many  years  has 
been  a  notary  public.  In  January,  1890,  he  suc- 
ceeded his  brother  Henry  as  president  of  The  Mid- 
dletown  Ferry  Company,  and  is  still  occupying 
that  position ;  he  is  also  a  director  of  The  Portland 
Water  Company.  He  has  been  on  various  commit- 
tees on  enterprises  and  improvements  in  the  town  and 
vicinity,  and  trustee  for  school  and  other  funds. 
He  was  an  active  member  and  supporter   of  the 


K.   GILDERSLEEVE. 


well-known  Portland  Lyceum,  and  takes  a  deep 
interest  in  it  now  that  it  has  again  begun  to  hold 
meetings.  He  highly  values  and  appreciates  the 
advantages  of  a  debating  society,  and  finds  his  ex- 
perience in  the  lyceum  has  been  of  incalculable 
benefit  in  many  ways.  He  spent  six  months  in  1864 
traveling  in  Europe,  visiting  many  of  the  places  of 
interest  in  Great  Britain  and  on  the  Continent,  and 
has  made  various  trips  to  many  of  the  important 
cities  and  places  in  the  United  States  and  Canada. 
'Sir.  Gildersleeve  married,  on  the  29th  of  October, 
1S79,  Adelaide  Edna,  born  March  12,  1845,  daugh- 
ter of  WilUam  R.  and  Mary  A.  Smith  of  Portland, 
by  whom  he  had  one  child,  WiUiam,  born  Septem- 
ber 23,  1880.  She  died  Sept.  28,  iSSo.  On  the 
12th  of  September,  1883,  he  married  Harriet 
EHzabeth,  born  Jan.  8,  i860,  of  Hartford,  eldest 
daughter  of  Ralph  and  Sarah  A.  Northam,  for- 
merly of  Portland.  They  have  two  children, 
Sarah,  born  Sept.  28,  1SS5,  and  Richard,  born 
Oct.  27,  1889. 

GEORGE  S.   ANDREWS,  South   Glastonbury: 
Farmer  and  Miller. 

Mr.  Andrews  was  born  in  South  Glastonbury, 
March  30,  1819,  and  was  educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  the  town  and  the  Glastonbury  academy. 
In  1S52  Mr.  Andrews  vis- 
ited London  under  con- 
tract with  the  late  Sam- 
uel Colt  of  Hartford  for 
four  years  to  stock  fire- 
arms for  the  allied  armies 
in  the  Crimean  war.  After 
his  return  home  he  en- 
gaged in  farming  in  South 
Glastonbury.  He  also 
opened  a  feldspar  and 
flint  quarry  in  the  place 
and  built  a  mill  for  grind- 
ing the  product  to  be  used 
for  porcelain  and  china 
ware.  The  enterprise  is  one  of  extensive  possibili- 
ties and  will  increase  in  value  hereafter.  Mr.  An- 
drews is  a  democrat  in  politics  and  has  twice  repre- 
sented his  town  in  the  general  assembly,  being  a 
member  for  the  consecutive  years  of  1876  and  1877. 
He  has  served  a  number  of  terms  on  the  board  of 
selectmen  and  has  held  other  local  offices.  He  is 
connected  with  the  Episcopal  church.  Formerly  he 
resided  in  Hartford.  His  life  has  been  spent  chiefly 
in  farming  and  mechanical  pursuits.  The  wife  of 
Mr.  Andrews  was  Miss  Louisa  H.  Killam  prior  to 
marriage,  and  is  still  living.  There  are  three  child- 
ren in  the  family. 

[Mr.  Andrews  died  at  his  home  in  South  Glas- 
tonbury, April  8,  1891,  after  the  above  sketch  had 
been  prepared. —  Ed.] 


G.   S.   ANDREWS. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


163 


r« 


E.    D.    BASSETT. 


EBEXEZER    D.  BASSETT,   New    Haven:    Ex- 
Minister  to  Hayti. 

Ebenezer  D.  Bassett  was  born  at  Litchfield, 
Conn.,  on  Oct.  16,  1S33.  His  father  was  a  mulatto, 
and  his  mother  a  pure  Indian  of  the  Pequot  tribe. 
He  attended  the  Birming- 
ham Academy,  and  early 
distinguished  himself  as 
a  mathematician  by  solv- 
ing problems  in  the  dif- 
ferential and  integral  cal- 
culus with  as  much  ease 
as  an  ordinary  scholar 
would  perform  examples 
in  arithmetic.  After  fin- 
ishing the  course  of  study 
at  this  academy,  he  at- 
tended the  State  Normal 
School  at  New  Britain, 
from  which  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1S53.  During  the  two  years  following  his 
graduation  he  taught  successfully  the  Whiting 
Street  Grammar  School  in  New  Haven.  At  this 
time  he  availed  himself  of  the  privilege  of  continu- 
ing the  study  of  the  classics  and  higher  mathe- 
matics under  professors  at  Yale  College. 

In  1 85 5  he  married  Miss  Eliza  Park  of  New 
Haven,  and  moved  to  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  where  he 
accepted  the  principalship  of  the  Institute  for  Col- 
ored Youth,  a  school  founded  by  the  Orthodox 
Society  of  Friends  for  the  purpose  of  giving  a 
liberal  education  to  colored  youth,  and  preparing 
them  to  become  efficient  teachers.  At  this  institu- 
tion he  taught  the  advanced  classes  in  Latin,  Greek, 
and  the  higher  mathematics,  and  devoted  himself 
to  the  education  of  his  race.  Here  he  exhibited 
marked  ability  as  an  instructor  and  disciplinarian. 
He  possessed  the  rare  quality  of  inspiring  his  pupils 
with  an  earnest  desire  to  excel  in  whatever  they 
undertook,  and  he  therefore  cultivated  to  a  high 
degree  the  power  of  patient  investigation  and  ap- 
plication. Mr.  Bassett's  scholarly  ability  awakened 
in  his  pupils  a  desire  to  emulate  him.  About  this 
time  the  institute  used  to  be  visited  by  interested 
persons  from  all  parts  of  the  United  States  and 
even  from  the  old  world,  and,  as  they  listened  to 
the  translations  of  Homer,  of  Virgil,  and  of  Horace, 
and  as  they  saw  the  facility  with  which  difficult 
problems  in  mathematics  were  demonstrated  and 
solved,  they  would  exclaim,  "  This  is  wonderful!  " 
And  this  expression  was  not  exaggerated  when  we 
consider  that  these  results  were  achieved  during 
the  dark  and  apparently  hopeless  days  of  slavery. 
Through  the  untiring  efforts  of  Mr.  Bassett  this 
school  was  made  to  rank  with  the  best  institutions 
in  the  country.  The  proficiency  of  his  classes  be- 
came a  standing  argument  against  the  injustice 
which   could   keep   in   the   darkness   of  ignorance 


minds  capable  of  such  attainments.  So  much  was 
the  cause  of  freedom  advanced  and  its  possibilities 
worked  out  in  the  quiet  of  the  school-room. 

At  the  beginning  of  President  Grant's  adminis- 
tration, it  was  decided  by  the  republican  leaders  at 
Washington  that  colored  men  of  acknowledged  abil- 
ity should  receive  positions  in  both  home  and  foreign 
service.  Mr.  Bassett  was  the  first  candidate 
selected  unanimouslj^  by  the  prominent  men  of  his 
own  race,  and  supported  by  distinguished  persons 
in  all  parts  of  the  L^nion  for  a  diplomatic  appoint- 
ment. In  President  Grant's  first  list  of  nomina- 
tions Mr.  Bassett's  name  was  sent  for  the  mission 
to  Hayti,  and  the  nomination  was  promptly  con- 
firmed by  the  senate.  This  appointment  made  Mr. 
Bassett  the  first  colored  man  to  represent  our  coun- 
try abroad.  ^Ir.  Frederick  Douglass  spoke  of  it  as 
"  a  significant  event,  the  triumph  of  a  cause  — the 
first  small  wire  stretched  over  a  chasm  separating 
two  races." 

After  receiving  from  his  countrymen  many  ova- 
tions and  considerate  attentions,  ^Ir.  Bassett  sailed 
for  Hayti  in  Jvme,  1869.  When  he  reached  Port- 
au-Prince  he  was  received  with  every  evidence  of 
regard  and  satisfaction  by  the  Haytian  government 
and  people.  Hayti  was  unfortunately  at  this  time 
in  the  midst  of  a  bitter  civil  strife.  Mr.  Bassett 
found  himself  surrounded  at  once  by  factions  and 
intrigues,  and  yet,  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties, 
he  won  and  maintained  the  confidence  and  respect 
of  our  government  at  Washington,  by  whom  he 
was  highh'  commended  for  his  heroic  conduct  dur- 
ing the  Salnave  revolution. 

Mr.  Bassett's  experience  at  this  time  in  a  country 
where  the  right  of  asylum  had  a  particular  force 
and  significance,  brought  to  him  afterwards  an  in- 
vitation from  the  Kent  Club  of  the  Yale  Law 
School,  to  lecture  before  its  members  on  the  sub- 
ject. The  New  Haven  Palladium,  at  this  time, 
in  speaking  of  this  lecture  said:  "  Mr.  Bassett,  hav- 
ing been  our  ambassador  at  Port-au-Prince,  was 
peculiarly  qualified  for  the  masterly  handling  of 
'  The  Right  of  Asylum.'  The  lecture  was  listened 
to  by  a  highly  intelligent  and  appreciative  audience, 
among  whom  were  many  who  are  prominent  in 
law  circles.  Those  who  attended  had  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  an  able  and  scholarly  disquisition  on  the 
subject. " 

Mr.  Bassett  so  won  the  confidence  of  the  Haytian 
people  by  his  nine  5'ears  residence  among  them, 
that  he  was  appointed  by  President  Salomon  in 
iSSo  to  be  Haytian  consul  at  New  York.  He  faith- 
fully discharged  the  duties  of  this  office  until  the 
end  of  President  Salomon's  administration  in  De- 
cember, 1SS8. 

Mr.  Bassett's  ripe  scholarship  and  high  attain- 
ments make  him  distinguished  among  scholars. 
His    thorough   study   of  the   classics   and    of  the 


164 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


French  language  shows  itself  in  the  style  of  his 
writing,  which  is  finished  and  accurate.  He  is 
unassuming  and  cordial  in  his  manners,  thus  mak- 
ing his  social  intercourse  pleasant  and  agreeable. 
He  could  hardly  fail  to  have  an  honorable  position 
in  the  community  at  his  present  home,  New  Haven, 
where  he  is  known  as  one  of  its  scholarly,  public- 
spirited  and  influential  citizens.  On  many  occasions 
he  enjoys  extended  courtesies  from  New  Haven's 
city  fathers.  In  all  the  relations  of  life  he  is  em- 
phatically a  good  man  —  not  passively  good,  but 
actively  worthy  and  earnest. 


R.    G.    PIKE. 


region. 


HON.  ROBERT  GORDON  PIKE,  Middletown: 
Lawyer. 

Robert  G.  Pike  comes  of  an  honored  and  worthy 
ancestry,  being  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Pike, 
Esq.,  a  Puritan,  who  came  over  in  1632,  and  settled 
in  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  with 
his  two  sons;  of  whom 
one  was  Major  Robert 
Pike,  commander  of  all 
the  Massachusetts  forces 
east  of  the  Merrimac  dur- 
ing the  Indian  wars  of 
his  time,  and  for  a  period 
of  lifty  3'ears  and  more 
was  a  prominent  and  in- 
fluential officer  of  the  col- 
ony. The  poet  Whittier 
says  ' '  he  was  one  of  the 
wisest  and  worthiest  of 
the  early  settlers  of  that 
He  was  by  all  odds  the  most  remarkable 
personage  of  the  place  and  time."  He  protested 
eloquently  against  all  laws  punishing  witches  and 
Quakers,  and  especially  contended  against  clerical 
usurpation.  Of  the  seventh  generation  from  this 
honored  ancestor,  in  a  direct  line,  which  is  marked 
by  clergymen  and  magistrates,  came  the  subject  of 
this  sketch. 

Robert  G.  Pike  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Mass., 
April  14,  1S22;  was  graduated  at  Harvard  Univer- 
sity in  1843;  was  then  private  secretary  to  Hon. 
Caleb  Gushing  in  Washington,  D.  C.;  subsequently 
studied  law  with  Hon.  Seth  P.  Staples;  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1S4S.  He  practiced  law  in 
New  York  city  until  1S59,  when  important  business 
duties  in  Connecticut  led  him  to  give  up  a  lucrative 
practice  and  move  to  Middletown,  Conn.,  where  he 
still  resides.  August  3,  1852,  he  married  Ellen  M., 
daughter  of  Silas  and  Mary  Miles  Brainerd  of 
Portland,  Conn.  By  her  he  had  six  children,  now 
living,  three  sons  and  three  daughters. 

Mr.  Pike  is  a  man  of  strong  intellect,  scholarly 
tastes,  and  a  wide  range  of  information.  He  is  a 
fine  writer  and  speaker,  and  is  always  instructive 
and  entertaining.     He  is  an  accomplished  lawyer 


and  wise  counsellor.  He  counts  among  his  clients 
many  of  the  most  prominent  and  wealthy  families 
of  Middletown  and  vicinity.  Although  a  modest 
and  retiring  man,  he  has  long  been  a  prominent  and 
highly-respected  citizen,  discharging  with  signal 
success  the  many  official  duties  which  have  been 
imposed  upon  him.  He  has  been  judge  of  the  city 
court,  alderman,  president  of  the  board  of  educa- 
tion, eighteen  or  more  years,  president  of  the  Rus- 
sell Library  from  its  organization,  and  senior  war- 
den of  the  Holy  Trinity  parish  about  twenty  years. 
In  all  that  pertains  to  the  public  schools  he  has  ever 
manifested  an  active  interest.  It  was  largely 
through  his  influence  that  the  new  Central  School 
building  and  the  new  Johnson  school  building  were 
erected,  and  he  was  chairman  of  the  building  com- 
mittee. He  was  also  chairman  of  the  building  com- 
mittee when  the  beautiful  church  building  of  Holy 
Trinity  was  erected.  Mr.  Pike  also  has  held  im- 
portant state  offices.  He  was  state  fish  commis- 
sioner for  twenty  years,  and  chairman  of  the  shell- 
fish commission  from  its  organization.  He  has  done 
much  toward  increasing  fish-food  in  the  state.  As 
chairman  of  the  shell-fish  board,  he  did  much  to 
bring  the  oyster  industry  under  proper  laws  and 
regulations,  —  to  the  lasting  benefit  not  only  of  the 
oyster  cultivators,  but  also  of  the  state.  His  popu- 
larity with  the  oystermen  was  such  that  when,  in 
1889,  he  resigned  his  office  on  the  board,  over  three 
hundred  leading  oystermen  petitioned  him  not  to 
resign.  All  the  shell-fish  reports  were  prepared  by 
him,  and  they  present  a  fund  of  valuable  informa- 
tion on  the  subject  of  oyster  cultivation.  In  estab- 
lishing the  boundary  line  between  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut  in  18S7  he  was  unanimously  elected 
by  the  commissioners  of  the  two  states  chairman 
of  the  joint  commission,  and  he  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  office  to  the  great  acceptance  of  all. 
His  ripe  experience  and  full  legal  knowledge  made 
him  a  valuable  member  of  the  commission.  The 
commissioners'  report  to  the  legislature,  prepared 
by  him  in  1889,15  full  of  valuable  historical  infor- 
mation upon  the  disputed  boundar)'  line,  and  shows 
wide  research  and  learning.  He  took  an  active 
part  in  reviving  the  Air  Line  Railroad  enterprise 
and  securing  its  bridge  ftharter;  and  when  the  work 
on  the  road  stopped  for  want  of  means,  he  rendered 
efficient  aid  as  counsel  of  the  company  in  soliciting 
and  procuring  town  help  for  its  completion,  and 
preparing  the  final  construction  contracts.  Mr. 
Pike  has  taken  no  very  active  part  in  politics.  He 
has  been  nominated  twice  for  mayor;  but,  being  a 
strong  temperance  advocate,  he  was  defeated  by 
the  pro-liquor  votes.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican, 
with  intermittent  mugwump  tendencies.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  is  distin- 
guished for  his  uniform  courtesy,  kindness,  and 
benevolence. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


165 


H.    B.    lUGELOW. 


HON.   HOBART    B.    BIGELOW,  New    Haven  : 

President  of  The  Bigelow  Company. 

Hobart  B.  Bigelow,  one  of  New  Haven's  citizens 
who  has  been  entrusted  with  the  administration  of 
the  highest  pubhc  office  within  the  gift  of  the  state, 
was  born  in  North  Haven , 
New  Haven  county,  on 
the  i6th  of  May,  1834. 
Upon  his  father's  side  he 
came  from  the  Massachu- 
setts Bigelow  stock,  a 
family  that  has  made  its 
record  since  colonial  days 
for  producing  substantial, 
energetic,  and  useful  citi- 
zens. His  mother  was  a 
Pierpont,  a  descendant  of 
the  Rev.  James  Pierpont, 
the  second  minister  of 
New  Haven,  and  one  of 
the  founders  of  Yale  College.  Mr.  Bigelow's  edu- 
cation was  that  common  to  the  sons  of  farmers  at 
that  time.  He  attended  the  district  school  of  North 
Haven,  and  when,  at  about  the  age  of  ten,  his 
father  moved  to  South  Egremont,  Mass.,  his  educa- 
tion was  continued  there,  in  the  same  class  of 
school,  until  he  was  old  enough  to  enter  the  South 
Egremont  Academj',  where  he  remained  until  he 
was  seventeen. 

At  this  age  he  entered  upon  the  work  of  life. 
He  began  to  learn  the  trade  of  machinist  with  the 
Guilford  Manufacturing  Company,  remaining  with 
this  company  until  its  failure,  after  which  he  went 
into  the  employ  of  the  New  Haven  Manufacturing 
Company,  then  under  the  management  of  his  uncle, 
Asahel  Pierpont  of  New  Haven,  where  his  appren- 
ticeship was  finished.  After  this,  and  until  1S61, 
he  had  charge  of  the  machine  department  of 
Messrs.  Ives  &  Smith  as  foreman,  under  both  Ives 
&  Smith  and  their  successors,  Wilcox  &  Gay.  In 
1S61,  upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Gay,  he  bought  Mr. 
Cyprian  Wilcox's  interest  in  the  machine-shop  and 
continued  in  his  own  name.  Later  he  acquired  of 
Mr.  Wilcox  the  foundry  connected  with  the  estab- 
lishment, and  the  business  was  carried  on  under 
the  name  of  The  Bigelow  Manufacturing  Company'. 
At  this  place,  under  close,  careful,  and  intelligent 
management,  Mr.  Bigelow's  business  grew  until 
there  was  no  longer  space  for  his  buildings.  They 
had  extended  along  Whitney  avenue  and  through 
the  block  to  Temple  street,  and  in  1S70  he  was 
compelled  to  remove  to  a  wider  location.  He 
bought  a  tract  of  land  on  Grapevine  Point,  includ- 
ing a  disused  building  originalh-  built  for  a 
machine-shop,  and  in  this  place  the  business  has 
since  been  conducted. 

Two  years  prior  to  his  removal  ]\Ir.  Bigelow  had 
added  a  department  for  the  manufacture  of  boilers. 


a  department  for  which  his  establishment  has  since 
become  famous  throughout  the  country.  In  1S75 
the  firm  style  was  made  H.  B.  Bigelow  &  Co., 
Henry  Elson  being  received  as  partner,  and  in  1877 
the  partnership  was  extended  by  the  entrance  of 
Mr.  (leorge  S.  Barnum.  Its  present  form  is  that 
of  a  corporation.  The  Bigelow  Company,  organized 
in  1883  under  a  special  charter  granted  by  the 
legislature  of  that  year. 

Mr.  Bigelow's  continuous  success  in  his  business 
had  not  passed  unnoticed  by  his  fellow-citizens,  and 
in  the  period  between  1S63  and  1S81  he  was  called 
upon  to  fill  a  variety  of  public  stations.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  common  council,  as  councilman  in 
the  year  1S63-64,  and  as  alderman  1864-65,  under 
the  mayoralty  of  the  late  Morris  Tyler.  He  was 
supervisor  1871-74,  and  filled  most  acceptably  the 
office  of  fire  commissioner  for  the  years  iS  74-76. 
He  also  served  one  term  as  representative  from 
New  Haven  in  the  general  assembly  of  1S75.  So 
long  an  experience  had  especially  fitted  him  to  fill 
the  place  of  mayor,  and  though  belonging  to  the 
party  normally  in  the  minority  in  New  Haven,  he 
was,  in  1S79,  elected  for  a  two-years  term  b)'  a 
very  handsome  majorit}*.  Mr.  Bigelow's  adminis- 
tration of  this  office  was  marked  by  two  events  of 
peculiar  and  permanent  interest  to  the  citizens  of 
New  Haven.  It  was  under  his  administration,  and 
very  largely  due  to  his  support  and  encouragement, 
that  the  East  Rock  Park  Commission  was  created 
and  the  park  opened ,  and  this  great  addition  to  the 
beauty  and  comfort  of  the  city  made  possible.  The 
other  was  the  well  planned  and  successful  effort  of 
the  cit\-  government  under  his  encouragement  and 
direction  for  the  building  of  the  breakwaters  which 
have  been  projected  and  are  being  carried  on  by 
the  United  States  Government  for  the  improvement 
of  our  harbor.  Upon  the  close  of  his  term  as 
mayor,  he  was  called  by  the  majority  of  the  citizens 
of  the  state  to  occupj^  the  office  of  governor,  a  place 
which  he  filled  with  quiet  dignity,  thorough  im- 
partiality, and  great  good  sense. 

Mr.  Bigelow  was  married  in  1 85 7  to  Miss  Eleanor 
Lewis,  daughter  of  the  late  Philo  Lewis,  a  branch 
of  a  family  that  has  left  its  mark  in  the  administra- 
tion of  New  Haven  city  affairs.  His  family  con- 
sists of  two  sons,  both  of  whom  are  associated  with 
him  in  business. 

In  1882,  upon  the  death  of  Nathan  Peck,  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  Merchants'  National  Bank 
of  New  Haven,  and  retained  that  position  until  the 
fall  of  1889,  when  he  resigned  —  but  still  retains 
the  position  of  director. 

Since  Governor  Bigelow's  retirement  from  official 
life,  his  attention  has  been  devoted  to  his  company, 
with  lesser  interests  in  a  large  variety  of  business 
enterprises.  His  career  has  been  pre-eminently 
that  of  a  business  man,  familiar  with  and  skillful  in 


1 66 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


modern  methods  of  conducting  large  enterprises, 
and  basing  his  success  upon  thoroughness,  energy, 
careful  and  thoughtful  attention  to  details,  avoid- 
ance of  speculation,  and  the  severest  integrity. 
His  administration  of  public  affairs  has  always 
been  marked  by  the  same  characteristics.  These 
qualities  have  won  him  the  hearty  esteem  of  his 
fellow-citizens,  which  has  been  deepened  by  a  quiet, 
open-handed,  and  broad-minded  practical  benevo- 
lence, of  which  verv  few  realize  the  full  extent. 


CHARLES     ETHAN     BILLINGS,    Hartford: 
President  of  the  Billings  &  Spencer  Company. 
Mr.  Billings  was  born  in  Weathersfield,  Vt.,  Dec. 
6,  1835,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
at  Windsor  in  that  State.     He  acquired  the  profes- 
sion of  a  mechanical  en- 
gineer, and  is  at  present 
a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can  Society  of   Mechani- 
cal Engineers.    President 
Billings  formerly  resided 


E.   BILLINGS. 


in  Utica,  N.  Y.  His  busi- 
ness life,  however,  has 
been  spent  for  the  most 
part  in  Hartford,  where 
he  has  been  instrumental 
in  establishing  an  exten- 
sive and  prosperous  in- 
dustry. The  companj' 
inanufactures  machinists' 
tools  and  drop  forgings,  and  is  at  the  head  of  that 
line  of  business  in  the  state.  President  Billings  is 
regarded  as  one  of  the  foremost  business  men  in 
the  city,  and  has  been  for  years  a  successful  man- 
ager of  industrial  interests.  He  is  the  author  and 
patentee  of  manj'  useful  inventions  manufactured 
b)?-  his  company,  which  are  largely  sold  in  this 
country  and  Europe.  He  is  a  prominent  repre- 
sentative of  the  masonic  order,  having  received 
all  of  the  York  and  Scottish  degrees.  He  is  a  past 
grand  commander  of  the  Grand  Commandery  of 
Knight  Templars  of  Connecticut.  His  local  mem- 
bership is  with  Washington  Commandery.  He  has 
also  been  associated  with  the  Connecticut  National 
Guard,  formerly  being  a  private  in  the  First  Regi- 
ment. He  has  been  a  member  of  both  branches  of 
the  court  of  common  council,  spending  four  years 
in  the  board  of  aldermen.  During  the  last  two 
j-ears  was  chairman  of  the  ordinance  committee 
on  the  part  of  the  upper  board,  and  has  exerted  an 
important  influence  in  that  capacity.  He  is  a 
republican  in  politics,  and  has  represented  the  third 
ward  in  the  municipal  government.  Alderman 
Billings  is  connected  with  the  Second  Ecclesiastical 
society,  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.  Parker's,  and  with  the 
Hartford  Club.     He  has  traveled  abroad,  visiting 


Europe  during  the  summer  of  1S90,  and  is  a  gentle- 
man of  the  most  enjoyable  personal  character.  He 
has  been  married  twice,  the  second  wife  being  Miss 
Eva  C.  Holt  of  this  city,  daughter  of  councilman 
Lucius  H.  Holt.  There  are  four  children  by  the 
two  marriages. 


AMBROSE    PRATT. 


AMBROSE    PRATT,  M.D.,   Chester:    Physician 
and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  Ambrose  Pratt  of  Chester,  Conn.,  according 
to  the  genealogical  record  of  the  Pratt  family,  is  a 
descendant  in  the  eighth  generation  from  Lieuten- 
ant William  Pratt,  who 
came  from  England  with 
the  Rev.  Thos.  Hooker  in 
1632.  Thos.  Hooker  and 
his  companions  first  came 
to  Newtown,  now  called 
Cambridge,  Mass.  Mr. 
Hooker  and  Lieutenant 
Wm.  Pratt,  with  others, 
came  through  the  forest 
from  Cambridge  to  Hart- 
ford in  1636,  and  they 
were  among  the  earh-  set- 
tlers of  the  town  of  Hart- 
ford. 

Lieutenant  Wm.  Pratt  married  Elizabeth  Clark 
of  Saybrook,  and  finally  settled  in  Essex.  His  old- 
est daughter,  Elizabeth,  married  Wm.  Backus  of 
Norwich,  from  which  union  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
one  descendants  are  recorded  in  the  genealogy  of 
the  Pratt  faniih*. 

Dr.  Ambrose  Pratt,  son  of  Ambrose  and  Dolly 
(Southworth)  Pratt,  was  born  in  Deep  River,  in  the 
town  of  Saybrook,  July  11,  1814.  His  father  died 
the  April  previous  to  his  birth,  and  his  mother  hav- 
ing married  again,  he  lived  with  his  step-father  till 
about  sixteen  years  old.  He  attended  the  district 
schools  till  about  fourteen  years  old,  when,  being 
ambitious  to  improve  every  opportunity  for 
higher  instruction,  he  walked  daily  four  miles 
and  back,  in  the  winter  of  1829-30,  to  attend 
a  select  school.  In  the  spring  of  1830,  without 
the  advice  of  friends  and  without  money,  he 
determined  to  trj^  to  get  a  college  education.  He 
prepared  for  college  in  two  years  and  entered  Yale 
in  the  fall  of  1833.  By  the  aid  of  an  excellent  and 
energetic  mother  and  other  kind  ftiends,  and  by 
teaching  some  in  junior  and  senior  years,  he  kept 
up  with  his  class  in  their  studies,  and  graduated 
with  them  in  1837.  After  graduation  he  was  prin- 
cipal of  Hills  academy  at  Essex  for  one  year,  where 
he  proved  to  be  a  very  successful  teacher.  In  the 
winter  of  1839-40  he  attended  a  partial  course  of 
medical  lectures  at  New  Haven.  In  the  fall  of  1840 
he  entered  the  Columbian  Medical  College  at  Wash- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


167 


ington  D.C.,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1843. 
While  studying  medicine  in  Washington,  he  taught 
a  classical  school  and  devoted  much  time  and  study 
to  the  medical  flora  of  Washington  and  vicinity.  In 
1843  he  commenced  the  practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  in  Chester,  Conn.  In  November,  1844,  he 
married  Julia  M.  Spencer,  daughter  of  Dea.  George 
Spencer,  a  lady  of  good  education,  good  constitu- 
tion ,  and  who  had  a  strong  and  steady  nervous  sys- 
tem, by  whom  he  has  now  li\ang  four  daughters. 
He  remained  in  Chester  five  }-ears,  had  an  extensive 
practice,  and  was  regarded  as  a  skillful  physician 
and  surgeon,  performing  most  of  the  minor  opera- 
tions in  surgery  called  for  in  his  vicinity.  In  1S48 
he  moved  to  the  city  of  Milwaukee,  Wis.,  and  there 
commenced  the  practice  of  medicine.  While  in 
Milwaukee,  in  the  spring  of  1850,  he  opened  an  in- 
firmary for  the  treatment  of  chronic  diseases,  intro- 
ducing therein  the  inhalation  of  medicinal  vapors, 
dieting,  exercise,  electro-magnetism,  and  the  mas- 
sage, and  the  appliances  of  hydropathy.  In  May, 
1853,  he  was  called  to  Chester  to  assist  and  advise 
in  the  treatment  and  care  of  a  case  of  chronic  sjDinal 
aft'ection.  At  this  visit  to  his  former  place  of  prac- 
tice he  was  induced  by  friends  to  return  to  Chester 
and  open  an  institution  for  the  treatment  of  chronic 
diseases.  The  house  he  formerly  occupied  was 
very  large  and  available,  and  very  pleasantly  situ- 
ated for  that  use.  In  July,  1853,  he  opened  a  sani- 
tarium under  the  name  of  the  "Chester  Water- 
Cure  and  Medical  and  Surgical  Institute,"  introduc- 
ing into  his  treatment  all  the  improvements  of  the 
times.  This  institution  was  at  once  extensively 
patronized,  requiring  an  enlargement  of  the  ell 
part  of  the  house.  The  institution  continued  in 
successful  operation  till  1861,  when,  owing  to  the 
breaking  out  of  the  war,  it  was  closed,  and  Dr. 
Pratt,  from  purely  patriotic  motives  (being  too  old 
to  be  subject  to  draft),  offered  his  services  to  Gov- 
ernor Buckingham  as  surgeon  of  a  regiment.  He 
was  accepted  and  commissioned  as  surgeon  of  the 
22d  regiment,  C.  V.,  his  commission  bearing  date 
from  November,  1862,  and  was  on  duty  in  the  field 
every  day  till  July  7,  1863,  when  the  term  of  ser- 
vice of  the  regiment  expired.  Dr.  Pratt  also  re- 
ceived a  commission  (after  a  competitive  examina- 
tion before  an  army  medical  board  convened  in 
Ne\v  York)  from  the  secretary  of  war  as  surgeon  of 
the  S3d  colored  regiment,  dated  Feb.  6,  1865,  then 
in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  stationed  at 
Fort  Smith,  Arkansas.  This  commission  he  did 
not  accept,  owing  to  the  prospective  earty  termi- 
nation of  the  war.  After  the  close  of  his  army  ser- 
vice in  1865,  Dr.  Pratt  resumed  the  practice  of  med- 
icine in  Chester,  and  is  still  one  of  the  three  phj-si- 
cians  of  the  town.  In  addition  to  his  professional 
duties  he  has  a  small  farm  of  thirty-five  acres,  in 
one  square  tract,  the  best  land  in  the  town   which 


he  keeps  in  a  high  state  of  cultivation,  and  has  it 
well  stocked  with  a  choice  herd  of  Jersey  cows.  Dr. 
Pratt  inherited  a  strong  and  energetic  constitution 
from  his  ancestors,  and  has  always  been  a  healthy, 
hard-working,  and  busy  man.  He  has  not  only  at- 
tended faithfully  to  his  professional  duties,  but  has 
devoted  much  time  to  study  and  reading.  He  never 
took  a  vacation,  spent  no  time  in  fishing,  hiinting, 
or  card-playing.  He  has  treated  the  rich  and  poor 
with  the  same  faithful  attention,  and  as  a  counselor 
among  his  patients  was  always  regarded  as  their 
confidential  friend.  Dr.  Pratt  was  always  a  man 
of  nerve.  In  the  presence  of  the  sick  and  wounded 
he  is  calm,  cheerful,  and  never  loses  his  presence  of 
mind.  He  has  always  maintained  exceptionally 
good  habits,  never  using  tobacco  or  stimulants  in 
any  form,  and  sustains  an  unblemished  moral  char- 
acter. 

Dr.  Pratt  has  been  active  as  one  of  the  board  of 
school  visitors  of  the  town  for  many  years.  He  has 
delivered  several  addresses  on  temperance;  is  a 
member  of  the  Grand  Army,  and  has  often  ad- 
dressed gatherings  on  decoration  days,  under  their 
auspices.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  but  not  an 
aggressive  partisan.  He  is  a  Congregationalist  by 
profession,  and  member  of  both  church  and  society. 
He  is  a  reader  of  religious  works  and  is  a  man  of 
very  positive  religious  sentiments,  though  very  lib- 
eral. He  is  anti-sectarian,  opposed  to  all  church 
creeds  or  dogmas,  yet  tolerant  of  all  who  differ 
from  him  in  rehgious  opinions,  feeling  and  holding 
that  truth,  justice,  and  amity  are  higher  than  relig- 
ious beliefs. 

MORRIS  B.  BEARDSLEY,  Bridgei'Ort:    Attor- 
ney and  Judge  of  Probate. 

Morris  B.  Beardsley  was  born  at  Trumbull, 
Conn.,  August  13,  1849;  prepared  for  college  at  the 
academy  in  Stratford,  Conn.;  graduated  from  Yale 
in  the  class  of  1870.  After 
leaving  college  he  attend- 
ed lectures  at  Columbia 
College  Law  School  for  a 
year;  then  went  to  Bridge- 
port, and  studied  law  in 
the  office  of  William  K. 
Seeley  until  June  25,  1872, 
when  he  was  admitted  to 
practice  at  the  Fairfield 
county  bar,  and  was  taken 
into  partnership  by  Mr. 
Seeley,  the  firm  name 
being  Seeley  &  Beardsley. 
This  partnership  was  dis- 
solved in  January,  1874,  and  in  the  following  April 
he  was  elected  city  clerk,  and  held  that  office  for 
three  successive  terms.  In  1877  he  became  judge 
of   the  Bridgeport  probate  district,  and  has  held 


M.    B.    KEARDSLEV. 


i68 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


that  office  ever  since.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  board  of  education  for  three  years,  and  was  its 
secretary.  June  5,  1873,  he  married  Lucy  J.  Fayer- 
weather,  a  niece  of,  and  largel}'  remembered  under 
the  will  of,  the  late  millionaire  leather  inerchant, 
Daniel  B.  Fayerweather,  and  has  three  children. 
Politically  he  is  a  democrat.  Is  a  member  of  the 
First  Congregational  church.  Is  a  thirty-second 
degree  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow,  a  member  of  the 
Seaside  Club  of  Bridgeport,  and  of  the  Aldine 
Club  of  New  York,  and  last,  but  not  least,  a 
"  Shriner." 


consists  of  a  wife  and  five  children.  The  former, 
prior  to  her  marriage,  was  Miss  Elizabeth  A.  Chap- 
man. Mr.  Langdon  is  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church,  and  an  earnest  religious  worker. 


GEORGE   LANGDON. 


GEORGE     LANGDON,    Plymouth:     Merchant, 
Manufacturer,  and  Farmer. 

George  Langdon  was  born  in  Plymouth,  Aug.  4, 
1826,  and  graduated  from  Yale  College  in  1848,  his 
classmates  including  Judge  Nathaniel  Shipman  of 
the  L^nited  States  district 
court,  and  Judge  David 
S.  Calhoun  of  the  Hart- 
ford County  court  of  com- 
mon pleas.  He  resided 
in  Colchester  from  1S49 
until  1853.  During  the 
latter  year  he  represented 
that  toMTi  in  the  general 
assembly,  his  colleagues 
from  New  London  County 
including  the  Hon.  Jere- 
miah Halsey  of  Norwich, 
Judge  James  Phelps  of 
Essex,  ex-United  States 
Senator  W.  W.  Eaton.  The  Hon.  Alfred  E.  Burr  of 
T/ie  Hartford  Times,  and  Major  F.  M.  Brown 
were  also  members  of  the  house  at  that  time,  ex- 
Senator  Eaton  occupying  the  position  of  speaker. 
After  leaving  Colchester,  Mr.  Langdon  resided  at 
New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  from  1855  until  1857.  The 
balance  of  the  time  has  been  spent  in  Plymouth. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican.  He  is  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  For  ten  years  he  was  a  member  of  the 
board  of  selectmen,  and  was  acting  school  visitor 
for  eight.  He  has  also  held  the  offices  of  town 
treasurer  and  grand  juror.  For  thirty  years  he 
has  been  connected  with  the  Connecticut  State 
Sunday-school  association,  and  has  been  actively 
identified  with  its  work.  He  has  held  the  chair- 
manship of  the  executive  committee  of  the  associa- 
tion. !Mr.  Langdon  was  one  of  the  founders  of 
the  Novelty  Rubber  Company,  a  successful  manu- 
facturing corporation,  and  became  one  of  its 
directors  and  its  secretary.  He  was  one  of  the 
incorporators  of  the  Plymouth  Woolen  Company, 
one  of  its  directors,  and  its  secretary  and  treasurer. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  founders  and  a  director 
of  the   Thomaston  Knife   Company.      His  family 


J.     K.     NL\SO\. 

New    York    ^lutual, 


JARVIS  KING  MASON,  A.M.,  M.D.,  Suffield. 
Dr.  Mason  is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  County 
and  State  Medical  Societies,  and  of  the  American 
Medical  Association,  also  a  Fellow  of  the  American 
Academy  of  Medicine. 
He  is  the  medical  exam- 
iner and  health  officer  of 
the  town  where  he  re- 
sides and  vice-president 
of  the  Library  Associa- 
tion. He  is  also  the  med- 
ical examiner  for  a  num- 
ber of  insurance  compa- 
nies, including  the  ..-Etna, 
the  Phoeni.x,  the  Mutual, 
the  Connecticut  General, 
and  the  Hartford  Life  and 
Annuity,  of  Hartford;  the 
L^nion  Mutual  of  Boston, 
the  New  York  ^lutual,  the  New  York  Life, 
the  Mutual  Benefit  of  New  Jersey,  and  the 
Penn  Mutual  of  Philadelphia.  He  is  a  repub- 
lican in  politics  and  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church.  Dr.  ]\Iason  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Enfield,  November  8,  1831,  and  pre- 
pared for  college  at  Wilbraham,  Monson,  and 
Easthampton.  He  graduated  at  Yale  in  1855,  his 
classmates  including  Hon.  Lyman  D.  Brewster  of 
Danbur}',  the  Rev.  Charles  Ray  Palmer,  the  Rev. 
Dr.  John  E.  Todd,  Theodore  Lyman,  P.  H. 
Woodward,  and  Lewis  E.  Stanton  of  Hartford. 
After  completing  his  college  course  he  engaged  in 
teaching  in  Ohio,  Texas,  and  Mississippi.  He  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine  in  1858  under  the  tuition 
of  Dr.  J.  L.  Plunkett  of  Carthage,  Miss.  In  1859 
he  returned  north  and  continued  his  studies  under 
Dr.  Clarke  of  AVhitinsville,  Mass.,  and  Dr.  Wm. 
Warren  Greene  of  Portland,  Me.,  the  latter  having 
been  professor  of  surgery  in  the  Berkshire  Medical 
College,  the  Michigan  University,  and  in  the  med- 
ical department  at  Bowdoin.  Dr.  Mason  com- 
pleted his  medical  course  at  Harvard,  and  received 
the  degree  of  M.D.  in  1S61.  He  immediately  set- 
tled at  Suffield,  where  he  has  since  continued  in 
practice.  Dr.  Mason  has  been  married  three 
times.  His  first  wife  was  Mrs.  Mary  R.  Reynolds 
of  Monson,  Mass.  She  died  in  1864,  after  a  year's 
marriage.  In  1S73  he  married  Miss  Clara  K.  Hal- 
laday  of  Suffield,  who  died  in  1876,  leaving  two 
daughters,  one  of  whom  died  at  the  age  of  seven 
3-ears.  In  1S77  I^r-  Mason  was  married  for  the 
third  time,  the  bride  being  Miss  ]Mary  Louisa  East- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


169 


man,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  L.  R.  Eastman  of  Am- 
herst. The  fruit  of  this  marriage  is  one  son  and 
two  daughters,  all  of  whom  are  living.  Dr.  Mason 
is  thoroughly  interested  in  historical  and  biograph- 
ical literature,  and  has  spent  most  of  his  leisure 
during  the  past  thirty  years  in  these  pursuits.  He 
is  a  gentleman  of  wide  culture,  and  a  leading  resi- 
dent of  the  town  where  all  of  his  professional  life 
has  been  passed. 


HON.   E.    CARPENTER. 


HON.  ELISHA  CARPENTER,  Hartfori,;  Judge 
of  the  Stipreme  and  Superior  Courts. 
Judge  Elisha  Carpenter  was  born  in  that  part  of 
the  old  town  of  Ashford  which  is  now  known  by 
the  name  of  Eastford,  Jan.  14,  1824,  and  received  a 
common  school  and  aca- 
demic education.  He  was 
appointed  judge  of  the  su- 
perior court  July  4,  1S61, 
and  was  made  a  judge  of 
the  supreme  court  in  1S65. 
For  thirty  years  he  has 
been  a  prominent  repre- 
sentative of  the  legal  pro- 
fession of  this  state,  and  a 
jurist  of  undoubted  at- 
tainments. Prior  to  the 
appointment  to  the  bench 
he  had  held  the  offices  of 
judge  of  probate  and 
state's  attorney,  and  had  served  for  two  sessions  in 
the  state  senate.  He  first  became  a  member  of  that 
body  in  1857,  his  colleagues  including  the  Hon. 
Dwight  Loomis  of  Rockville,  who  is  now  a  judge 
of  the  supreme  court,  the  late  Governor  James  E. 
English  of  New  Haven,  and  Ralph  S.  Taintor  of 
Colchester.  In  1858  Judge  Carpenter  was  returned 
from  the  old  14th  district.  It  is  one  of  the  most  in- 
teresting facts  in  connection  with  the  history  of  the 
Connecticut  senate,  that  the  roll  of  1858  has  fur- 
nished four  members  of  the  superior  and  supreme 
courts.  Three  of  the  members,  ex-Judge  Dwight 
W.  Pardee  of  this  city,  the  late  Judge  Sidney  B. 
Beardsley  of  Bridgeport,  and  the  subject  of  this 
sketch,  have  attained  eminence  and  honor  in  the 
highest  court  in  this  state,  while  the  fourth  has 
served  for  years  as  one  of  the  ablest  jurists  on  the 
superior  court  bench  in  Connecticut.  Judge  James 
Phelps  of  Essex,  who  was  the  colleague  of  Judge 
Carpenter  in  the  senate  in  1858,  has  also  served  in 
the  national  congress.  The  incident  that  these  four 
interpreters  of  the  law  were  associate  law-makers 
in  the  senate  in  1858  is  one  of  great  value  in  estimat- 
ing the  genius  and  spirit  of  the  Connecticut  judi- 
cial system.  Tenure  of  office  in  the  higher  court 
judgeships  is  practically  identical  with  the  consti- 
tutional limit.  Judge  Carpenter  was  the  president 
pro  tempore  of  the  senate  in  1858.      In  1861  he 


represented  the  town  of  Killingly  in  the  house 
of  representatives,  serving  as  chairman  of  the 
military  committee.  During  the  first  week  of 
this  session  the  legislature  passed  a  bill  confirming 
the  act  of  Governor  Buckingham  in  sending  troops 
into  the  United  States  service  without  authority  of 
law,  and  providing  for  further  furnishing  of  state 
troops  for  such  service.  After  his  appointment  to  the 
superior  court  bench,  Judge  Carpenter  removed 
to  Wethersfield.  He  remained  in  that  town  sev- 
eral years,  but  eventually  settled  in  Hartford, 
where  he  now  resides.  His  career  on  the  supreme 
court  bench  has  been  identified  in  an  exceptional 
manner  with  public  interests.  Of  recent  years  he 
has  been  called  upon  to  prepare  the  most  important 
opinions  of  the  court  relative  to  labor  issues.  The 
noted  boycott  opinion,  which  defined  the  rights  of 
workingmen  so  clearly  that  there  has  been  no  con- 
test in  that  direction  since,  was  from  his  pen.  The 
opinion  relative  to  the  forfeiture  of  wages  in  case 
of  a  violation  of  contract,  which  the  supreme  court 
enunciated  two  years  ago,  was  also  prepared  by 
Judge  Carpenter.  This  opinion  presented  with  the 
utmost  clearness  the  fundamental  principles  of  law 
relative  to  the  rights  of  labor.  It  was  also  Judge 
Carpenter's  perception  of  the  spirit  and  object  of 
the  secret  ballot  law  that  led  the  supreme  court  last 
year  to  a  strict  construction  of  the  text,  the  idea  of 
secrecy  in  the  statute  being  regarded  as  the  funda- 
mental one.  Anything  outside  of  the  strictest  con- 
formity to  one  course  immediately  destroyed  the  se- 
crecy of  the  vote.  It  is  in  cases  and  issues  of  this 
nature  that  Judge  Carpenter  has  rendered  the  pub- 
lic inestimable  service.  He  is  a  man  of  absolute 
personal  integrity,  and  his  career  has  been  a  price- 
less inspiration  for  bench  and  bar  during  the  thirty 
years  in  which  he  has  discharged  the  duties  of  a 
judge  in  the  highest  courts  of  the  state.  In  politics 
Judge  Carpenter  is  a  republican.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church,  and  is  a 
typical  representative  of  the  great  denomination 
with  which  his  entire  religious  life  has  been  identi- 
fied. During  the  war  Judge  Carpenter  was  the 
firmest  of  supporters  of  the  Union.  Unable  to 
share  personally  in  the  military  activities  of  the 
struggle,  he  provided  and  sent  a  substitute  into 
the  field,  though  himself  never  the  subject  of 
any  military  conscription.  His  heart  and  hand 
were  governed  by  an  exalted  patriotism,  the 
very  thought  of  which  was  an  inspiration  to  many 
a  man  in  the  field.  The  oration  which  he  pronounced 
at  the  funeral  of  Gen.  Lyon  in  Eastford  dviring  the 
initial  year  of  the  war  was  a  matchless  tribute, 
showing  that  the  Judge's  heart  was  in  loyal  kinship 
with  that  of  the  fallen  hero,  by  the  side  of  whose 
grave  the  state  was  bowed  in  the  most  affectionate 
sorrow  and  reverence.  Judge  Carpenter  has  been 
married  twice.     His  first  wife  was  Miss  Harriet  G. 


I/O 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


Brown  of  Brooklyn,  Conn.  She  died  July  3,  1874, 
leaving  three  daughters  and  one  son.  The  latter 
died  Sept.  11,  1879.  The  present  wife  was  Miss  So- 
phia Tyler  Cowen,  niece  of  the  late  Gen.  Robert  O. 
Tyler  and  daughter  of  the  late  Mrs.  Cowen,  whose 
memory  will  long  be  regarded  with  affection  and 
enthusiasm  in  this  city.  There  are  two  children  by 
the  latter  marriage.  One  of  the  daughters  of  Judge 
Carpenter  by  the  first  wife  is  Mrs.  Myron  H.  Bridge- 
man  of  this  citv. 


A.  C.   BIGELOW,  New  Fairfield:  Farmer. 

Allen  Clarington  Bigelow  was  born  January  25, 
i860,  in  the  town  where  he  now  resides,  and  where 
his  life  has  principally  been  spent  on  the  farm.  He 
married  Miss  Sarah  Bell 
Benedict,  and  they  have 
two  children.  He  is  a  re- 
publican in  politics,  and 
is  considered  one  of  the 
best  workers  in  that  party 
in  the  town  of  New  Fair- 
field. He  was  employed 
as  a  census  enumerator  in 
1890,  and  is  at  the  present 
time  one  of  the  messen- 
gers of  the  Connecticut 
house  of  representatives. 
Mr.  Bigelow  is  a  young 
man  of  many  pleasing 
accomplishments,  and  an  earnest  and  enthusiastic 
citizen,  whose  interests  are  all  identified  with  the 
town  of  his  nativity.  He  was  educated  at  the  West 
Center  school  of  New  Fairfield. 


A.    C.    BIGELOW. 


DAVIS  A.  BAKER,  Ashford:  Merchant. 

Davis  A.  Baker  has  twice  been  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly,  the  first  term  occurring  in  1867, 
when  his  colleagues  from  Windham  county  included 
Henry  M.  Cleveland  from 
Brooklyn,  George  Daniel- 
son  from  K  i  1 1  i  n  g  1  y  , 
Thomas  Tallman  and 
Lucius  Briggs  of  Thomp- 
son, and  Frank  S.  Burgess 
of  Plainfield.  Mr.  Baker 
was  also  a  member  of  the 
house  in  1887.  The  local 
offices  which  he  has  held 
include  that  of  acting 
school  visitor  for  seven- 
teen years,  constable  and 
collector  two  years,  select- 
man five  years,  judge  of 
probate  eight  years,  town  clerk  and  treasurer  eigh- 
teen, and  was  postmaster  under  President  Cleve- 
land's  administration.     He  is  one  of   the  leading 


D.    A.    liAKEK. 


and  most  successful  members  of  the  democratic 
party  in  his  town.  He  was  educated  at  the  Ashford 
Academy  and  the  State  Normal  school  at  New 
Britain,  and  began  life  as  a  public  school  teacher, 
proving  himself  especially  adapted  to  that  avoca- 
tion. He  was  a  contractor  and  builder  for  af  num- 
ber of  years,  but  for  the  past  decade  or  more  he 
has  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  mercantile  in- 
terests, managing  a  prosperous  business  in  that 
line.  His  two  sons  are  associated  with  him.  The 
wife  of  Mr.  Baker,  Miss  Eliza  H.  Walbridge,  is 
still  living.  Mr.  Baker  was  born  in  Ashford,  Octo- 
ber 28,  1834,  and  has  spent  his  life  in  that  town, 
where  he  is  thoroughly  honored  and  esteemed. 


'^'/^S^ 


J.    D.    PAGE. 


JOHN  DENNISON   PAGE,  Hakwinton:    Paper 
Manufacturer. 

Mr.  Page  was  born  Jan.  10,  1S16,  in  that  part  of 
the  town  of  Manchester  which  was  afterwards  set 
apart  and  incorporated  as  East  Hartford.  After 
acquiring  his  education  at 
the  public  schools,  he 
learned  the  trade  of  mill- 
wright, which  business  he 
followed  in  his  native 
town  for  the  next  twenty- 
five  years.  In  i860  he 
gave  up  the  business  in 
East  Hartford  and  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture 
of  paper  at  Lisbon,  this 
state,  the  firm  being  J.  D. 
Page  &  Co.  This  busi- 
ness he  continued  for 
three  years,  selling  out  at 
the  end  of  that  time  and  returning  to  East  Hart- 
ford, where,  in  1863,  he  became  a  partner  in  the 
well-known  firm  of  Hanmer  &  Forbes,  paper  man- 
ufacturers, under  the  style  of  Hanmer,  Forbes  & 
Page.  Here  he  remained  two  years.  Selling  his 
interest  he  removed  to  East  Litchfield,  town  of 
Harwinton,  where  he  has  since  resided,  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  paper,  and  where  he  has  estab- 
lished and  built  up  one  of  the  important  industries 
of  the  state  in  his  line.  He  has  associated  with 
him  in  the  business  his  son-in-law,  the  Hon.  George 
W.  Dains,  present  senator  from  the  Eighteenth 
district,  the  firm  name  being  Page  &  Dains.  His 
wife's  name  before  her  marriage  was  Mary  Alvord. 
There  have  been  four  children,  only  one  of  whom, 
a  daughter,  is  now  living.  She  is  the  wife  of  his 
business  partner,  the  Hon.  George  W.  Dains,  above 
mentioned.  Mr.  Page  has  never  sought  public 
office,  and  has  never  accepted  it,  save  in  1S72,  when 
he  represented  his  town  in  the  state  legislature  of 
that  year.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics  and  a 
prominent  citizen,  being  held  in  high  esteem  by 
his  fellow  townsmen. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


171 


G.  WELLvS  ROOT,   Hartford:  Wholesale  Com- 
mission Merchant. 

]Mr.  Root  is  senior  partner  in  the  firm  of  Root  & 
Childs,  a  mercantile  house  which  was  established 
in  Hartford  in  1826,  by  A.  &  C.  Day.  Afterwards 
the  firm  became  A.  &  C. 
Day  &  Co.;  then  Day, 
Owen  Sz  Co.;  Owen,  Day 
&  Root;  Owen,  Root  & 
Childs;  and  finally  Root 
&  Childs.  Up  to  1864 
their  business  was  a  job- 
bing business,  and  their 
sales  were  to  the  principal 
retailers  throughout  New 
England,  the  northwest, 
west,  southwest,  and 
south.     It    may   be   said,  ^ 

there  was  not  a  state  in  „    „^    d^^,-,, 

the  Union  that  merchants 

from  them  did  not  visit  Hartford  for  the  purchase 
of  domestic  dry-goods.  From  that  time  the  busi- 
ness gradually  changed  to  a  package  co^nmission 
business,  sales  being  made  exclusively  to  the  job- 
bing trade.  This  led  to  their  opening  a  store  in 
New  York  city.  They  now  occupy  one  of  the  finest 
stores  in  New  York,  corner  Church  and  Leonard 
streets.  They  have  a  sample  office  in  Chicago,  and 
are  represented  by  agents  in  Boston,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore.  Their  business  is  very  large,  they 
selling  the  entire  production  of  a  large  number  of 
New  England  and  southern  mills.  Mr.  Root  com- 
menced with  Day,  Owen  &  Co.,  nearly  forty-eight 
years  ago,  and  Mr.  Childs  over  thirty  years  ago. 
The  Days  and  Mr.  Owen  have  passed  "  over  the 
river."  Probably  no  house  has  been  more  exten- 
sively known  throughout  the  country  for  the  past 
sixty  years  than  this  house  under  its  different  or- 
ganizations. It  has  gone  through  all  financial 
panics  for  the  past  sixty  years  without  a  blemish, 
and  its  record  is  a  very  proud  one. 

Mr.  Root  was  born  in  Augusta,  Oneida  county, 
N.  Y.,  April  26,  1826,  a  descendant  of  Thomas 
Root,  one  of  the  first  settlers,  and  a  great-grandson 
of  Jesse  Root,  a  distinguished  jurist  of  the  revolu- 
tionary period,  who  was  born  in  Coventry,  Conn., 
and  spent  most  of  his  days  in  that  ancient  town. 
]\Ir.  Root  spent  the  first  eight  years  of  his  life  at 
his  birthplace,  from  which  he  went  to  Mount  Mor- 
ris, Livingston  county,  N.  Y. ,  and  remained  nine 
years,  obtaining  during  these  years  a  theoretical 
education  at  the  public  schools,  and  a  three  years 
practical  education  in  a  country  store.  In  1S43  he 
came  to  Hartford  and  entered  the  employ  of  Day, 
Owen  &  Co. ,  into  which  firm  he  was  admitted  as  a 
partner  in  1851.  Calvin  Day  retired  from  the 
partnership  in  1861,  and  the  firm  name  was  then 
changed  to  Owen,  Day  &  Root.     In  1S64  Horatio 


Day  went  out  and  the  firm  was  again  changed  to 
Owen,  Root  &  Childs.  Mr.  Owen  soon  afterwards 
retired  from  active  business,  but  remained  as  a  silent 
partner  until  his  death.  The  firm  then  became  Root 
&  Childs,  as  it  has  since  remained.  Soon  after  en- 
tering the  firm  he  married  Miss  Paulina  S.  Brooks, 
daughter  of  the  late  David  S.  Brooks  of  Hartford, 
who  with  their  five  children  is  still  living. 

Mr.  Root  was  a  member  of  the  Hartford  board 
of  police  commissioners  for  nine  years,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  common  council  one  year.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Hartford  National  Bank  and  in  the 
Phoenix  Insurance  Company;  president  of  the  Sig- 
ourney  Tool  Company,  the  Taft  Company,  and  the 
Mankato  Pipe  Company;  he  also  holds  member- 
ship in  the  Hartford  Club  and  the  Hartford  Board 
of  Trade.  He  is  an  active  and  influential  member 
of  Park  church,  and  an  enthusiastic  and  stalwart 
republican.  He  is  a  man  of  positive  convictions 
and  absolute  frankness  in  their  expression.  His 
long  residence  in  Hartford  has  been  attended  by 
much  earnest  and  conscientious  effort  in  behalf  of 
the  city  and  its  institutions,  his  home-public-spirit 
being  one  of  Mr.  Root's  strongest  traits.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  of  his  essential  usefulness  as  a 
citizen,  or  of  the  well-earned  and  well-deserved 
confidence  which  is  reposed  in  him  by  his  towns- 
men and  all  who  have  the  pleasure  of  his  acquaint- 
ance. 

J.    H.     BLAKEMAN,    Stratford:     Farmer   and 

Stock   Breeder. 

James  Henry  Blakeman  enlisted  in  the  Seven- 
teenth Conn.  Vols.  July  29,  1862,  and  served  three 
years  in  the  field,  being  a  member  of  Company  D. 
He  was  severely  wounded 
on  Barlow's  Knoll  during 
the  first  day  at  Gettys- 
burg, and  was  taken  pris- 
oner by  the  confederate 
forces.  Subsequently  he 
was  recaptured  and  re- 
moved to  a  place  of  secu- 
rity within  the  Union 
lines.  He  is  the  master 
of  Housatonic  Grange, 
No.  79,  of  the  Patrons  of 
Husbandry,  and  is  one  of 
the  best  known  stock 
breeders  in  his  section  of 
the  state,  paying  especial  attention  to  Holsteins. 
He  is  also  engaged  in  general  farming  and  the 
raising  of  small  fruits.  He  was  formerly  associated 
with  his  brother,  M.  A.  Blakeman,  in  dock  and 
bridge  building,  but  withdrew  from  the  business 
after  a  couple  of  years.  He  has  held  numerous 
local  offices,  including  constable,  deputy  .sheriff  in 
Fairfield  county,  tax  collector,  town  auditor,  notary 


.-X 


J- 


BLAKEMAN. 


172 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


public,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  member  of  the 
school  district  committee.  He  is  connected  with  the 
Congregationalist  society  in  Stratford.  His  wife, 
who  was  Miss  Amelia  Janette  Burr,  is  a  daughter 
of  the  late  Deacon  Isaac  Burr  of  Monroe.  The  mar- 
riage occurred  in  1866.  There  are  two  children  in  the 
family.  Mr.  Blakeman  is  a  republican  in  politics. 
He  was  born  at  Stratford,  November  20,  1841,  and 
received  a  common  school  education. 


GEORGE  DUNHAM,  Unionville:  Inventor  and 

Manufacturer. 

George  Dunham  was  born  at  Southington,  April 
7,  1830.  His  early  hfe,  up  to  the  age  of  twenty- 
one,  was  spent  in  hard  work  upon  his  father's  farm, 
with   the  exception   of   a 


m,. 


GEORGE    DUNHAM. 


few  months'  schooling 
each  year  imtil  he  was 
eighteen, when  he  finished 
with  one  term  at  Lewis 
Academy  in  Southington. 
As  soon  as  he  became  of 
age  he  went  to  work  at 
IMiller's  Bolt  Works  in 
>vr^  Southington,  heading 
-^  bolts  by  hand  for  about  a 
year  and  a  half  (this  was 
before  any  machines  for 
heading  were  invented). 
He  then  worked  for  about 
two  years  at  East  Berlin  and  Southington  on  Tin- 
man's machines.  After  that  he  was  employed  by 
the  Miller  Bolt  Works  to  make  tools  for  threading 
bolts  and  nuts.  He  worked  at  this  business,  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  finishing  department  in  addition 
a  part  of  the  time,  until  1859,  except  in  dull  times, 
when,  the  factory  being  closed,  he  turned  to  farm- 
ing and  such  outdoor  work  as  could  be  had.  In 
February,  1859,  he  went  to  LTnionville  as  superin- 
tendent of  Langdon's  Bolt  Works.  In  something 
more  than  a  year  from  that  time  Mr.  Langdon  died, 
when,  in  connection  with  Mr.  A.  S.  Upson,  he  pur- 
chased the  business.  He  made  improvements  upon 
nearly  all  the  machinery  then  used,  many  of  these 
improvements  being  still  in  use.  In  1865  he  in- 
vented what  is  now  called  the  Dunham  forged  nut 
machine,  which  was  highly  successful,  and  up  to 
this  time  has  not  been  superseded  for  this  class  of 
work,  either  here  or  in  England.  Having  at  this 
time  no  knowledge  of  drafting,  this  machine  was 
built  without  drawings,  the  inventor  carrying  all 
the  details  in  his  head.  Since  then  he  has  invented 
a  number  of  machines,  mostly  automatic,  for  cheap- 
ening the  product  by  doing  several  different  things 
in  one  operation.  Included  among  them  is  a  ma- 
chine for  making  brass  tips  for  pocket  rules;  also 
for  making  brass  rolls  for  rule  joints,  a  bolt-header. 


a  paper-bag  machine,  a  hot-working  quadruple  nut 
machine,  a  cold-press  nut  machine  which  makes  a 
nut  complete  from  the  bar  cold,  and  one  for  finish- 
ing nuts  cold,  a  mechanical  motion,  and  several 
others  of  simpler  construction.  He  has  been  in- 
terested in  nearly  all  the  new  business  enterprises 
of  the  village,  a  director  in  most  of  them,  president 
of  some,  and  secretary  and  treasurer  of  others. 
He  is  now  manager  of  the  Dunham  Nut  Machine 
Company.  He  has  held  a  number  of  offices  within 
the  gift  of  the  town,  including  that  of  selectman 
for  several  years  and  justice  of  the  peace  since  1878. 
He  held  the  office  of  clerk  and  treasurer  of  the 
Unionville  Ecclesiastical  Society  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  and  is  a  member  and  deacon  of  the 
Congregational  church.  In  politics  he  is  a  strong 
republican.  Mr.  Dunham  is  a  man  of  decided 
energy  and  determination,  great  perseverance  and 
thoroughness  in  his  work,  and  of  strict  integrity, 
quiet  and  self-possessed  in  manner.  He  takes  great 
interest  in  the  growing  of  fruit,  of  which  he  has  a 
large  variety ;  and  his  chief  recreation  in  summer 
is  in  pruning  and  caring  for  it. 

Mr.  Dunham  married  Miss  Isabella  Bradley  of 
Meriden  in  1853,  who  died  in  1856,  leaving  one 
daughter.  In  1861  he  married  Miss  Mary  J.  John- 
son of  Unionville,  his  present  wife.  Three  sons 
are  the  result  of  this  marriage. 


OLCOTT  B.   COLTON,  Hartfokd:  Junior  Part- 
ner Smith,  Bourn  &  Company. 
Councilman   Colton  of  the  second  ward  in  this 
city  was  born  at  Longmeadow,  Mass.,  Januarj-  16, 
1850,  and  was  educated  in  the  Massachusetts  pub- 
lic    schools.       His     first 
business  experience    was 
with  the  Medlicott  Com- 
pany of  Windsor   Locks, 
where   he    remained    for 
three  years.     At  the  close 
of  that  period  he  became 


H.    COI.TOiN. 


a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the 
Hartford  Steam  Boiler 
Inspection  and  Insurance 
Company.  In  1S71  he 
accepted  the  position  of 
bookkeeper  with  Smith, 
Bourn  &•  Company  of  this 
city,  one  of  the  largest 
concerns  in  the  country  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  harnesses,  riding  saddles,  and  sad- 
dlery goods.  Subsequently  he  became  a  sales- 
man for  the  firm,  and  on  January  i,  1SS5,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  junior  partnership.  The  factory  is 
located  at  the  corner  of  Capitol  avenue  and  Sigour- 
ney  street  in  this  city.  It  employs  200  hands.  The 
principal  depot  for  the  distribution  of  its  goods  is 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


»73 


in  New  York  city.  The  New  England  market  is 
supplied  from  the  firm's  store,  No.  334  Asylum 
street  in  this  city.  Mr.  Colton  is  a  republican  in 
politics  and  represents  the  second  ward  in  the 
court  of  common  council.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church,  and  is  the  su- 
perintendent of  the  Glenwood  Union  Sunday- 
school.  His  wife,  who  is  living,  was  Miss  Helen 
C.  Coomes.  The  family  includes  three  children. 
]\Ir.  Colton  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful young  business  men  in  the  city. 


L.    S.     CATLIN. 


HON.  LYMAN  S.  CATLIN,  Bridgeport:  Treas- 
urer and  Secretary  Mechanics  and  Farmers  Sav- 
ings Bank. 

Lyman  Sheldon  Catlin  was  born  at  Harwinton, 
Litchfield  county.  Conn.,  Jan.  21,  1840,  and  edu- 
cated in  the  common  schools  and  academy-  of  that 
town.  He  remained  in 
Harwinton  through  his 
minority,  and  in  1862  en- 
listed as  a  private  in  the 
Nineteenth  Connecticut 
Infantry  Company.  He 
remained  for  two  years 
in  this  regiment,  and,  at 
the  end  of  that  time  was 
commissioned  as  first 
lieutenant  in  the  Thir- 
teenth United  States  Ai- 
tillery  (colored)  Regiment 
While  with  the  colored 
troops  Lieutenant   Catlin 

Avas  in  an  engageinent  on  the  Cumberland  River  in 
Southwestern  Kentucky,  in  which  the  entire  com- 
mand Avas  captured  by  Forrest's  Cavalry.  The 
officers  connected  with  the  colored  troops  were 
ordered  hung,  but  they  escaped  by  means  of  a 
gunboat.  In  1S65  this  command  was  mustered 
out  and  its  first  lieutenant  was  commissioned  by 
Secretary  Stanton  as  lieutenant  in  the  Fifth  United 
States  Cavalry.  He  served  with  this  command  in 
Arkansas  until  1866,  when  the  LTnion  army  was 
mustered  out.  Since  the  war  Mr.  Catlin  has  passed 
most  of  the  time  in  Bridgeport,  his  only  absence 
being  between  1870  and  1873.  Early  in  1870  he 
settled  in  Alabama  as  the  agent  of  a  Chicago  in- 
surance company,  but  was  driven  out  by  the  Klu 
Klux  in  a  few  months.  The  same  company  then 
sent  him  to  Kansas,  where  he  remained  until  1S73, 
when  he  returned  to  Bridgeport  and  organized  the 
Mechanics  and  Farmers  Savings  Bank  of  that  city, 
and  has  since  been  its  chief  executive  officer.  He 
has  filled  various  offices  for  the  town  of  Stratford, 
and  was  elected  to  represent  the  town  in  the  gen- 
eral assemblies  of  1881  and  18S3.  The  fir.styear  he 
served  on  the  house  committee  on  school  funds  and 


in  1S83  he  was  house  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
banks.  In  1S88  he  was  elected  senator  from  the 
Thirteenth  District,  and  in  the  session  of  '89  was 
chairman  of  the  joint  committee  on  banks,  and  the 
committee  on  further  accommodation  for  the  in- 
sane. His  career  was  one  of  prominence  and  use- 
fulness in  both  branches  of  the  legislature.  Mr. 
Catlin  was  married  in  1871  to  Miss  Helen  J.  Lewis 
of  Stratford,  and  they  have  four  children  —  two 
sons  and  two  daughters.  He  is  an  earnest  repub- 
lican, and  an  influential  factor,  locally  and  state- 
wise,  in  the  councils  of  his  party.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  military  order  of  the  Loyal  Legion,  of  the 
Grand  Army,  and  the  Independent  Order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  Mr.  Catlin  is  a  thorough  and  successful 
business  man  and  a  valued  citizen. 


J.   E.    .ANDREWS. 


JOHN  E.  ANDREWS,  Mt.  Carmei.  Center  (Ham- 
den):  Real  Estate  and  Insurance. 
John  Edward  Andrews  was  born  in  Cheshire, 
November  17,  1831,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  His  father  was  a  farmer  in  that  place, 
and  the  son  at  the  age  of 
twenty  bought  his  time 
and  spent  the  succeeding 
seven  years  in  an  axle 
factory.  At  the  expira- 
tion of  that  period  he  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  pur- 
suits, real  estate,  insur- 
ance, and  building.  He 
Avas  one  of  the  influential 
men  in  the  community  in 
building  up  Mount  Car- 
mei Center  and  in  secur- 
ing the  post-office  for  the 
place.  He  was  connected 
for  two  3^ears  Avith  C.  A.  Burleigh  in  the  flour,  feed, 
and  coal  business,  and  afterwards  with  the  firm  of 
J.  E.  AndrcAvs  &  Son  for  seA^en  years  at  Mount  Car- 
mei. For  a  period  of  four  years  he  held  the 
office  of  first  selectman  and  tOAvn  agent,  being 
elected  in  a  strong  democratic  town,  although 
being  himself  a  republican  in  politics.  During  his 
administration  a  public  hall  Avas  erected  at  a  cost  of 
$15,000.  He  Avas  one  of  the  charter  members  and 
first  master  of  Hamden  grange,  and  is  an  influen- 
tial member  of  the  Congregational  church,  being 
connected  \A'ith  the  finance  committee  of  the  eccle- 
siastical society.  Mr.  Andrews  has  been  married 
tAvice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  Celia  Kinney  of 
Litchfield.  The  son  by  this  marriage,  George  L. 
Andrews,  is  the  postmaster  at  Mount  Carmei  Cen- 
ter and  has  been  the  chairman  of  the  republican 
toAvn  committee.  The  second  Avife  Avas  Miss  Han- 
nah E.  Norton  of  Bristol.  She  is  still  living.  Mr. 
AndreAvs  is  at  present  a  justice  of  the  peace  and 
assistant  postmaster. 


174 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


W.    B.    GLOVER. 


JUDGE  WILLIAM  B.  GLOVER,  Fairfield:  At- 
torney-at-Law. 

William  B.  Glover,  the  son  of  Samuel  and  Emily 
H.  (Brown)  Glover,  was  born  at  Philadelphia, 
Pa.,  April  7,  1857.  He  received  his  early  educa- 
tion at  the  Fairfield  Acad- 
emy, and  prepared  for 
college  at  General  Rus- 
sell's Military  Institute  at 
New  Haven.  At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  entered 
Yale  University ,  and  grad- 
uated in  the  class  of  1S78, 
receiving  the  degree  of 
B.A.  He  then  entered 
the  law  department  of 
Columbia  College,  New 
York,  and  pursuing  the 
course  there,  graduated 
in  iSSo  with  the  degi'ee 
of  LL.B.,  and  was  at  once  admitted  to  full  prac- 
tice as  a  lawyer  in  the  courts  of  the  state  of  New 
York.  For  a  short  time  he  continued  in  business  in 
New  York  city,  and  then  applied,  and  was  in  iSSi 
admitted,  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  state  of 
Connecticut,  since  when  his  advancement  and  suc- 
cess in  his  profession  have  been  rapid  and  flatter- 
ing. He  has  been  engaged  in  much  important 
litigation  in  the  courts  of  Fairfield  county,  notable 
among  which  has  been  the  bitterly-fought  contest 
between  the  town  of  Fairfield  and  the  New  York, 
New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Company,  involv- 
ing the  question  of  payment  of  the  cost  of  separat- 
ing the  grades  of  railroad  and  highway  at  cross- 
ings. The  success  of  the  town  of  Fairfield,  which 
he  represented  in  that  litigation,  has  more  than 
anything  else  had  the  practical  effect  of  settling  a 
question  which  had  been  the  subject  of  widespread 
dispute  and  ill-feeling  for  a  long  time. 

In  November,  1882,  he  was  elected  judge  of  the 
probate  court  for  the  district  of  Fairfield,  and  has 
received  successive  re-elections  to  that  office  to  the 
present  time.  Judge  Glover  has  introduced  many 
reforms  and  improvements  in  the  administration  of 
that  court,  and  the  Fairfield  probate  office  is  to-day 
known  as  one  of  the  model  offices  of  the  state.  His 
opinion  in  matters  of  probate  law  and  practice  is 
often  sought  by  probate  judges  throughout  the 
state,  and  is  at  all  times  cheerfully  and  carefully 
given.  In  1SS4  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  state 
commission  formed  to  revise  and  codify  the  probate 
laws  of  the  state.  Among  his  associates  on  that 
commission  were  Judge  Luzon  B.  Morris  of  New 
Haven  and  Judge  A.  H.  Fenn  of  Winsted.  The 
report  of  the  commission  was  adopted  by  the  legis- 
lature in  1885,  and  forms  the  basis  of  the  present 
probate  law  of  the  state.  He  has  three  times  rep- 
resented the  town  of  Fairfield  in  the  legislature  — 


in  the  sessions  of  1883,  1SS4,  and  1S89.  In  the 
legislature  he  has  always  taken  a  leading  and 
honorable  position,  and  has  become  one  of  the  well- 
known  public  men  of  the  state.  In  the  long  and 
difficult  session  of  1889  he  occupied  the  responsible 
position  of  chairman  of  the  judiciary  committee, 
and  was  the  acknowledged  leader  of  the  house. 
During  the  session  he  was  unanimously  elected 
speaker  ^r^  tempore,  and  when  in  the  chair  pre- 
sided over  the  house  with  rharked  ability  and  suc- 
cess.    In  politics  he  has  always  been  a  republican. 

In  1884  he  married  Miss  Helen  Wardwell  of  New 
York  city,  a  great-granddaughter  of  Judge  Jona- 
than Sturges  of  Fairfield,  who  was  a  member  of 
the  first  congress  of  the  United  States,  and  for  many 
years  a  judge  of  the  superior  court  of  this  state. 
He  has  two  sons. 

Judge  Glover  is  a  member  and  junior  warden  of 
St.  Paul's  Episcopal  church  in  Fairfield,  and  pos- 
sesses in  a  very  high  degree  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  all  classes  in  the  community  in  which  he 
lives.  His  judgment  and  counsel  are  greatly  re- 
spected, and  many  private  trusts  are  given  into  his 
care  and  control.  Among  the  young  men  of  the 
state  there  are  few  who  give  so  much  promise  of  a 
useful  and  brilliant  career. 


LEVERETTE     W.     WESSELLS,     Litchfield: 

^Merchant. 

Mr.  Wessells  was  born  in  the  ancient  town  of 
Litchfield,  in  this  state,  July  28,  1819.  He  spent  a 
few  years  with  his  colleagues  in  the  important 
work    of    mastering    the 


rudiments  of  the  English 
language  in  the  district 
school,  and  finished  his 
educational  accomplish- 
ments at  the  academy. 
Mr.  Wessells  began  his 
political  life  at  an  early 
age,  being  elected  to  his 
first  office,  that  of  deputy 
sheriff  of  Litchfield  coun- 
ty, in  1S45,  in  which  capac- 
ity he  served  until  1S54, 
when  he  was  elected 
sheriff,  a  position  he  held 
until  1866.  He  was  postmaster  of  Litchfield  from 
1850  to  1854.  In  the  war  he  served  with  distinction 
as  colonel  of  the  Nineteenth  Regiment,  Connecti- 
cut Volunteers,  from  July  28,  1862,  to  September  15. 

1863,  having  command  of  Second  Brigade  de- 
fences of  Washington,  south  of  the  Potomac, 
from  March,  1863,  until  the  latter  date,  also 
the  date  of  his  resignation.  He  was  made 
provost-marshal  of  the  fourth  district  Januarj'  9, 

1864,  and  held  that  position  until  the  close  of  the 


3^y  '^ 


l.  w.  wessells. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


175 


war.  In  1866  he  entered  mercantile  life,  and  has 
pursued  his  avocation  in  this  direction  since.  In 
1S79  he  was  elected  to  the  house,  serving  on  the 
railroad  committee,  and  the  same  year  was  ap- 
pointed quartermaster-general.  In  1S77  he  was 
again  chosen  to  represent  Litchfield  in  the  general 
assembly,  when  he  was  house  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  military  affairs.  At  present  he  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  state  board  of  charities,  and  its  auditor. 


^ijsjjjiiiyK 


E.    K.    DILLINGH.4M. 


EDMUND  B.  DILLINGHAM,  Hartford:  Ad- 
vertising and  Real  Estate  Agent. 
E.  B.  Dillingham  was  born  in  West  Bridgewater, 
Mass.,  Sept.  30,  1836.  His  residence  there  was  of 
exceedingly  brief  duration,  and  from  infancy  until 
1867  he  lived  continuously 
in  Fall  River,  Mass.  His 
education  was  acquired 
in  the  grammar  school  of 
the  last-named  city  and 
in  the  academy  at  My- 
rickville,  Mass.  After 
leaving  school  he  engaged 
in  mercantile  business  as 
a  clerk  until  1861,  and 
from  that  time  untill  1866 
was  employed  in  clerical 
duties  connected  with  the 
city  of  Fall  River,  and  in 
the  office  of  provost-mar- 
shal of  the  I  St  Congressional  District  of  Massachu- 
setts, being  assistant  mar.shal  and  enrolling  officer 
during  a  considerable  portion  of  that  period,  and 
having  charge  of  the  enlisting  of  men  in  the  military 
service  under  the  several  calls  made  upon  his  city. 
From  1862  to  1865  he  was  LTnited  States  special 
agent,  with  headquarters  at  Fall  River.  After 
leaving  the  government  employ  he  went  to  Rock- 
ville,  in  this  state,  and  became  superintendent  of 
the  Rose  Silk  Company,  remaining  there  until  1870, 
when  he  removed  to  Hartford,  and  established 
"  Dillingham's  Newspaper  Advertising  Agency," 
being  the  pioneer  in  that  business  in  Connecticut. 
His  agency  in  Hartford  is  among  the  oldest  repre- 
sentatives of  that  business  in  the  country,  and  sus- 
tains a  reputation  among  the  best,  having  the  com- 
plete confidence  of  advertisers  and  publishers 
everywhere.  In  1877  he  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  state  executive  committee  of  the  Young  Men's 
Christian  Association  of  Connecticut,  which  position 
he  still  retains.  In  this  capacity  he  has  attended 
every  international  convention  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
since  1879.  He  was  D.  L.  Moody's  chief  usher 
during  that  distinguished  evangelist's  labors  in 
Hartford  in  the  winter  of  1878-79.  As  a  member 
of  the  Hartford  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  he  is  on  the  board  of 
trustees  for  the  proposed  new  building  of  the  asso- 


ciation soon  to  be  erected  on  their  lot,  corner  of 
Pearl  and  Ford  streets,  which  was  given  for  that 
purpose  by  the  late  General  Hillyer  at  the  solicita- 
tion of  Mr.  Dillingham.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  Congregational  Club,  chaplain  of  the 
Hartford  county  jail  since  1879,  and  member  of  the 
City  Mission  board  for  several  years.  He  has 
acted  as  temporary  supply  for  the  pulpit  of  nearly 
every  country  church  within  a  radius  of  twenty 
miles  from  Hartford,  never  accepting  remuneration 
for  services  thus  rendered.  He  was  chosen  coun- 
cilman for  the  Seventh  ward  in  Hartford  in  1887, 
and  re-elected  for  three  successive  terms,  repre- 
senting the  republicans,  of  which  party  he  has  been 
an  active  member  since  its  organization.  His  re- 
ligious connections  are  with  the  Windsor  Avenue 
Congi-egational  church,  in  the  prosperity  of  which 
organization  he  has  been  an  important  factor. 

Mr.  Dillingham  was  married  in  i860  to  Miss 
Josephine  A.  Potter,  daughter  of  the  late  Henry 
Potter  of  Fall  River,  and  they  have  two  children, 
Charles  B.  and  Mabel  B.,  the  former  of  whom  has 
been  on  the  reportorial  staff  of  one  of  the  Hartford 
city  dailies,  was  later  city  editor  of  a  paper  in 
Spokane  Falls,  Washington,  and  has  recently  been 
made  private  secretary  to  the  Hon.  Watson  C. 
Squire,  United  States  senator  from  that  new  north- 
western state. 


JOHN  AVERY,  Lebanon:  Farmer. 

John  Avery  was  born  in  Preston,  Nov.  9,  1806, 
and  received  a  common  school  education.  He  is  a 
farmer  by  avocation  and  has  resided  in  the  town 
where  he  now  lives  since 
1823.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  general  assembly 
from  Lebanon  in  1S64  and 
has  held  other  important 
offices.  He  has  been  the 
treasurer  of  the  Baptist 
church  in  Lebanon  since 
1846  and  is  a  member  of 
the  board  of  deacons.  For 
65  years  he  has  been  a 
total  abstainer  from  the 
use  of  intoxicating  liq- 
uors, and  has  been  at  the 
head  of  a  temperance  so- 
ciety for  a  considerable  period.  He  has  been  a 
prominent  Sunday-school  worker,  superintendent, 
and  has  been  on  the  committee  of  the  church  for 
most  of  the  time  during  the  past  fifty  years.  He 
has  also  held  the  office  of  justice  of  the  peace.  His 
father  was  Colonel  David  Avery  of  Preston,  who 
was  in  the  revolutionary  war.  His  mother  was 
Hannah  Avery,  daughter  of  John  Avery  of  Preston. 
Mr.  Avery  is  the  onh'  one  now  living  of  a  family  of 
ten  children.     The  first  wife  of  Mr.  Averv,  whose 


JOHN    AVERY. 


176 

maiden  name  was  Clarissa  M.  Stiles,  died  in  i860. 
The  second  wife  was  Miss  Almira  A.  Corey,  who  is 
still  living.  He  has  two  children  living.  One 
daughter  died  in  1854.  In  politics  Mr.  Avery  is  a 
republican. 

FRANK  CHESTER  FOWLER,  Moodus:  Propri- 
etor Oak  Grove  Stock  Farm. 

Mr.  Fowler  was  born  in  Moodus,  December  26, 
1859,  and  has  spent  most  of  his  life  there,  except 
during  his  extensive  travels  over  the  South  and 
West.  He  was  educated 
at  the  common  schools  of 
his  native  town,  and  since 
h  i  s  youth  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  manufacture 
or  sale  of  proprietary 
medicines,  and  in  the 
breeding  of  blooded 
horses.  He  is  proprietor 
of  a  large  stock  farm,  and 
has  a  business  which  in  all 
departments  amounts  to 
$300,000  a  year.  Mr.  Fow- 
ler married  Miss  E.  H. 
Thompson,  and  they  have 
two  children.  In  politics  he  is  an  earnest  republi- 
can, IS  a  member  of  the  organizations  of  Free  Ma- 
sons and  Odd  Fellows,  and  actively  interested  in 
local  public  affairs.  He  is  an  energetic,  stirring 
business  man,  and  as  such  has  achieved  remarkable 
success  in  life  for  one  of  his  years. 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


FOWLER. 


HENRY   N.  CLEMONS,  Danielsonville:    Cash- 
ier First  National  Bank  of  Kilhngly. 
Henry    N.    Clemons   was    born    in    Granby    in 
1824,  third  son  (of  nine  sons  and  three  daughters) 
of  Allen  and  Catherine  (Stillman)  Clemons,  on  the 
manor  farm  of  his  grand- 
father,  Ferdinand   Clem- 
ons     (originally    of     one 
thousand     acres),      pur- 
chased and  settled  by  his 
great-grandfather     when 
the  town  was  a  part   of 
Simsbury.     He  was  edu- 
cated at  home,  in  the  dis- 
trict  school,   the  Granby 
Academy,      the     Suffield 
Literary  Institute,  and  the 
Williston  Seminary,  Mass. 
H.  N.  CLEMONS.  ^^^^   Commenced  teaching 

at  the  age  of  sixteen,  and 
taught  in  Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode 
Island,  and  was  for  a  while  a  clerk  in  the  office  of 
the  school  fund  commissioner.  In  1849  he  began 
railroading  with  a  surveying   corps  on   the  Canal 


railroad  in  Farmington;  became  station  agent 
there;  and,  on  the  extension  of  the  road  to  CoUins- 
ville,  first  agent  at  the  last-named  place,  it  being 
then  the  terminus  of  the  main  line.  He  was  also 
assistant  postmaster  there.  In  1852  he  became 
ticket  agent  of  the  Providence  &  Worcester  Rail- 
road at  the  Providence  office.  In  1855  he  entered 
the  Arcade  Bank  of  Providence,  and  in  1856  was 
elected  teller  of  the  Merchants  Bank  of  the  same 
city,  which  was  the  exchange  bank  for  the  state  of 
Rhode  Island  under  the  Suffolk  system  of  state 
banks.  While  residing  in  Providence  Mr.  Clemons 
was  a  member  of  the  Richmond  Street  Congrega- 
tional church,  was  a  while  their  clerk  and  treasurer, 
and  chairman  of  the  music  committee;  was  secre- 
tary of  the  Mendelssohn  Choral  Union;  was  on 
city's  committees,  and  a  state  secretary  of  apolitical 
party  for  two  years.  In  1853  he  originated  and  co- 
organized  the  Providence  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association,  and  was  their  corresponding  secre- 
tary. During  the  "war  of  the  rebellion,  though 
exempt  by  the  examining  surgeon,  was  a  member 
of  the  home  guard.  He  was  elected  justice  of  the 
peace  in  the  city  of  Providence,  and  held  for  years 
a  commission  as  notary  public  for  Rhode  Island. 
In  June,  1864,  Mr.  Clemons  was  elected  cashier  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Killingly,  at  Danielson- 
ville; arranged  its  organization  and  commenced  its 
banking  business,  and  has  held  the  office  continu- 
ously to  the  present  time.  In  January  of  this  year 
the  bank  paid  its  fiftieth  dividend,  having  paid  to 
its  stockholders  in  dividends  $236,500  on  a  capital 
of  $110,000.  In  July,  1864,  he  organized  the 
Windham  County  Savings  Bank  of  Danielsonville; 
was  its  treasurer  and  a  trustee,  holding  the  office 
some  eleven  years,  in  which  time  the  deposits 
reached  more  than  $1,250,000.  In  1867  he  arranged 
and  superintended  the  erection  of  its  present  bank 
building  and  vaults.  In  1876  he  organized  the 
Music  Hall  Company,  was  elected  its  treasurer  and 
a  director,  which  offices  he  now  holds;  and,  as  a 
member  of  its  building  committee,  arranged  the 
rooms  and  vault  for  the  First  National  Bank  in  its 
block,  which  the  bank  now  occupies.  In  1866  he 
was  elected  clerk  and  treasurer  of  School  District 
No.  I,  and  continued  on  its  union  with  District  No. 
2,  when  the  High  school  building  was  erected, 
holding  the  treasurer's  office  eighteen  years.  He 
held  the  treasurer's  office  of  the  Congregational 
church  thirteen  years. 

Mr.  Clemons  has  been  twice  married:  in  1848  to 
Miss  Mary  E.  Spalding  of  Killingly,  who  died  in 
1869,  leaving  two  children,  a  daughter,  now  a 
widow,  Mrs.  Emily  A.  Merriam,  and  a  .son,  Ferdi- 
nand S.,  now  in  the  Merchants  National  Bank,  St. 
Paul,  Minn.;  in  1871  married  his  present  wife, 
Miss  Mary  L.  CoUyer,  only  child  of  Samuel  C.  and 
Mary  (Tabor)   Collyer  of    Pawtucket,    R.   I.     Mr. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


177 


CleniDiis  was  a  whig  when  made  a  voter,  was  a 
delegate  to  the  whig  convention  at  New  Haven  in 
1852,  became  a  repubHcan  on  the  organization  of 
the  party,  has  held  his  allegiance  thoroughly  as  a 
temperance  republican  and  a  firm  protectionist;  is 
now  all  of  these  arid  a  nationalist  republican.  Mr. 
demons  has  been  borough  treasurer  and  held  other 
minor  offices,  and  has  held  a  notary  public's  com- 
mission more  than  twenty-five  years. 


E.   ]!.   liENNETI'. 


EDWARD  B.  BENNETT,  Harteokd:  Lawyer. 

Edward  Brown  Bennett,  son  of  William  Bennett, 
a  well-to-do  farmer  of  Hampton,  Windham  County, 
Conn.,  was  born  in  that  town,  April  12,  1842.  He 
remained  at  home  un- 
til about  eighteen  years 
of  age,  working  on  the 
farm  summers  and  at- 
tending school  or  teaching 
during  the  winter  months. 
In  1S60  he  entered  Willis- 
ton  Seminary  at  East- 
hampton,  Mass.,  graduat- 
ing therefrom  in  1862.  In 
the  fall  of  the  same  year 
he  entered  Yale  College, 
and  was  graduated  from 
that  institution  in  1866. 
At  college  he  was  active 
in  athletic  sports,  and  was  on  the  Yale  University 
crew  in  the  years  1864,  '65,  '66.  In  1866  and  '67, 
after  leaving  college,  he  taught  school;  and  at  the 
same  time  studied  law  with  the  Hon.  C.  F.  Cleve- 
land of  Hampton.  He  completed  his  law  studies 
with  Hon.  Franklin  Chamberlin  of  Hartford,  being 
more  than  a  year  in  his  office;  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  of  Windham  County  in  January,  1868,  and  be- 
gan practice  at  Hampton.  In  April  of  the  same 
year  he  was  elected  a  representative  from  the  town 
of  Hampton  to  the  general  assembly.  In  the  fall  of 
1S6S  he  opened  a  law  office  in  the  city  of  Hartford, 
and  soon  after  formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  E. 
Burton  which  continued  for  three  or  four  years. 
Since  the  dissolution  of  this  partnership  he  has 
maintained  his  legal  practice  uninterruptedly  until 
the  present,  unassociated.  He  was  chosen  assist- 
ant clerk  of  the  Connecticut  House  of  Representa- 
tives in  1869,  clerk  of  the  house  in  1870,  and  clerk  of 
the  senate  in  1871.  In  July,  1871,  he  was  appointed 
by  Judge  H.  B.  Freeman  clerk  of  the  police  court 
of  Hartford,  which  office  he  retained  for  three 
years.  In  1873  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
common  council  of  that  cit}',  serving  one  term.  In 
April,  1878,  he  was  elected  judge  of  the  Hartford 
City  Court,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  by  suc- 
sessive  re-elections  until  April,  iSgi.  Judge  Ben- 
nett was  married  in  1877,  to  Miss  Alice  Howard, 


daughter  of  Hon.  James  L.  Howard  of  Hartford. 
There  are  no  children  in  the  family.  Judge  Ben- 
nett's religious  connections  are  with  the  Asylum 
Hill  Congregational  church.  In  politics  he  has 
always  been  a  republican ;  has  served  on  the  state 
central  committee,  and  was  its  secretary  for  several 
years.  He  is  respected  as  an  upright  citizen,  who 
has  conscientioush'  and  ably  performed  the  public 
duties  which  have  devolved  upon  him  in  whatever 
position  of  trust  or  responsibility  he  has  been 
placed. 

In  the  latter  part  of  May  of  the  present  year, 
after  the  preparation  of  the  foregoing  sketch,  Judge 
Bennett  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Hartford,  to 
succeed  Major  J.  C.  Kinney,  deceased. 


F.    ANDROSS. 


WILLIA:M  FRANCIS  ANDROSS,  East  Hart- 
ford: Secretary  Connecticut  State  Agricultural 
Societ}'. 

William  F.  Andross,  born  at  East  Hartford, 
Conn.,  June  21,  1850,  has  passed  his  entire  life  in 
that  and  the  adjoining  town  of  South  Windsor.  He 
received  his  education  in 
various  public  and  private 
schools,  and  was  married 
September  21,  1874,  to 
Irene  E.  Bidwell  of  Man- 
chester, by  whom  he  has 
three  children,  two  sons 
and  one  daughter,  few 
men  being  more  fortu- 
nate in  their  domestic  re- 
lations. As  a  business 
man,  Mr.  Andross  has 
been  engaged  in  market 
gardening,  tobacco  grow- 
ing, and  at   present  as  a 

commercial  traveler  m  the  fertilizer  and  chemical 
line,  representing  the  well-known  house  of  H.  J. 
Baker  &  Brother  of  New  York.  For  the  past  ten 
years  he  has  been  actively  connected  with  the  com- 
mercial fertilizer  trade,  acting  at  different  times 
for  the  Bowker  Fertilizer  Company,  the  Bradley 
Fertilizer  Company,  the  Soluble  Pacific  Guano 
Company,  and  is  also  at  present  agent  for  the 
Brockway  Carriage  Company  of  Homer,  N.  Y., 
and  the  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Insurance  Com- 
pany. While  not  specially  active  in  politics,  he 
is  a  decided  republican,  and  has  held  various  town 
offices. 

Mr.  Andross  is  perhaps  best  known  throughout 
the  state  as  secretary  of  the  Connecticut  State 
Agricultural  Society,  to  which  position  he  has  just 
been  unanimously  elected  for  a  fifth  term,  and  has 
filled  its  difficult  and  onerous  duties  with  remarka- 
ble ability  and  success.  He  is  also  a  vice-president 
of  the  Tolland  County  Agricultural  Society,  a  di- 


178 

rector  in  the  New  England  Tobacco  Growers'  Asso- 
ciation, the  Pati-ons  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Com- 
pany, the  Hartford  Count}^  Agricultural,  and  the 
Hartford  County  Horticultural  societies.  He  took 
an  active  interest  in  the  Order  of  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry, and  was  a  charter  member  and  first  secre- 
tary of  South  Windsor  Grange,  No.  28,  and  was  for 
two  years  a  member  of  the  State  Grange  executive 
committee,  having  the  trading  arrangements  of  the 
order  in  hand;  was  also  a  charter  member  of  Cres- 
cent Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  East  Hartford. 

^Ir.  Andross  has  also  been  an  extensive  contribu- 
tor to  the  agricultural  and  local  press,  his  thorough 
familiarity  with  tobacco  growing  in  the  Connecticut 
valley  giving  his  articles  a  more  than  ordinary 
value. 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


M.    HOLliROOK. 


C.  M.   HOLBROOK,  Hartford  :  Boot  and  Shoe 
Manufacturer. 

Caleb  Metcalf  Holbrook  was  born  in  ]\lilford, 
Mass.,  in  1822,  and  was  educated  at  Shelburne 
Falls  in  that  state.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he 
removed  to  Hartford  and 
from  here  to  Cincinnati, 
()hio.  The  gold  excite- 
ment of  1849  led  him  to 
the  Pacific  slope  and  he 
wears  to  this  day  a  heavy 
gold  ring  which  was  made 
from  the  first  gold  found 
by  him  in  the  mines  of 
California.  The  voyage 
to  California  was  made 
by  way  of  Cape  Horn.  In 
passing  the  latter  a  gale 
was  encountered  that 
lasted  thirteen  days, 
the  vessel  400  miles  out  of  its  course. 
The  trip  from  New  York  to  San  Francisco  lasted 
207  days.  From  the  Golden  Gate  to  Sacramento 
the  trip  was  made  in  an  open  boat.  Mr.  Holbrook 
was  fourteen  months  in  the  mines.  The  ship  on 
which  the  voyage  to  California  was  made  was  the 
Hejiry  Lcc.  Mr.  Holbrook  was  absent  about 
three  years.  Since  1852  he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  leather  business,  mainly  in  the  manufacture  of 
boots  and  shoes.  The  original  firm  was  Hunt  & 
Holbrook.  Subsequentlj'  it  became  Hunt,  Hol- 
brook &  Barber,  remaining  under  that  name  until 
the  death  of  Mr.  Barber  in  1879.  Since  that  time 
it  has  been  known  under  the  original  name.  Mr. 
Holbrook  has  been  a  director  in  the  Travelers  In- 
surance Company  for  twenty-five  years  and  is  one 
of  the  best-known  business  men  in  the  city.  He  is 
a  republican  in  politics  and  has  served  three  years 
in  the  common  council  board.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  First  Baptist  church.     His  family  consists  of  a 


sweepmg 


\K\i&  and  two  daughters.  The  former  was  Miss 
Anna  E.  Nelson  prior  to  her  marriage.  Mr.  Hol- 
brook resides  at  No.  340  Farmington  avenue,  own- 
ing and  occupying  one  of  the  pleasantest  residences 
in  that  part  of  the  city. 


J- 


DARKOUR. 


JOSEPH    L.   BARBOUR,   Hartford:    Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Joseph  L.  Barbour  was  born  in  Barkhamsted, 
Litchfield  county,  December  18,  1846,  and  was  edu- 
cated in  the  Hartford  High  school  and  Williston 
Seminary  at  East  Hamp- 
ton, Mass.  He  is  a  son 
of  the  late  Judge  Barbour 
of  Hartford,  a  gentleman 
of  eminent  philanthropy, 
and  has  spent  the  most  of 
his  life  in  the  city  of 
Hartford.  In  1864 
;Mr.  Barbour  was  obliged 
to  give  up  his  plans  for  a 
college  course,  and  en- 
gaged in  teaching.  This 
avocation  was  pursued  for 
two  years.  In  1867  Mr. 
Barbour  commenced  a 
successful  career  of  journalism  in  this  city,  and  was 
associated  for  seven  years  with  the  Hartford  Even- 
ing Post.  He  retired  from  that  paper  in  1874,  and 
has  since  devoted  his  attention  to  the  law.  Mr. 
Barbour  is  one  of  the  ablest  jury  lawj^ers  in  the 
county,  and  has  a  large  and  steadily  increasing 
practice.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  has 
held  a  number  of  important  and  responsible  posi- 
tions within  the  gift  of  his  party.  He  was  clerk  of 
the  common  council  board  in  this  city  for  four 
years,  and  has  held  the  house  and  senate  clerkships, 
proving  himself  a  man  of  unusual  competence  in 
these  offices.  Mr.  Barbour's  work  in  connection 
with  the  house  and  senate  journals  was  of  the 
highest  order.  For  eight  years  he  was  elected 
prosecuting  attorney  by  the  court  of  common  coun- 
cil here,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  that  office 
with  marked  success.  Mr.  Barbour*  has  been  as- 
signed to  no  place  of  public  service  in  which  he  has 
not  shown  exceptional  tact  and  ability.  His  best 
political  service  has  been  rendered  on  the  stump 
through  successive  presidential  campaigns.  There 
is  not  a  republican  speaker  in  the  state  who  can 
surpass  Mr.  Barbour  as  a  campaigner.  His  repu- 
tation is  not  limited  to  Connecticut.  In  New  York 
and  New  Jersey  he  has  been  one  of  the  most  popu- 
lar favorites.  In  other  fields  his  oratorical  eft'orts 
have  been  equally  brilliant.  ^Ir.  Barbour's  ilenio- 
rial  Day  orations  have  been  models  of  eloquent 
and  fascinating  eulogj^  He  was  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  National  Guard  for  six  years,  and  is  a 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


179 


member  of  the  Veteran  Association  of  the  Hart- 
ford City  Guard.  He  is  also  a  member  of  St. 
John's  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  this  city,  and  of 
Charter  Oak  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.  His  church  rela- 
tionships are  with  Rev.  Dr.  Parker's,  where  he  is  a 
regular  attendant.  Mr.  Barbour's  family  consists 
of  a  wife  and  three  children,  the  former  being  a 
daughter  of  Assistant  Postmaster  Oliver  Woodhouse 
of  the  Hartford  post-oflfice.  A  daughter  of  Mr. 
Barbour  is  now  a  student  at  Vassar  College. 


LEMUEL    T.    FRISBIE,    Hartford:    ^^lerchant 

and  Manufacturer. 

Mr.    Frisbie   is   a    native   of    "  Wintonbury,"   a 
parish  of  Old  Windsor,  the  name  of  which  is  now 
obsolete,  the   parish  limits  being  included  in   the 
present   town   of   Bloom- 
field.      Wintonbury    was 
so  called  because  its  terri- 
tory comprised  sections  of 
the  three  towns  of  /f  7;/d- 
sor,      Favming/on ,      and 
Simsdury,  the   orthogra- 


phy of  the  word  being  in- 
tended to  express  the  com- 
position of  the  parish. 
Mr.  Frisbie's  first  Ameri- 
can ancestor,  his  grand- 
father on  his  mother's 
side,  was  Thomas  Taylor,  ,.,,,cpTTr 

who    came     to    America 

from  England  about  1770,  settled  in  Connecticut, 
and  became  a  very  successful  farmer.  He  was  of 
royal  lineage,  in  direct  descent  from  a  reigning 
English  sovereign  through  a  member  of  his  family 
who  forfeited  titles  and  estate  b}-  contracting  a 
marriage  outside  the  royal  line.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  born  February  7,  1S24.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  farmer,  and  was  trained  in  all  the  habits 
of  economy,  industry,  and  thrift  which  character- 
ized the  New  England  farmer  of  that  period.  He 
attended  the  district  school,  and  graduated  from 
the  Connecticut  Literary  Institution  at  Suffield  in 
1S42.  He  thus  remained  at  the  old  homestead  in 
Bloomfield  until  eighteen  years  of  age,  going 
thence  to  Windsor  tor  two  years,  to  Hartford  for 
four  years,  to  West  Hartford  for  two  years,  then 
back  to  Windsor,  where  for  the  fourteen  years 
from  1850  to  1S64  he  was  engaged  in  agricultural 
pursuits  and  in  the  meat  bu.siness.  Since  1864  he 
has  been  engaged  in  merchandizing  and  manufac- 
turing in  Hartford,  taking  up  his  residence  here  in 
1874. 

Mr.  Frisbie  was  married  in  1S4S  to  Miss  Caroline 
E.  Gillett,  daughter  of  OUver  S.  Gillett  of  Wind- 
sor. Her  ancestors  were  among  the  first  settlers  of 
Hartford,  coming  from  Roxbury,  Mass.,  with  one 
of  the  three  colonies  which  settled  respectively  in 


Windsor,  Wethersfield,  and  Hartford.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Frisbie  have  had  four  children  —  two  daugh- 
ters died  in  childhood.  A  son  and  daughter  remain. 
The  former,  Charles  G.  Frisbie,  who  is  associated 
with  his  father  in  business,  married  Miss  Belle  S. 
Welles  of  Hartford,  and  has  three  children;  the 
daughter,  Ella  T.,  married  George  H.  Woolley  of 
Hartford,  and  has  four  children. 

Mr.  L.  T.  Frisbie  was  a  member  of  the  common 
council  of  Hartford  for  four  years,  from  1878  to 
1SS2  inclusive.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Asylum 
Avenue  Congregational  church,  and  chairman  of 
the  society's  committee.  In  politics  he  is,  and  has 
been  since  the  organization  of  the  party,  a  stalwart 
republican.  He  is  active  and  influential  in  church 
affairs,  a  prominent  and  useful  citizen,  and  has  a 
foremost  place  among  the  prosperous  business  men 
of  Hartford. 

HON.  ORRIN  CHAPMAN,  North  Stonington: 

Farmer. 

Orrin  Chapman  of  North  Stonington,  son  of  Elias 
and  Eunice  (Miner)  Chapman,  was  born  in  the  town 
of  his  past  and  present  residence,  July  6,  1834. 
His  education  was  ob- 
tained in  the  common 
school.  The  son  of  a 
farmer,  Mr.  Chapman 
was  bred  to  the  calling  of 
agriculture,  which  he  has 
successfully  followed.  In 
1 85  5  he  married  Miss 
Jane  D.  Smith.  Their 
family  numbers  two  sons 
and  two  daughters.  The 
elder  son,  Elias  O.  Chap- 
man, is  noe  of  the  enter- 
prising young  business 
men  of  Meriden.  In  pol- 
itics Mr.  Chapman  is  a  republican, 
ability  has  been  recognized  by  his  fellow-towns- 
men in  the  bestowal  of  many  of  the  offices  within 
their  gift.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
selectmen  five  years,  three  3^ears  as  first  selectman, 
in  which  capacity  he  served  his  constituency  faith- 
fully and  well,  and  by  his  kindly  efforts  in  behalf 
of  the  wards  of  the  town  won  not  only  the  grati- 
tude of  these  unfortunates,  but  the  commendation 
of  all  humane  persons  familiar  with  his  polic5\  He 
was  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives  in 
1S78,  and  again  in  1SS2.  Mr.  Chapman's  church 
connection  is  with  the  Third  Baptist  church  of 
North  Stonington,  which,  since  1S87,  re-elected  an- 
nually, he  has  served  as  clerk  and  treasurer.  With 
fidelity,  fearlessness,  honor,  and  justice  as  his 
watchwords,  he  belongs  to  that  class  of  citizens 
which,  collectively,  are  the  strength  and  the  security 
of  the  commonwealth. 


ORRIN    CHArM.A.N. 


His  superior 


i8o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


training. 


DANIEL  KIEFER,  Waterbury:  Die  Sinker. 

Daniel  Kiefer  was  born  in  Germany,  December 
15,  1S41,  and  received  a  thorough  public  school 
At  the  age  of  twelve  years  he  came  to 
New  York  and  after- 
wards established  h  i  m- 
self  in  business  in  the  city 
of  Waterbury.  The  war 
of  1 86 1  awakened  in  him 
an  enthusiastic  patriotism 
and  his  services  were 
freely  given  for  the  pro- 
tection of  his  adopted 
countr3\  Daniel  Kiefer 
is  one  of  the  best-known 
Grand  Army  men  in  the 
state,  and  has  held  im- 
portant positions  in  the 
Connecticut  department. 
He  is  a  member  of  Continental  Lodge,  F.  and  A. 
M.,  of  Waterbury,  an  organization  that  can  boast 
the  membership  of  such  men  as  ex-Congressman 
Stephen  W.  Kellogg,  Judge  George  H.  Cowell, 
Colonel  John  B.  Doherty,  and  Major  Lucien  F. 
Burpee  of  the  Second  regiment.  He  is  also  con- 
nected with  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Concordia  Sing- 
ing Society  of  Waterbury.  He  has  held  the  presi- 
dency of  the  board  of  councilmen  in  Waterbury, 
and  the  office  of  poHce  commissioner.  His  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Elizabeth  C.  Moser  be- 
fore marriage.  There  are  no  children.  Mr.  Kiefer 
is  a  republican  in  politics.  His  business  is  that  of 
a  die  sinker. 


DANIEL   KIEFER. 


JOSEPH  B.  BANNING,  Deep  River  (Savbrook): 
Judge  of  Probate. 

Judge  Banning  is  a  native  of  the  town  and  vil- 
lage where  he  now  resides;  he  was  born  December 
16,  1S40,  the  onlv  son  of  Arba  H.  and  Hannah  M. 
Banning.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools 
oi  his  native  town  , 
learned  the  trade  of  shoe 
making,  and  was  con- 
nected as  junior  partner 
with    the    firm   of   A.    H. 


Banning  &  Son,  until  the 
death  of  his  father  in 
1880,  since  which  time  he 
has  conducted  tlie  busi- 
ness alone.  At  the  age 
of  twenty-two  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Ansolette  A. 
Smith,  daughter  of 
Charles  D.  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Deep  River.  Mr.  Ban- 
ning's  father  was  judge  of  probate  for  the  district 
of  Saybrook  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years,  up  to  the 
time  of  his  decease.     Mr.  J.  B.  Banning  was  chosen 


J.  B.  BANNING. 


as  his  successor,  and  has  thus  held  the  judgeship 
since  1880.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Probate  Assembly,  and  has  been  its  secretary  and 
treasurer  since  the  death  of  Judge  West  of  Rock- 
ville.  He  is  also  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  the  town 
of  Saybrook. 

Mr.  'Banning  has  been  in  the  boot  and  shoe  trade 
all  his  life.  In  1S86  he  erected  the  building  on 
Main  Street,  Deep  River,  which  he  now  occupies 
both  as  store  and  residence.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  church,  an  undoubted  republi- 
can, and  a  member  of  Webb  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
of  Deep  River. 


ISRAEL  holmes. 


ISRAEL  HOLMES,  Waterbury:  Banker. 

Israel  Holmes,  eldest  son  of  Samuel  J.  Holmes, 
was  born  in  Waterbury,  August  10,  1823.  He  re- 
ceived a  common  school  and  academic  education, 
and  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen entered  the  employ 
of  the  Benedict  &  Burn- 
ham  Manufacturing  Com- 
pany as  clerk  in  their  gen- 
eral store  in  that  place, 
remaining  in  their  em- 
ploy about  twelve  years, 
during  the  time  becoming 
a  stockholder  in  the  con- 
cern. He  was  twice  elect- 
ed town  clerk  of  Water- 
bury. In  the  spring  of 
1859  he  went  to  Liverpool, 
England,  to  represent 
various  manufacturing  companies,  remaining  there 
twelve  years,  returning  to  his  native  town  in  1S71. 
His  residence  there  included  the  period  covered  by 
the  late  war  of  the  rebeUion  in  this  country.  From 
the  time  that  ]\Iason  and  Slidell  were  taken  from  an 
English  ship  to  the  time  of  the  assassination  of  Abra- 
ham Lincoln  the  life  of  a  Northern  man  in  England 
was  anything  but  agreeable.  In  every  public  place, 
on  the  street,  in  railway  cars,  in  fact  everywhere,  one 
heard  the  North  denounced  in  unmeasured  terms. 
Mr.  Holmes  narrowly  escaped  a  personal  encounter 
on  more  than  one  occasion,  and  is  glad  to  believe 
that,  though  he  did  not  bear  arms,  he  was  able  to 
be  of  some  service  to  his  country. 

In  1S74  Mr.  Holmes  entered  into  partnership 
with  Guernsey  S.  Parsons,  to  succeed  Brown 
&  Parsons;  and,  under  the  firm  name  of  Holmes 
&  Parsons,  the  connection  still  continues.  Mr. 
Holmes  has  been  a  successful  business  man, 
and  is  a  director  in  several  of  the  leading 
manufacturing  firms  in  Waterbury  and  vicinity. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  as  such 
represented  his  native  town  in  the  legislature  of 
1879. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


i8i 


Superin- 


West 

1S42. 

noted 


1).    CROI'HEKS. 


T.    D.  CROTHERS,  M.D.,  Hartkord; 

tendent  Walnut  Lodge  Hospital. 

Thomas  Davison  Crothers  was  born 
Charlton,  Saratoga  county,  New  York, 
His  father  was  a  direct  descendant  of 
family  of  surgeons  who 
have  been  prominent  in 
Edinburgh  for  over  a  cen- 
tury as  teachers  in  the 
university  of  that  city. 
His  mother  came  from 
the  Holmes  family  of 
Stonington,  Conn.,  very 
prominent  in  the  revolu- 
tionary war ;  and  later  they 
settled  in  Saratoga  coun- 
ty, New  York.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was 
brought  up  on  the  farm, 
and  prepared  for  college 
at  Fort  Edward  Seminary,  New  York.  The  ex- 
citement of  the  war  caused  hini  to  give  up  a  college 
course  and  enter  direct  upon  the  study  of  medi- 
cine. After  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  medical 
college  at  Albany,  N.  Y.,  he  entered  the  Ira  Harris 
U.  S.  Military  Hospital  as  medical  cadet.  In  1865 
he  graduated  from  the  Albany  Medical  College, 
and  continued  his  studies  at  the  Long  Island  Col- 
lege until  the  next  year,  when  he  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  medicine  at  West  Galway,  Fulton 
county,  N.  Y.  In  1870  he  removed  to  Albany,  and 
later  became  connected  with  the  college  as  assistant 
to  the  chair  of  the  practice  of  medicine  and  lecturer 
on  hygiene,  and  instructor  in  physical  diagnosis. 
In  1875  he  was  appointed  assistant  physician  to  the 
New  York  State  Inebriate  Asylum  at  Bingham- 
ton.  In  1878  he  resigned  to  become  the  superin- 
tendent of  Walnut  Hill  Asylum  at  Hartford,  Conn. 
Two  years  later  the  Asylum  Association  was  sus- 
pended on  account  of  the  faiiure  of  the  legislature 
to  assist  them  in  building. 

A  year  later  Dr.  Crothers  organized  the  Walnut 
Lodge  Hospital,  a  private  corporation  for  the  medi- 
cal treatment  of  alcohol  and  opium  inebriates,  over 
which  he  has  had  active  charge  up  to  the  present 
time.  In  1875  Dr.  Crothers  married  Mrs.  Risedorf 
of  Albany,  N.  Y.  In  1876  the  American  Associa- 
tion for  the  Study  and  Cure  of  Inebriety  issued  a 
quarterly  journal  devoted  to  the  medical  study  of 
inebriety,  and  Dr.  Crothers  was  unanimously 
elected  editor,  a  position  which  he  has  held  up  to 
the  present  time.  He  was  also  elected  secretary  of 
this  association,  and  has  been  ever  since  continued 
in  that  position. 

In  1887  Dr.  Crothers  was  one  of  the  American 
delegates  to  the  London  international  congress  for 
the  study  of  inebriety.  This  congress  was  attended 
by  delegates  from  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  was 


the  first  great  gathering  of  scientific  men  for  the 
purpose  of  discussing  the  drink  evil.  The  English 
Society  for  the  Study  of  Inebriety  gave  Dr. 
Crothers  a  reception  and  dinner  before  the  congress 
opened,  which  attracted  much  attention  at  the 
time.  For  many  years  Dr.  Crothers  has  been  a 
voluminous  writer  and  lecturer  on  different  phases 
of  inebriety,  and  his  views  have  been  the  subject 
of  much  interest  and  controversy.  In  1S8S  he  gave 
a  course  of  lectures  on  inebriety  before  the  students 
of  the  Albany  Medical  College,  and  in  1SS9  re- 
peated it  before  the  medical  students  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Vermont  at  Burlington.  Dr.  Crothers  is 
a  member  of  many  scientific  societies  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  is  frequently  invited  to  present 
his  views  in  both  papers  and  lectures  before 
them.  These  views,  which  he  carries  out  practi- 
cally in  his  hospital,  are  that  "  inebriety  is  a  dis- 
ease, and  curable  as  other  diseases  are."  Like  all 
other  jpioneers,  Dr.  Crothers  has  a  large  circle  of 
ardent  admirers  among  scientific  men,  as  well  as 
bitter  detractors.  His  conduct  of  The  Journal  of 
Inebru'/y,  published  by  The  Case,  Lockwood  & 
Brainard  Company  of  this  city,  has  given  it  a  na- 
tional reputation  among  the  scientific  periodi- 
cals of  the  day,  and  his  private  hospital  has  at- 
tracted widespread  attention  and  patients  from  all 
over  the  country.  Dr.  Crothers  is  still  a  young 
man,  and  has  the  promise  of  great  prominence  in 
the  future  in  scientific  circles,  if  his  energy  and 
health  continue. 

GEORGE    H.  JENNINGS,   M.D.,   Jf.wett  City: 

Physician  and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  George  Herman  Jennings  was  born  in  Pres- 
ton in  this  state,  March  20,  1850.  He  fitted  for  col- 
lege at  the  Norwich  Academy,  in  1S72  pursued  a 
a  course  of  study  in  the 
College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  New  York 
city,  and  in  1S75  gradu- 
ated from  the  Long  Is- 
land College  Hospital, 
Brooklyn,  New  York. 
Soon  after  graduation  he 
removed  to  Jewett  City 
and  commenced  the  prac- 
tice of  medicine,  in  which 
he  has  been  engaged  to 
the  present  time.  He 
was  married  to  Miss 
Annie  Greenwood  of  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  and  thej^  have  five  children.  Dr.  Jen- 
nings is  deeply  interested  in  educational  afliairs, 
and  since  1SS4  has  been  committee  of  the  Jewett 
Cit}-  schools.  He  is  connected  with  the  Methodist 
church,  and  in  politics  is  a  republican.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  masonic  fraternity,  and  president  of 
the  Agassiz  Association  of  Jewett  City. 


C.    n.    JENNINGS. 


1 82 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


C.    H.    S.     DAVIS. 


CHARLES  H.  S.  DAVIS,  Meriden:  Physician. 
Dr.  Charles  Henry  Stanley  Davis  of  Meriden, 
who  held  the  office  of  mayor  in  that  city  during  the 
years  of  1SS7  and  iSSS,  was  born  in  Goshen,  Litch- 
field County,  March  2, 
1840,  being  the  seventh  in 
descent  from  Dolor  Davis, 
one  of  the  original  settlers 
of  Barnstable,  Mass.  , 
1634.  The  father  of  ex- 
Mayor  Davis,  Dr.  T.  F. 
Davis,  removed  to  ]Meri- 
den  in  1S49,  when  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
a  lad  of  nine  j'ears.  Dr. 
Davis  had  been  a  success- 
ful practitioner  at  Litch- 
field and  Plj-mouth.  He 
died  at  Meriden  in  1870. 
Prior  to  the  war  ex-Mayor  Davis,  being  twenty 
years  of  age  at  the  time,  removed  to  New  York, 
and,  with  Charles  H.  Thomas,  a  well-known  trans- 
lator from  the  German  and  French,  and  an  oriental 
scholar,  opened  a  bookstore,  dealing  principally  in 
philological  works  and  New  Church  publications. 
In  a  back  room  in  this  bookstore  the  American 
Philological  Society  was  started  b)'  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Nathan  Brown,  who  translated  the  Bible  into 
Assamese,  and  is  now  a  missionary  in  Japan. 
Rev.  William  U.  Scott,  now  a  missionary  in  Bur- 
mah,  Rev.  F.  Janes,  and  others,  were  members  of 
this  society,  and  Dr.  Davis  was  corresponding 
secretary  for  several  years.  He  soon,  however, 
sold  out  his  interest  in  the  bookstore,  began  the 
study  of  medicine  under  Dr.  William  T.  Baker,  and 
entered  the  Bellevue  Hospital  Medical  School. 
After  a  course  at  Bellevue,  Dr.  Davis  entered  the 
medical  department  of  the  New  York  University, 
and  when  he  graduated  received  not  only  his 
diploma  but  a  certificate  of  honor  signed  by  Dr. 
Valentine  Mott,  Dr.  John  W.  Draper,  and  the  rest 
of  the  faculty,  in  testimony  of  his  having  passed 
one  of  the  best  examinations,  and  having  pursued 
a  fuller  course  of  study  than  is  usually  followed  by 
medical  students.  After  graduating.  Dr.  Davis 
attended  a  course  of  lectures  at  the  University  of 
Maryland,  and  another  at  the  Harvard  Medical 
School.  Thus  qualified  by  study  and  hospital 
practice  he  returned  to  Meriden  as  a  physician  in 
1865,  succeeded  his  father  in  the  business  and  soon 
built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  In  1872  he 
went  abroad  for  travel  and  study,  remained  eight 
months,  visiting  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  Wales, 
France,  German}',  Italy,  and  Switzerland.  Dr. 
Davis  is  one  of  the  honorary  secretaries  for  the 
United  States  of  the  Egypt  Exploration  Fund,  and 
is  the  editor  of  Biblia,  an  archa-ological  journal, 
devoted  to   Egyptology,  Assyriology,  and  archaeo- 


logical research  in  oriental  lands.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  New  Haven  Medical  Societ3^  Con- 
necticut State  Medical  Society,  the  Societe 
(V  Aittliropolooic  of  Paris,  and  the  society  of  Bib- 
lical Archaeology  of  London;  honorary  member  of 
the  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin,  Buffalo, 
Chicago,  and  Minnesota  Historical  Societies,  New 
England  Historico-Genealogical,  American  Ethno- 
logical, and  American  Philological  societies.  He 
was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Meriden  Scientific 
Association,  has  always  been  director  of  its  section 
of  archaeology  and  ethnology,  from  the  first  its 
recording  and  corresponding  secretary,  and  editor 
of  its  four  volumes  of  Transactions.  In  1870  he 
published  a  historj^  of  Wallingford  and  Meriden,  a 
work  of  a  thousand  pages,  requiring  much  labor, 
especially  in  its  genealogies  of  old  Wallingford  and 
Meriden  families.  For  four  years  he  edited,  for 
the  American  News  Company,  the  "  Index  to  Lit- 
erature," a  work  which  required  the  careful  exam- 
ination every  month  of  some  one  hundred  and 
thirty  periodicals.  He  found  time  also  to  write  a 
work  on  "The  Voice  as  a  Musical  Instrument," 
published  by  Oliver  Ditson,  the  distinguished  musi- 
cal publisher  of  Boston,  which  has  had  a  very  large 
sale;  also  a  work  "  On  Classification,  Training, 
and  Education  of  the  Feeble-minded,  Imbecile,  and 
Idiotic,"  which  has  become  authority  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  also  edited  the  first  volume  of  the  Boston 
Medical  Register,  and  has  contributed  largely  to 
the  literary,  medical,  and  scientific  journals.  Sev- 
eral of  his  articles  on  the  education  of  feeble- 
minded children  were  translated  into  the  Spanish 
language,  and  published  in  El  Repertorto  Medico. 
The  catalogue  of  the  library  of  the  surgeon-general 
at  Washington  enumerates  over  twenty  articles 
contributed  by  him  to  the  medical  press.  He  has 
a  reading  knowledge  of  the  modern  languages,  and 
has  studied  Arabic,  Hebrew,  Syriac,  Assyrian,  and 
the  Ancient  Egj-ptian  languages. 

He  has  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  in 
Meriden  for  eighteen  years,  occupying  the  chair- 
manship for  six.  He  has  been  one  of  the  High 
School  committee  since  its  organization,  and  was 
for  five  3'ears  acting  school  visitor.  In  1873  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  legislature  from  Meriden, 
being  the  first  democrat  whom  that  town  had  sent 
to  the  general  assembly  in  twenty  years.  The 
doctor  served  as  chairman  of  the  committee  on  leg- 
islation. He  was  returned  to  the  house  in  18S5 
and  was  again  on  the  education  committee.  In 
1 886  he  was  a  member  of  the  committees  on  insu- 
rance and  constitutional  amendment.  In  1885  he 
was  nominated  as  judge  of  probate  for  the  Meriden 
district,  but  declined.  In  1S86  he  received  the 
nomination  for  state  senator  for  the  Sixth  sena- 
torial district,  but,  although  supported  by  the  dem- 
ocratic and  labor  parties,  lost  his  election  by  thirt}'- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


183 


two  votes,  although  in  Meriden  he  ran  two  hund- 
red ahead  of  the  repubHcan  candidate.  He  was 
elected  mayor  by  the  united  labor  and  democratic 
parties  and  was  the  first  democratic  maj'or  that  the 
city  of  Meriden  ever  had.  His  administration  was 
successful,  and  he  was  re-elected  in  iSSS.  Dr. 
Davis  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  State  Reform 
School.  He  is  a  member  of  vSt.  ElmoCommandery, 
Knights  Templar,  of  Meriden  ;  has  attained 
the  thirty-second  degree  in  masonry,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Pyramid  Temple,  Ancient  Order  of  Nobles 
of  the  Mystic  Shrine.  He  is  also  a  prominent  Odd 
Fellow  and  Knight  of  Pythias.  As  a  citizen,  mem- 
ber of  society,  and  publicist,  Dr.  Davis  is  held  in 
the  highest  esteem  in  the  city  of  Meriden. 


C.   S.    DAVIDSON. 


CHARLES  S.  DAVIDSON,  Hartford:  Superin- 
tendent Hartford  Division,  New  York.  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad. 

C.  S.  Davidson  was  born  in  East  Haven,  Novem- 
ber g,  1829,  and  educated  at  the  Lancasterian 
school  in  New  Haven,  under  the  management  of 
John  E.  Lovell,  a  distin- 
guished educator  of  that 
period.  When  he  left  the 
school  in  1S45,  he  ranked 
as  second  in  scholarship, 
receiving  in  certification 
of  that  fact  a  silver  medal, 
which  is  still  retained  by 
him  as  one  of  the  pleas- 
antest  souvenirs  of  his 
boyhood.  After  leaving 
school  he  remained  with 
his  father  two  years,  and 
then  went  to  work  in  a 
silver  and  brass  plating- 
establishment  in  New  Haven.  In  1S4S  he  removed 
to  Springfield,  Mass.,  and  learned  the  machinist 
trade,  on  the  completion  of  which  he  came  to  Hart- 
ford, and  entered  the  employ  of  the  railroad  com- 
pany with  which  he  has  been  connected  ever  since, 
ascending  through  the  various  grades  of  mechanic, 
engineer,  conductor,  supervisor  of  construction, 
assistant  superintendent,  and  finally,  superintend- 
ent of  the  important  Hartford  Division  of  that 
great  line.  There  is  not  a  railroad  manager  in  New 
England  who  possesses  more  fully  than  Superin- 
tendent DavicLson  the  confidence  of  the  public,  and 
for  the  best  of  reasons.  He  has  had  abundant  and 
varied  experience  in  all  departments  of  practical 
railroading,  managing  with  consummate  judgment 
and  skill  the  most  difficult  situations;  he  is  a  man 
of  absolute  fidelit3%  and  of  courage  which  amounts 
to  heroism.  Those  who  know  most  of  his  experi- 
ences for  the  past  thirty-odd  years  understand  the 
secret  of  the  regard  which  the  public  and  the  rail- 


road company  have  for  him,  and  the  confidence  they 
repose  in  him  for  everj^  emergency. 

During  the  administration  of  Mayor  Sumner,  ]ilr. 
Davidson  was  appointed  a  member  of  the  Hartford 
board  of  fire  commissioners,  and  rendered  invalu- 
able service  to  the  city  in  this  capacity.  He  was 
recently  appointed  by  Mayor  Dwight  as  a  member 
of  the  board  of  street  commissioners,  the  wisdom  of 
which  appointment  is  universally  conceded.  He  is 
a  director  in  the  Dime  Savings  Bank,  and  holds 
other  minor  positions  of  trust.  He  has  never  been 
an  active  politician,  but  no  man  in  the  city  has 
done  more  to  promote  the  interests  of  good  govern- 
ment. In  every  position  in  life  he  has  been  the 
representative  of   the  highest  type  of  citizenship. 

Mr.  Davidson  is  a  prominent  representative  of 
the  Masonic  fraternit}',  being  advanced  to  the 
thirt^'-second  degree.  He  is  eminent  commander 
of  Washington  Comm.andery,  No.  i,  K.  T.;  mem- 
ber of  Pyramid  Temple;  Knights  of  Honor;  Order 
Red  Men;  Veteran  Association  Governor's  Foot 
Guards;  honorary  member  City  Guards,  Franklin 
Gun  Club,  etc.  He  is  in  politics  an  independent 
democrat;  in  religious  matters  his  connections  are 
with  the  Park  Ecclesiastical  society  of  Hartford. 

Mr.  Davidson  was  married  quite  early  in  life  to 
Miss  Catherine  A.  Bartholomew.  They  have  had 
three  children,  but  one  of  whom  is  living  —  a  son 
—  WiUiam  B.  Davidson,  a  book-keeper  in  the 
United  States  Bank  of  Hartford. 


WATSON  H.  BLISS,  Harti-urd:  Contractor  and 

Builder. 

Watson  H.  Bliss  was  born  at  Chelsea,  Vt.,  Feb- 
ruary 28,  1S42,  and  was  educated  in  the  public 
schools  and  at  the  academy  in  East  Hartford, where 
most  of  his  early  life  was 
spent.  He  learned  the 
trade  of  a  house  carpen- 
ter, and  in  1869  estab- 
lished himself  in  business 
in  Hartford,  where  he 
has  for  years  been  ac- 
tively engaged  in  the 
building  line,  being  the 
architect  and  builder  of 
many  of  the  best  resi- 
dences in  this  city.  Dur- 
ing the  war  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  Hartford 
Light  Guard,  and  enlisted 

in  the  Twent}^- Fifth  regiment  from  that  organiza- 
tion. He  has  been  elected  to  and  served  several 
years  with  distinction  in  both  branches  of  the  Hart- 
ford cit}-  government,  being  in  1S85  a  member  of 
the  ways  and  means  committee  and  rendering  ex- 
cellent service  in  that  capacity.     He  is  an  active 


1 84 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


and  influential  member  of  Washington  Command- 
ery,  Knights  Templars,  having  served  as  comman- 
der in  1881  and  1S84,  and  is  also  a  member  of 
Robert  O.  Tyler  Post  of  the  Grand  Army.  He  is 
married  and  has  a  family,  one  of  his  sons  being 
at  present  engaged  in  business  with  him. 


ELIJAH  H.  HUBBARD,  Middletown  : 

Elijah  Hedding  Hubbard  is  a  prominent  and  suc- 
cessful business  manager  in  Middletown,  being  a 
director  of  the  Middletown  National  Bank,  the 
Middl  e  t  o  w  n  Savings 
Bank,  the  Shaler  &  Hall 
Quarry  Co. ,  the  Ferry  Co. , 
and  the  Gas  Co.  in  that 
city.  He  has  spent  most 
of  his  life  in  Middletown, 
where  he  has  been  exten- 
sively engaged  in  market- 
ing business.  He  is  a 
democrat  in  politics  and 
has  held  various  town  offi- 
ces, including  that  of 
selectman.  Mr.  Hubbard 
was    born    in    Agawam, 

E.     H.    HUBHARD.  , ,  ^t  ■, 

Mass.,  Nov.  13,  1 810,  and 
received  a  common  school  education.  His  Avife, 
whose  maiden  name  was  Mary  J.  Badger,  died 
Nov.  15,  1S47,  leaving  three  children,  all  of  whom 
are  living.  Mr.  Hubbard's  life  has  been  devoted 
to  business  in  which  he  has  met  with  deserved 
success. 

FREDERICK  F.  BARROWS,  Haktiuri.:  Pubhc 
School  Teacher. 

Frederick  Freeman  Barrows,  principal  of  the 
Brown  school,  Hartford,  and  one  of  the  best  known 
educators  in  New  England,  was  born  in  Mansfield, 
September  4,  1S21.  He 
received  a  common  school, 
select  school, and  academi- 
cal education,  and  has  fol- 
lowed the  profession  of 
teaching  since  the  winter 
of  1S39,  although  he  did 
not  enter  upon  it  as  a  de- 
termined life-work  until 
1843.  His  early  life  was 
that  of  a  farmer  in  his 
native  town.  He  taught 
school  winters  from  the 
I-    .•    1.  ,L.i.,,iic  time     he    was     eighteen 

r.     I- .     I.ARR'  i\\  S.  ^ 

years  of  age,  teaching 
two  terms  in  Springfield.  He  taught  in  Willi- 
mantic  for  six  years,  and  his  record  in  equipping 
young  men  especially  for  a  Hfe  work  was  so 
marked  that  attention  was  attracted  to  him  in 
Hartford  and  in  Norwich,  both  of  which  cities  were 


in  competition  for  his  services  in   1850.     He  was 
finally  engaged  as  principal  of  the  First  school  dis- 
trict in  Hartford,  a  position  which  he  has  held  for 
forty-one  years;  being  the  longest  continual  term 
of  service  of  any  school  teacher  in  the  state.     His 
work  in  Hartford  has  been  of  the  greatest  value  to 
the  public  of  his  district,  which  is  in  that  part  of 
the  city  known  as  the  Fifth  and  Sixth  wards,  and 
has  a  large  element  of  foreign  population.     He  was 
the   inspiring   agency  in   the   construction  of    the 
fine  Brown  school  building  named  after  Flavins  A. 
Brown,  who  was  chairman  of  the  school  committee 
for  many  years,  and  in  close  sympathy  with  the 
efforts  of  Mr.  Barrows  for  the  establishment  of  a 
first-class  school  for  the  masses.     Mr.  Barrows  out- 
lined to  him  what  he  desired,  and,  the  district  ap- 
proving  of  his   plans,   the   building   was   erected; 
which  at  the  time  of  its  construction  was  without 
doubt  the  finest  school  edifice  in  the  state.     Within 
a  few  years  past  the  main  building  has  been  en- 
larged by  the  addition  of  a  kindergarten  depart- 
ment, which  is  carried  on  under  the  most  approved 
modern  system  after  Froebel,  the  founder  of  that 
style  of  teaching  the  young.     Mr.  Barrows's  school 
numbers  between  1,500  and   1,700  pupils,  and  re- 
quires   a    trained     corps    of     thirty-five    teachers 
and  special   instructors   in   German,   penmanship, 
drawing,    and    singing     to    carry    on    the    work. 
At    a    celebration   of  the   fortieth  anniversary   of 
Mr.    Barrows's    connection    with     the     school     a 
portrait   of   him  was   presented   to  the  school   by 
his    many    friends,   and    some    souvenirs     of    the 
occasion  were  given  to  him.     Hon.  M.  J.  Dooley, 
then  LTnited  States  bank  commissioner,  a  graduate 
of  the  school,   made  the  address  of  presentation, 
and  most  fittingly  characterized  the  school  when  he 
said:   "  Mr.  Barrows's  genius  has  here  reared  an 
institution  which  is  for  the  Protestant  and  Catholic, 
the  Jew  and  Gentile,  absolutely  without  a  rival." 
Mr.   Barrows  has  frequently  been  called  upon  to 
address    teachers'    conventions     and     educational 
gatherings   upon   his    methods    of    teaching,   and 
especially  upon  his  mode  of  instruction  in  numbers, 
in  which  he  has  a  wonderful  talent  amounting  to 
genius.     Graduates  of  the  Brown  school  may  be 
found   in  all  parts  of  the  country,  and  they  uni- 
formly testify  to  the  healthful  influence  and  whole- 
some results  of  his  training.     He  has  been  a  rigid 
disciplinarian,  but  tempers  his  school  government 
with  the  rarest  judgment  and  tact.     It  has  been  an 
every-day  spectacle  at  the  Brown  school  to  see  Mr. 
Barrows  near  the  gateway,  and  hundreds  of  little 
children  grasping  him  by  the  hand  to  say,  "  Good 
day,  Mr.   Barrows,"  as  school  closes.     He  knows, 
children  intuitively,  and  has  had  wonderful  success 
in  bringing  forth  from  what  seemed  unpromising 
minds  excellent  citizens  and  intelligent  men  in  all 
the  walks   of   life.      In   18S2  his  friends  sent  him 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


185 


to  Europe  on  a  tour  for  recreation,  a  kindness 
which  he  greatly  appreciated.  ^Ir.  Barrows  has 
been  prominently  identified  with  the  Park  Con- 
gregational church  in  Hartford.  He  has  never 
taken  any  active  part  in  political  life,  but  has 
been  in  sympathy  with  the  republican  part}- 
from  its  foundation.  His  wife  was  Harriet  Harris 
of  Willimantic,  and  he  has  five  children  living. 
Volumes  might  be  written,  full  of  instances  con- 
nected with  his  teaching,  in  which  his  acute  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature  and  his  power  of  "  reading  " 
persons  have  been  most  remarkable.  He  is  as 
much  an  institution  of  Hartford  and  Connecticut  as 
is  the  school  system  itself,  and  his  life  work  has 
been  more  than  ordinarily  successful  in  that  it  has 
tended  to  the  uplifting  and  betterment  especially  of 
the  children  of  the  poor  of  his  city. 


CHARLES  WILLIAM  BEARDSLEY,  Milford: 

Seedsman  and  Stock  Breeder. 

Charles  W.  Beardsley,  son  of  Charles  Beaidslev, 
was  born  in  Stratford,  Conn.,  May  27,  1S29,  and  in 
the  year  1S44  he  removed  with  his  father's  family 
to    Milford.      He    is    de- 
scended  from  W  i  1 1  i  a  m 
Beardsley,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  to  w n  o  f 
Stratford,  from  whom  he 
takes  the  name  William; 
and  from  the  Beacli  fam- 


V?r-i' 


C.   W.   BEARUSLKV 


ily  through  his  great- 
grandmother  Sarah, 
daughter  of  Israel  Beach, 
2d,  of  Stratford.  H  i  s 
mother  was  Sarah,  daugh- 
ter of  Hezekiah  Baldwin 
of  Milford,  a  descendant 
of  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  that  town;  and  he  regards  his  success  in  life  as 
very  largely  the  result  of  the  early  training  and 
Christian  advice  of  this  mother.  The  first  American 
ancestor  above  alluded  to,  William  Beardsley,  came 
from  England  in  1635,  in  the  ship  Planter,  com- 
manded by  Captain  Travice.  He  was  then  only 
thirty  years  of  age,  but  had  a  wife  and  three  chil- 
dren, all  of  w'hom  accompanied  him  hither.  He 
came  from  Stratford-on-Avon  (the  birthplace  of 
William  Shakespeare),  and  w^as  made  a  freeman  in 
Massachusetts,  but  afterwards,  in  1639,  settled  in 
the  Connecticut  township,  to  which  the  family  gave 
the  name  of  Stratford,  in  honor  of  the  English  town 
from  which  they  had  emigrated.  The  town  of 
Avon,  N.  Y.,  was  also  named  by  descendants  of 
William  Beardsley  w^ho  settled  there,  in  honor  of 
the  old  river  in  England.  William  Beardsley  was 
a  deputy  for  Stratford  in  1645,  and  for  seven  years 
thereafter,  and  was  a  man  of  much  prominence  in 


early  colonial  times.  He  died  in  1660,  at  the  age 
of  fifty-six,  leaving  three  children.  The  succession 
in  the  line  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  through 
Joseph  Beardsley,  the  youngest  son.  The  genera- 
tions from  Joseph  were  John,  Andrew,  Henry, 
Wilham  Henry,  and  Charles, —  the  latter  being  thtj 
father  of  Charles  W.  Beardsley,  the  present  subject. 
Charles  W.  is  the  oldest  of  a  family  of  eight  chil- 
dren, the  brothers  and  sisters  being  the  following, 
all  of  whom  are  now  living,  and  residents  of  Mil- 
ford, except  as  otherwise  stated:  Abigail,  now  the 
wife  of  Charles  R.  Baldwin  of  Milford;  Alvira; 
Hezekiah,  an  extensive  contractor  and  builder  in 
Milford;  George,  now  residing  in  New  Haven; 
Theodore,  a  prominent  builder,  of  Springfield, 
!\Iass. ;  Sarah  J.,  wife  of  Edward  Clark  of  INIilford; 
and  Frederick,  the  youngest. 

Mr.  Charles  W.  Beardsley  was  educated  in  the 
common  and  select  schools  of  his  native  town,  and 
commenced  learning  the  shoe  business  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  which  he  followed  for  eighteen  years,  when, 
his  health  partially  failing  by  close  confinement 
in  his  work,  he  engaged  in  the  produce  business, 
importing  the  same  from  Montreal,  Canada;  and 
continued  this  business  twelve  years.  He  then 
bought  one  of  the  best  farms  in  the  town  of  ]\Iilford, 
and  is  engaged  in  the  seed  business  for  Peter 
Henderson  &  Company  of  New  York  city.  Mr. 
Beardsle}'  has  bred  some  of  the  finest  Jersey  cattle 
that  have  appeared  in  America,  and  for  which 
he  has  obtained  large  prices.  He  has  held  the 
offices  of  town  agent  and  first  selectman  for  twelve 
successive  years,  and  was  one  of  the  directors  of  the 
Milford  Savings  Bank.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  lodge  in  Milford,  has  been  a  member 
of  the  fire  department  for  twenty-two  years,  and  a 
member  of  the  second  company  Governor's  Foot 
Gfiards  (organized  1775)  under  Governor  Bucking- 
ham. He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  Connecticut  in  1S89,  for  two 
years,  and  served  on  the  railroad  committee;  and 
was  commissioner  on  the  Washington  bridge.  He 
gave  a  full  historj^  of  the  old  bridge,  and  when 
the  bill  came  before  the  house  to  have  the  struc- 
ture made  a  free  bridge,  supported  by  New  Haven 
and  Fairfield  counties,  he  made  a  strong  argument 
in  favor  of  the  free  bridge  system,  —  and  the  bill 
was  passed.  He  was  re-elected  a  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives  for  the  years  1891-92,  and 
is  again  a  member  of  the  railroad  committee. 

Mr.  Beardsley  joined  the  First  Church  of  Christ 
at  Milford  in  the  j^ear  1S50,  and  is  esteemed  in  his 
native  town  and  in  the  town  where  he  resides,  and  ' 
wherever  knowm,  as  an  honorable  and  upright  citi- 
zen. He  married  Sarah,  daughter  of  Elnathan 
Baldwin  of  Milford,  in  1850,  and  has  the  following 
children:  Dewitt  Clinton  Beardslej*,  who  married 
]\Iiss  Martha  P.  Averv  of  Stratford,  and  has  three 


1 86 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


children,  Medorah  H.,  Maud  C,  and  .Stanley  A. 
Beardsley;  Sarah  Etta  Beardsley,  who  married 
Charles  Clark  of  Milford,  and  had  two  children, 
George  W.  and  Elwood  R.  Clark;  and  Charles 
Frederick  Beardsley,  the  youngest,  who  resides  at 
home,  and  is  in  company  with  his  father  in  the  seed 
business.  The  Beardslej^  famih-  is  a  quite  numer- 
ous one  in  Connecticut,  and  in  all  its  branches  has 
maintained  the  honorable  reputation  transmitted 
through  succeeding  generations  from  William 
Beaixl.sley  the  venerated  ancestor. 


JULIUS  .vrxwooD. 


JULIUS  ATTWOOD,  East  Hai.ham;  Attorney- 
at-Law;  President  National  Bank  of  New  Eng- 
land. 

Julius  Attwood  was  born  at  East  Haddam,  Feb- 
ruary 23,  1S24,  and  has  resided  in  that  town  con- 
tinuously since  his  birth,  except  from  the  years 
1S47  to  1854.  He  was  the 
fifth  of  the  seven  living 
children  left  by  his  father, 
who  died  in  1829,  five  of 
whom  are  still  living.  He 
was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native 
town  until  he  was  twelve 
years  of  age,  after  which 
time  he  was  employed  for 
five  years  in  the  coasting 
trade  and  in  ferrying  on 
the  Connecticut  river. 
Not  being  robust,  he 
served  a  four-years  ap- 
prenticeship at  shoemaking,  but  did  not  continue 
that  occupation  after  attaining  his  majority.  Dur- 
ing his  leisure,  while  an  apprentice,  he  studied  by 
himself  and  fitted  himself  as  a  teacher,  and  for 
seven  years  he  taught  in  the  public  and  higher 
schools  on  Long  Island  and  in  Maryland.  Return- 
ing to  East  Haddam  in  1854,  he  commenced  business 
in  a  "  country  store  "  and  continued  in  trade  imtil 
1S70,  when  after  a  course  in  reading  law,  he  was 
duly  admitted  to  the  Middlesex  county  bar,  and 
has  followed  the  profession  of  law  since  that  time. 
In  1856  he  was  elected  justice  of  the  peace,  which 
office  he  has  continuously  held  ever  since;  and  for 
fourteen  years  of  that  time  was  trial  justice  of  the 
town;  also  from  1S66  was  for  nineteen  3'ears  town 
clerk  and  registrar  of  East  Haddam.  Elected 
judge  of  probate  for  the  district  of  East  Haddam 
in  1859,  he  has  held  that  position  ever  since —- for 
thirty-two  years  —  it  being  probably  a  longer  con- 
tinuous period  than  that  held  by  any  other  judge 
in  this  state  now  living.  In  1873  and  1S74  he  rep- 
resented his  town  in  the  general  assembly,  but  was 
defeated  afterwards  when  nominated  for  the  office 
of  senator  for  the  nineteenth  senatorial  district,  by 
a   small   plurality,  there  being  a  local j|"panicj  that 


year  among  the  "pound  fishermen"  along  the 
sound  shore.  Being  again  nominated  to  that  office, 
he  declined.  In  1866  he  served  one  year  as  Grand 
Master  of  the  Grand  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  Con- 
necticut, and  represented  that  body  in  the  sover- 
eign grand  lodge  during  1867  and  1868.  For  many 
\'ears  he  has  been  connected  with  the  National 
Bank  of  New  England  as  a  director,  and  has  been 
its  president  since  1883.  Visiting  Europe  in  1880, 
he  traveled  extensively  in  France,  Italy,  Switzer- 
land, Germany,  Holland,  Belgium,  England,  and 
Scotland.  Politically,  he  has  always  been  con- 
nected with  the  whig  and  republican  parties. 
Though  favoring  Methodism  in  his  youth,  in  his 
riper  years  he  thought  he  could  more  honor  the 
memory  of  its  great  founder  by  being  received  into 
the  older  church  that  John  Wesley  and  his  brother 
Charles  never  dared  to  forsake;  and  for  forty-eight 
years  he  has  been  a  communicant  in  the  Episcopal 
church. 

Mr.  Attwood  has  twice  married;  first  in  1852  to 
Sarah  A.  Gould  of  Stony  Brook,  Long  Island,  who 
died  in  i860,  leaving  one  son,  Frederick  J.  Att- 
wood, now  a  resident  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  who  is 
also  married  and  has  four  children.  Second,  in 
1862,  he  married  Catharine  Palmer  of  East  Had- 
dam, who  is  still  living  and  whose  only  child, 
Bertha  Palmer  Attwood,  is  now  a  student  in  the 
Yale  Art  School,  New  Haven. 


A.  S.  BEARDSLEY,  Plymouth:  Mechanic. 

Mr.  Beardsley  was  born  in  New  Fairfield,  July 

22,    iSiS,    and    received    a    common    school    and 

academic  education.     In  1850  he  removed  to  Texas 

and  engaged  in  mercan- 


^=^ 


tile  pursuits,  becoming 
the  active  partner  in  the 
firm  of  Case,  Beardsley 
&  Co.  He  remained 
there  until  the  death  of 
his  father  necessitated  his 
return  north.  For  the 
last  twenty-five  years  he 
has  been  in  the  employ  of 
the  Plume  &  Atwood 
Manufacturing  Company 
at  Thomaston,  being  en- 
gaged in  the  mechanical 
department.  In  1S74  he 
was  elected  president  of  the  Plymouth  Library  As- 
sociation, which  has  trebled  the  number  of  its  vol- 
umes under  his  management.  Mr.  Beardsley  held  a 
commission  in  the  old  state  militia.  He  is  a  pro- 
hibitionist in  politics  and  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was 
Miss  Jane  Alcott  of  Waterbury  at  the  time  of  her 
marriage.  The  family  includes  four  sons  and  three 
daughters. 


BEAKDSI.KV. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    COXNFXTICUT. 


187 


E.     FORHES. 


IRA  E.  FORBES,  Hartford:  Journalist. 

Ira  Emory  Forbes  was  born  in  Coventry,  Jan- 
uary 18,  1S43,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
collegiate  education,  graduating  from  Yale  in  1S70. 
He  enlisted  in  the  Six- 
teenth Connecticut,  July 
21,  1S62,  from  the  town  of 
Wethersfield,  whei-e  he 
was  working  on  a  farm  at 
the  time  for  the  purpose 
of  earning  funds  for  his 
college  course.  He  re- 
mained in  the  service  un- 
til the  close  of  the  war. 
At  the  capture  of  Ply- 
mouth, N.  C,  April  20, 
1864,  he  assisted  in  the 
execution  of  plans  by 
which    the   colors    of   the 

regiment  were  kept  from  falling  into  the  hands  of 
the  rebels,  and  at  the  time  the  battle  flags  of  the 
state  were  removed  to  the  corridor  in  the  capitol, 
September  17,  1879,  he  was  the  only  one  then  liv- 
ing who  was  entitled  to  carry  the  restored  regi- 
mental color  from  the  arsenal  to  the  final  resting- 
place  of  these  priceless  memorials.  Mr.  Forbes 
was  confined  in  the  rebel  prisons  at  Andersonville, 
Ga.,  and  Florence,  S.  C,  during  the  summer  and 
fall  of  1864.  He  was  paroled  at  Savannah  the  last 
of  November,  and  spent  the  winter  of  1864-5  in  the 
naval  academy  hospital  at  Annapolis,  Md.  In 
June,  1865,  he  was  discharged  at  Newberne,  N.  C, 
remaining  there  to  engage  in  the  work  of  the 
United  States  sanitary  commission.  After  return- 
ing home  from  the  war,  he  spent  one  year  in  com- 
pleting the  preparation  for  Yale,  studying  at  Lyme 
under  William  A.  Magill,  who  had  been  his  in- 
structor in  Wethersfield.  From  the  outset  the 
necessary  funds  for  the  course  were  earned  by  the 
hardest  kind  of  manual  work.  During  the  winter 
term  of  senior  yeav,  however,  Mr.  Forbes  acted  as 
principal  of  the  Collegiate  Institute  at  Newton,  N. 
J.  In  1 87 1-2  he  was  one  of  the  teachers  at  Gen. 
Russell's  Military  School  in  New  Haven,  the  year 
after  graduation  having  been  spent  in  the  Yale 
Theological  Seminary.  In  July,  1S72,  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Springfield  Union,  and  re- 
mained with  that  paper  until  October,  1874,  when 
he  became  the  telegraph  editor  of  the  Hartford 
Eiie7iing  Post.  His  connection  with  the  Post  was 
discontinued  October  i,  1890.  Mr.  Forbes  was  the 
originator  of  the  legislative  supplement  which  the 
Post  has  issued  since  1875,  introducing  that  feature 
after  coming  here  from  Springfield.  He  succeeded 
the  late  A.  S.  Hotchkiss  as  the  Hartford  corre- 
spondent of  the  New  York  Times,  and  still  retains 
that  appointment.  For  ten  years  he  was  connected 
with    The  .'Etna,   the    quarterly   issued  under  the 


auspices  of  the  ^^tna  Life,  his  best  literary  work 
ai)i)earing  in  that  publication.  Mr.  Forbes  is  a 
member  of  the  Yale  College  church,  Hampden 
Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows,  Springfield,  Ma.ss. ;  the 
Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  New  York 
city;  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut;  the 
L^nion  Prisoners'  Association;  the  Yeteran  Corps 
of  the  Governor's  Foot  Guard,  and  the  Yale  Alumni 
Association  of  this  city.  He  was  a  member  of  the 
staff  of  National  Commander  Warner  of  the  Grand 
Army,  being  appointed  to  the  position  from  Con- 
necticut. He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  execu- 
tive committee  of  the  Sixteenth  Connecticut.  He 
is  a  republican  in  politics,  but  has  not  failed  since 
he  became  a  voter  to  deposit  his  ballot  for  the  can- 
didates whom  he  has  considered  best  fitted  for  pub- 
lic office.  July  iS,  1872,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Sarah  R.  Short  of  New  Haven,  who  is  still  living. 
There  are  no  children  in  the  family.  All  of  his 
early  years  were  spent  in  the  towns  of  East  Hart- 
ford and  Manchester,  and  the  first  school  he  ever 
attended  was  in  the  old  South  district  in  Scotland, 
now  Burnside. 


RALPH  S.   GOODWIN,  M.D.,   Thomasto.n. 

Dr.  R.  S.  Goodwin  was  born  in  Litchfield,  July 
24,  1839.  The  early  part  of  his  life  was  largely 
spent  in  New  York  state,  he  ha\-ing  lived  four 
years  in  Albany,  ten  years 
in  Bingham  ton,  and  four 
3'ears  in  Brooklyn.  For 
the  last  twenty-two  years 
he  has  resided  in  Thom- 
aston,  this  state,  engaged 
in  the  practice  of  his  pro- 
fession. In  addition  to 
the  usual  training  at  the 
local  preparatory  schools 
he  pursued  the  course  and 
graduated  at  the  College 
of  Physicians'  and  Sur- 
geons in  New  York,  thor- 
oughly fitting  himself  for 
the  medical  profession.  From  1861  to  1S63  he  was 
engaged  as  teacher  of  elocution  and  English 
language  in  the  New  York  State  Normal  School  at 
Albany,  and  from  1863  to  1865  was  a  tutor  in  the 
Brooklyn  Collegiate  and  Polytechnic  Institute, 
Brooklyn  N.  Y.  During  his  residence  in  Thomas- 
ton  Dr.  Goodwin  has  held  various  local  and  state 
offices,  having  been  acting  school  visitor  and  health 
officer  of  his  town,  and  being  at  present  a  member 
of  the  state  board  of  health.  He  married  Miss  Jen- 
nie Edith  Irvine,  and  they  have  two  children,  a  son 
and  a  daughter.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican  and 
in  religious  matters  a  Congregationalist.  He  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows,  being 
a  Past  Grand  of  the  local  lodge. 


S.    GUi_)DWIN. 


i88 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


W.  C.  RUSSELL,  Orange. 

William  C.  Russell  was  born  in   Orange,  ^larch 

13.  1S35,  and  received  a  public   school   education. 

In  1871  he  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly, 
representing  the  town  of 
Orange  in  the  house.  He 
has  held  most  of  the 
offices  within  the  gift  of 
the  town  and  is  at  present 
a  member  of  the  board  of 
selectmen  and  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  Mr.  Russell  is 
a  republican  in  politics. 
He  is  engaged  in  the 
wholesale  meat  business 
and  is  connected  with  the 
Peerless  Attachment  Co. 
.    „„««^„  of  Tyler  City,  and  with  C. 

^.    RUSSELL.  -  ^ 

C.  Andrew  &  Co.  of  New 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church  and  of  Annawan  Lodge,  No.  115,  F.  and 
A.  ^I.,  of  West  Haven,  also  of  the  Sons  of  Temper- 
ance order.  He  has  been  connected  with  the  state 
militia.  Air.  Russell's  family  consists  of  a  wife 
and  two  daughters.  The  former  was  Miss  Mar}' 
J.  Lyon  prior  to  her  marriage.  The  home  of  Mr. 
Russell  is  at  Tyler  City. 


Haven. 


LUCIUS    BRIGGS,    Gl.^sgo   (Griswold):    Agent 
Glasgo  Yarn  Mills. 

Ex-State  Senator  Lucius  Briggs  was  born  in  the 
town  of  Coventry,  R.  I.,  Dec.  21,  1825,  and  was 
educated  at  Smithville  Academy  in  that  state.  He 
has  been  engaged  through 
life  in  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  -goods,  and  is  the 
agent  and  a  large  owner 
in  the  Glasgo  Yarn  Mills. 
He  is  a  director  in  several 
large  corporations  and 
banks,  and  is  one  of  the 
most  prominent  business 
men  in  eastern  Connecti- 
cut. Mr.  Briggs  has  been 
a  member  of  both 
branches  of  the  general 
assembly.  In  1S67  he 
represented  the  town  of 
Thompson  in  the  house,  his  colleague  being  Mr. 
Thomas  Tallman.  In  1875  he  represented  the  old 
fourteenth  district  in  the  senate,  his  colleagues  in 
that  body  including  Hons.  Caleb  B.  Bowers  of  New 
Haven,  Fred.  W.  Bruggerhoff  of  Darien,  Thomas 
S.  Marlorof  Brooklyn,  Washington  F.  Willcox,  now 
member  of  congress  from  the  second  district,  and 
Chauncey  Howard  of  Coventry,  subsequently  state 
comptroller.     Mr.  Briggs  was  a  presidential  elector 


LL'Cius  i:kI(;c.s. 


on  the  republican  ticket  in  this  state  when  General 
Grant  was  elected  for  the  second  term.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  church.  The  famil}'  to 
which  Air.  Briggs  belongs  has  been  a  patriotic  one, 
his  ancestors  on  both  sides  having  served  in  the 
Revolutionar}'^  war.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Briggs,  who 
was  Miss  Harriet  T.  Atwood  prior  to  her  marriage, 
died  Sept.  9,  1S87.  There  are  two  children,  the 
son,  C.  W.  Briggs,  residing  in  New  York,  and  the 
daughter,  Mrs.  Floyd  Cranska,  in  Moosup.  Ex- 
Senator  Briggs  is  a  citizen  of  prominence  in  the 
state. 

G.  D.   BATES,  Putnam:  President  and  Treasurer 
Putnam  Cutlery  Company. 

Colonel  Gustavus  D.  Bates  was  a  member  of  the 
general   assembly   from  Putnam  in    1S87,   serving 
on  the  republican  side  of  the  house.    He  was  elected 
a  delegate  to  the  national 
republican  convention  in 
Chicago  which  nominated 
President    Harrison,    and 
has   been   an    active   and 
influential   participant   in 
political  interests  in  east- 
ern  Connecticut.     He    is 
the  president  of  the  Put- 
nam creamery,  and  of  the 
Windham    C  o  u  n  t  y 
League."     He  is  also  the 
founder    of    the   Putnam 
G    1)    KATES  Cutlery  Company,  which 

manufactures  the  "  Old 
Put"  knives,  holding  the  position  of  president  and 
treasurer.  Colonel  Bates  is  also  a  director  in 
various  corporations  at  Putnam.  He  was  born  in 
Thompson,  October,  1840,  and  received  a  common 
school  education.  He  has  had  an  interesting  and 
remarkable  history  from  boyhood  until  now.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  and  went  to  Grosvenordale 
when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  but  seven  years 
of  age,  as  "  outside"  superintendent  for  the  Gros- 
venordale Company.  The  boy,  rather  than  ac- 
knowledge a  school  teacher's  authority,  became  a 
mill  operative.  When  his  father  returned  to 
Thompson  he  returned  also,  and  worked  on  the 
farm  until  sixteen  years  of  age,  when  he  became  a 
school  teacher  in  Burrillville,  R.  I.,  continuing  for 
twf)  terms,  the  following  year  teaching  for  two 
terms  at  North  Grosvenordale,  Conn.;  afterward 
entering  a  factory  store  at  Grosvenordale.  He  en- 
listed in  1S62  in  the  Seventh  Rhode  Island  regpi- 
ment,  in  which  he  received  seven  promotions;  and 
after  ser\nng  two  and  a  half  years  returned  dis- 
abled by  exposure  and  wounds.  Young  Bates's 
military  ardor  and  patriotism  were  so  intense  that 
he  ran  away  from  home  to  enlist,  much  to  the  dis- 
gust  of   his   father,  who,   when  he   bade   his   son 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   COXXECTICUT 


189 


good-by,  as  with  his  regiment  he  started  for  the 
front,  said  to  him  quite  pointedly:  "  Runawaj- boys 
do  not  generally  come  out  verj-  well."  Grasping 
the  paternal  hand  warmly,  the  young  soldier  re- 
plied; "  Father,  I'll  make  a  noble  exception  to  your 
rule!"  —  which  promise  he  abundantly  verified. 
From  iS()5  to  1875  he  traveled  for  a  Boston  house, 
and  when  his  health  gave  way  returned  to  Putnam, 
where  he  had  married  Miss  Ellen  A.  Hutchins, 
daughter  of  Benjamin  F.  Hutchins  of  Thompson. 
In  1877  he  became  a  commercial  traveler  from 
Troy,  N.  Y.,  and  within  a  year  thereafter  went  to 
New  York  city  as  manager  of  a  branch  house. 
Thence  he  went  to  Putnam  in  1884,  forming  a  con- 
nection with  the  "  Connecticut  Clothing  Company." 
He  is  at  present  the  outside  business  manager 
of  Cluett,  Coon  <t  Co.,  linen  collars  and  cuffs. 
Colonel  Bates  is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church, 
and  is  regarded  with  thorough  esteem  and  respect 
in  the  community  where  he  resides. 


HON.  JOHN  HURLBURT  WHITE,  H.vrtfori.: 

Attorney-at-Law. 

John  Hurlbiirt  White  was  born  in  the  town  of 
Glastonbury,  in  November,  1833.  He  received  an 
academical  education,  and  removed  to  Hartford  in 
1 85 1,  where  he  read  law 
in  the  office  of  the  late  H. 
H.  Barbour,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in 
March,  1858.  He  was 
elected  auditor  of  the  city 
in  1S60  on  the  democratic 
ticket;  continued  in  that 
office  until  1863,  when  he 
was  elected  judge  of  pro- 
bate for  the  district  of 
Hartford,  which  position 
he  retained  for  twenty- 
three  years.  Leaving  that 
office  in  January,  18S7,  he 
resumed  the  practice  of  law.  He  was  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  state  of  Connecticut  to  receive  the 
votes  of  the  Connecticut  soldiers  in  the  held  in  the 
presidential  election  of  1864.  Since  i860  he  has 
been  connected  with  the  First  company  Governor's 
Foot  Guard,  as  an  active  and  veteran  member.  For 
many  j-ears  he  has  been  a  director  in  the  Farmers 
and  Mechanics  National  Bank  of  Hartford.  He  is 
now  the  president  of  the  Connecticut  probate  as- 
sembly. His  religious  connections  are  with  the 
Park  church  and  society  of  Hartford,  of  which  he 
has  been  a  member  since  185S.  He  married,  in 
i860.  Miss  Jennie  M.,  daughter  of  George  Cooke, 
Esq.,  of  Litchfield,  in  this  state.  They  have  one 
son,  Henry  C.  White,  an  artist  of  distinction,  with 
whose  canvases  lovers  of  art  in  eastern  Connecti- 


J.     n.     WHITE. 


M.    S.    CH.AI'MAN. 


cut  are  thoroughly  familiar. '  Judge  White  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  many  accomplishments,  of  rare  judicial 
ability,  and  possesses  social  qualities  which  are  ap- 
preciated and  enjoyed  by  a  large  circle  of  warm 
personal  friends. 

MARO  S.  CHAPMAN,  M.anchestek:  Manufac- 
turer of  Paper  and  Envelopes. 
Mr.  Chapman  was  born  at  East  Haddam,  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1S39,  and  received  a  thorough  common 
school  education.  For  three  years  before  the  war 
he  was  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits  at  Man- 
chester, but  when  the  de- 
mand for  troops  was  made 
he  enlisted,  joining  Com- 
pany C  of  the  Twelfth 
Connecticut.  In  1S64  he 
engaged  in  the  envelope 
business  with  the  Plimp- 
ton Mantifacturing  Com- 
pany of  Hartford,  and  has 
since  continued  in  that 
avocation.  Since  the 
Plimpton  Company  re- 
ceived the  government 
contract,  Mr.  Chapman  has  been  the  superintend- 
ent of  the  United  States  stamped  envelope  works 
in  Hartford,  and  in  that  position  has  shown  great 
executive  ability  and  decision  of  character.  He  is 
treasurer  of  the  Plimpton  Manufacturing  Company; 
president  of  the  Hartford  Manilla  Companj',  which 
has  a  large  and  flourishing  mill  at  Burnside,  and 
an  extensive  business;  vice-president  and  a  director 
in  the  Mather  Electric  Company,  and  president  of 
the  Perkins  Lamp  Company,  both  of  which  com- 
panies are  located  at  Manchester,  and  doing  a 
prosperous  business.  He  is  connected  with  the 
City  Bank  of  Hartford  as  a  director,  and  a  member 
of  the  Hartford  board  of  trade.  He  has  been 
commander  of  Drake  Post  of  the  Grand  Army  at 
South  ^Manchester  for  eight  years,  and  still  holds 
that  position.  For  upwards  of  twenty  years  he 
has  been  connected  with  the  republican  town  com- 
mittee at  Manchester,  and  is  now  its  chairman. 
Mr.  Chapman  has  long  been  an  active  and  greatly 
valued  member  of  the  republican  party,  and  as 
such  has  often  been  called  to  serve  the  party  and 
the  state  in  places  of  public  trust.  He  represented 
Manchester  in  the  house  of  representatives  in  1881, 
serving  as  chairman  on  the  part  of  that  body  of 
the  committee  on  cities  and  boroughs,  one  of  the 
hardest-worked  committees  of  that  year.  His  ser- 
vices throughout  the  session  wei'e  of  genuine  value 
to  the  state,  and  his  influence  was  universally  ac- 
knowledged by  his  associates.  In  the  fall  of  1884 
he  received  the  unanimous  nomination  of  the  re- 
pviblicans  of   his  district  for  the  senatorship,  and 


190 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


was  elected  by  a  very  handsome  majority.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  republican  state  convention  which 
nominated  Hon.  Henry  B.  Harrison  for  governor, 
and  during  the  campaign  was  an  able  and  influen- 
tial supporter  of  the  republican  cause.  He  is  a 
clear  and  forcible  speaker,  presenting  his  views 
with  great  earnestness  and  conviction,  and  is  an 
admirable  debater. 

Mr.  Chapman  married  ^liss  Lucy  W.  Wood- 
bridge,  who  died  in  1S69,  leaving  one  daughter 
who  is  now  the  wife  of  E.  vS.  Ela,  editor  and  pub- 
Hsher  of  the  Manchester  Herald.  His  present 
wife  was  iliss  Helen  C.  Robbins  of  Manchester,  by 
whom  he  has  two  daughters.  The  religious  con- 
nections of  the  family  are  with  the  Center  Congre- 
gational church  of  that  town. 


HENRY   S.    BARBOUR,    Hartford:    Attorney- 
at-Law. 

Henry  S.  Barbour  was  born  at  Canton,  Conn., 
August  2,  1822.  After  the  usual  preparatory  course, 
he  Avas  admitted  to  the  bar  at  Litchfield  in  1S49, 
and  began  the  practice  of 
his  profession  in  Torring- 
ton ,  where  he  resided  and 
practiced  law  for  twenty- 
one  years.  There  he  held 
the  offices  of  judge  of  pro- 
bate, town  clerk,  and  town 
treasurer  over  fifteen 
years,  and  represented 
that  town  in  the  house  of 
representatives  in  the 
years  1850  and  1S65;  and 
was  senator  from  the  then 
Fifteenth  district  in  1S70, 
acting  as  chairman  of  the 
He  removed  to  Hartford  in 
1870  to  enter  into  a  law  partnership  with  his  brother, 
Heman  H.  Barbour,  who  died  in  1S75;  since  which 
date  he  has  continued  to  practice  law  in  Hartford. 
He  married  Miss  Bartholomew  of  Sheffield,  Mass., 
in  1S51.  They  have  two  children,  a  son  and  a 
daughter;  his  son  is  the  Rev.  John  Humphrey 
Barbour,  a  professor  in  the  Berkeley  Divinit}^ 
School  in  Middletown.  Judge  Barbour  is  of  Revo- 
lutionary stock;  his  father  was  a  son  of  a  soldier 
of  the  Revolution.  His  grandfather,  Solomon 
Humphrey,  was  a  Revolutionary  soldier;  his 
great-grandfather,  John  Brown  of  Simsbury,  was 
also  a  Revolutionary  soldier,  and  was  a  grandson 
of  Peter  Brown,  who  came  over  in  the  Mayflower. 
John  Brown,  the  martyr,  was  a  grandson  of  the 
above-mentioned  John  Brown  of  Simsbury,  making 
him  the  second  cousin  of  Mr.  Barbour.  Sylvester 
Barbour  of  Hartford  and  Edward  P.  Barbour  of  An- 
sonia  are  brothers  of  the  subject  of  this  biography. 


H.    S.    KARBOL'R. 


judiciary  committee. 


CHARLES  H.  BABCOCK,  Stonington:    Princi- 
pal of  Public  School  No.  16. 

Mr.  Babcock  was  born  in  Groton  in  1838,  and  has 
been  engaged  in  teaching  since  he  was  sixteen 
years  of  age.  He  was  educated  in  the  seminary  at 
East  Greenwich,  R.  L, 
preparing  him  for  the  pro- 
fession which  has  occupied 
him  through  life.  He  was 
an  instructor  in  the  New 
Jersey  schools  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  Mr.  Bab- 
cock has  held  numerous 
offices  in  the  town  of 
Stonington,  being  at  pres- 
ent a  member  of  the 
/  boards  of  education  and 
health,  and  a  justice  of 
the  peace.  He  has  also 
been  a  member  of  the 
He  is  an  attendant  of  the 
Baptist  church,  and  is  connected  with  the  Masonic 
order,  being  a  member  of  the  lodge  in  Stonington. 
In  politics  he  is  a  republican.  Principal  Babcock 
has  a  wife  and  three  children.  The  present  ilrs. 
Babcock,  who  is  his  second  wife,  was  Miss  M.  Emma 
Gardner,  of  South  Kingston,  R.  I.,  previous  to 
marriage.  The  first  wife  was  IMiss  Abbie  Hinck 
ley,  of  Stonington. 


H.    BABCOCK. 


board  of    assessors. 


JOHN  O'NEILL,  Waterbury:  Lawyer. 

Mr.  O'Neill  was  born  in  Canada  Village,  in  the 
town  of  Goshen,  November  5,  1841.  His  parents 
removed  to  Waterbury  in  1848,  in  which  city  he 
was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic schools.  At  the  break 
ing  out  of  the  war  of  the 
rebellion  he  enlisted  in 
the  First  Regiment,  Con- 
necticut Volunteers,  par- 
ticipated in  the  first  bat- 
tle of  Bull  Run,  and  was 
honorably  discharged  at 
the  end  of  his  term  of  ser- 
vice. The  year  following 
he  began  the  study  of 
law  in  the  office  of  Judge 
John  W.  Webster  of 
Waterbury,  and  at  the 
end  of  a  three  years  course  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  and  soon  after  to  a  partnership  with  his  former 
instructor.  The  law  firm  of  Webster  &  O'Neill  has 
continued  ever  since.  Mr.  O'Neill  represented 
Waterbury  in  the  general  assemblj'^  of  1SS9,  where 
he  was  author  or  chief  promoter  of  much  of  the  tax 
legislation  of  that  session;  notably  the  investment 
tax  law,  the  collateral  inheritance  tax  law,  and  the 
law  relative  to  the  taxation  of  telegraph  and  ex- 


JOHN    O  NEII.L. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


191 


press  companies.  Mr.  O'Neill  has  held  office  in 
Waterburj-  almost  continuously  since  attaining  his 
majority,  having  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  for 
thirty  years,  assistant  city  attorney  ten  j^ears,  and 
prosecuting  agent  of  the  county  seven  years.  He 
is  now  president  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  Bron- 
son  Library,  president  of  the  Choral  Union,  and  a 
member  of  the  secret  societ}-  of  the  Knights  of 
Columbus.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  and  in 
religious  faith  a  Roman  Catholic.  He  is  married 
and  has  five  children. 


D.    N.     CLARK. 


DWIGHT   NOYEvS    CLARK,  Wugubridge:  Cat- 
tle Broker. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Bethany  in  1S29.  His  father,  Mr.  Noyes  Clark, 
and  his  mother,  whose  maiden  name  was  Mary 
Abigail  Clark,  were  both 
descended  from  the  two 
different  family  lines  of 
that  name,  who  came 
earh^  from  Milford  and 
settled  in  the  town  of 
Woodbridge,  which  then 
included  Bethany.  On 
his  father's  side  he  traces 
his  ancestry  back  to  Dea- 
con George  Clark,  one  of 
the  deputies  under  the 
old  Colonial  government, 
and  to  Governor  Robert 
Treat,  who  was  governor 
of  the  colonies  for  fifteen  years,  from  16S6  to  1701; 
also  to  Rev.  Roger  Newton,  the  second  pastor  of 
^lilford;  and  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  the  first  pastor 
of  Hartford.  With  such  an  honored  ancestry,  if 
there  is  anything  in  the  old  adage  that  "  The  blood 
tells,"  it  might  be  expected  that  Mr.  Clark  would 
become  an  honored  and  useful  citizen,  and  the  ex- 
pectation in  his  case  is  not  a  disappointment.  He 
has  been  interested  in  church  and  society,  and  liv- 
ing near  the  Woodbridge  line,  he  has  been  identi- 
fied with  the  Congregational  society  of  Wood- 
bridge,  of  which  the  Rev.  S.  P.  Marvin,  the  con- 
tributor of  this  article,  has  been  settled  as  pastor 
for  twenty-six  years.  Mr.  Clark  has  been  one  of 
its  most  liberal  supporters,  and  was  one  of  the  com- 
mittee; gave  valuable  advice  and  was  liberal  with 
his  means  for  remodeling  the  church,  making  it  for 
the  time  one  of  the  most  elegant  country  churches 
in  all  the  region. 

He  has  been  representative  to  the  general  assem- 
bly, and  honored  with  the  gift  of  every  office  in  his 
town  which  he  would  accept.  Politically  he  is  a  con- 
servative democrat.  He  was  in  full  sympathy  with 
the  government  and  prominent  in  its  aid  in  the 
late  war.     He  has  always  taken  a  deep  interest  in 


the  schools  and  been  ready  to  contribute  liberally 
for  their  support  and  improvement;  also  to  what- 
ever would  promote  the  culture  and  refinement  of 
society.  He  inherited  from  his  grandfather  a  large 
and  profitable  business  as  a  cattle  broker.  His 
affable  manner,  square  and  liberal  dealing  have 
won  for  him  the  re.spect  and  esteem  of  his  towns- 
men, and  of  a  large  circle  of  customers  who  rely 
upon  him  for  the  purchase  and  sale  of  cattle;  and 
is  known  for  his  extensive  business  transactions  in 
all  the  western  part  of  the  state,  as  well  as  at 
Albany  and  Chicago.  In  addition  to  his  regular 
business  he  has  frequently  been  employed  in  the 
settlement  of  entangled  estates,  working  from  phil- 
anthropic rather  than  mercenary  motives,  and  very 
often  without  pay,  in  order  to  retain  a  home  for  the 
worthy,  and  is  justly  entitled  to  the  epithet  "  The 
burden  bearer,"  which  has  often  been  applied  to 
him. 

Mr.  Clark  married  i\Iiss  Althea,  daughter  of 
Hon.  J.  W.  Bradley,  a  staunch  republican,  senator 
and  judge  of  probate;  also  holding  the  first  offices 
of  the  town  for  years  in  the  strongly  democratic 
town  of  Bethany.  They  have  one  child,  a  son,  Mr. 
N.  D.  Clark,  who  has  distinguished  himself  as  a 
scholar  in  the  scientific  department  of  Yale  L^niver- 
sity. 

JAMES  D.  McGAUGHEY,  M.D.,  Wallixgford: 
Dr.  jNIcGaughey  was  born  in  Greeneville,  East 
Tennessee,  August  6,  1S48,  and  is  now  in  his  forty- 
third  year.  His  paternal  ancestors  were  of  Scotch 
Irish  descent,  Presbj^te- 
rians,  and  emigrated  early 
to  America.  His  great- 
grandfather was  born  in 
Pennsylvania,  and  was  a 
member  of  General  Mar- 
ion's independent  brig- 
ade, being  with  him  dur- 
ing the  Revolutionary 
War,  in  his  campaigns  in 
the  Carolinas.  He  was 
also  territorial  sheriff" 
under  John  Sevier  before 
the  territory  became  a 
state,  and  served  under 
Sevier  after  he  became  the  first  governor  of  Ten- 
nessee. Dr.  McGaughey's  grandfather  and  father 
were  born  in  Tennessee.  The  former  served 
several  times  in  the  Tennessee  state  legislature, 
being  a  member  at  the  time  of  the  bitter  fight  over 
the  removal  of  the  capital  from  Murfreesboro  to 
Nashville.  His  father  was  a  merchant,  doing  a 
large  business,  but  lost  almost  everything  during 
the  war,  being  an  uncompromising  unionist.  The 
doctor's  maternal  grandfather,  George  Burkhardt, 
was  of  German  descent,  and  emigrated  to  Sullivan 


J.    I).   MCGAUGHEY. 


192 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


county,  East  Tennessee,  from  Frederick  City,  Mary- 
land. He  built  the  first  paper  mill,  and  made  the 
first  sheet  of  paper  manufactured  in  the  state  of 
Tennessee,  the  little  antiquated  village  where  the 
mill  stood,  four  miles  east  of  Bristol,  being  called 
Paperville  to  this  day.  His  wife  was  of  English 
descent,  making  the  subject  of  this  sketch  a  com- 
pound of  Scotch,  Irish,  English,  and  German  ances- 
try. Dr.  McGaughey  was  educated  at  Greene- 
ville  College,  until  it  was  destroyed  by  the  invading 
armies,  after  which  his  education  was  completed 
under  private  tutors.  He  commenced  the  study  of 
medicine  in  1866,  and  graduated  from  the  Jefiierson 
Medical  College,  Philadelphia,  in  March,  1870.  He 
practiced  two  years  in  East  Tennessee,  when,  hav- 
ing married  a  granddaughter  of  Deacon  Lyman 
Cannon  of  Wallingford,  this  state,  by  whom  he  has 
since  had  five  children,  three  now  living,  he  re- 
moved from  Tennessee,  coming  to  Wallingford, 
where  he  has  since  resided,  and  where  he  has 
built  up  a  large  and  lucrative  practice.  The  Doc- 
tor served  in  the  lower  house  of  the  state  legisla- 
ture in  1880,  taking  part  in  the  debate  on  a  final 
settlement  of  the  boundary  line  between  Connecti- 
cut and  New  York,  which  had  been  in  dispute  for 
over  a  hundred  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New 
Haven  County  Medical  Society,  and  of  the  Connec- 
ticut State  Medical  Society.  He  holds  the  appoint- 
ment of  "medical  examiner'"  for  Wallingford 
tmder  the  new  coronors'  law,  is  the  post  surgeon  for 
the  examination  of  subjects  for  military  exemption 
from  taxes,  and  was  registrar  of  vital  statistics  of 
the  town  for  eight  successive  years. 


JERE  D.  EGGLESTON,  Mekiden:  Physician  and 
Surgeon. 

Dr.  Eggleston  was  born  in  Long  Meadow,  Mass., 
October  28,  1853,  and  was  educated  at  Williams 
College  and  the  College  of  Physicians  and  Surgeons 
of  New  York  city.  His 
professional  life  has  been 
spent  principally  at  Wind- 
sor Locks  and  Meriden, 
eleven  years  in  all  having 
been  spent  in  the  city. 
He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  board  of  aldermen 
and  city  physician,  and  is 
a  repulDhcan  in  politics. 
Dr.  Eggleston  is  a  man  of 
great  personal  energy, 
and  attained  his  education 
by  his  own  exertions, 
first  earning  money  for 
the  purpose  on  a  farm,  and  afterwards  by  teaching 
school.  His  father  was  Jere  D.  Eggleston,  who 
died  when  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  in  infancy. 


The  death  of  Dr.  Eggleston 's  mother  followed  while 
he  was  still  a  youth,  leaving  him  dependent  upon  him- 
self. He  is  a  son-in-law  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  Duncan 
of  Windsor.  He  married  the  oldest  daughter  of 
that  gentleman.  Miss  Libbie  Duncan,  in  1881. 
There  have  been  four  children  as  the  result  of  the 
union,  three  of  whom  are  now  living.  Dr.  Eggles- 
ton is  a  member  of  Meridian  Lodge,  No.  77,  F.  and 
A.  M.  of  Meriden,  and  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows. 


J.   LEAVENWORTH. 


J.     II.     E(;<;i.ESTON. 


WALTER  J.  LEAVENWORTH,  Wallingford: 
Treasurer  R.  Wallace  &  Sons  Manufacturing 
Company. 

Colonel  Leavenworth  is  a  native  of  the  town  of 
Roxbury,  Conn.  He  was  born  February  20,  1845. 
Since  finishing  his  education  at  the  public  schools 
of  AVallingford,  to  which 
place  the  family  removed 
in  1853,  he  has  followed 
manufacturing,  having 
started  out  as  entry  clerk 
with  Hall,  Elton  &  Co.  of 
that  place,  in  1862.  He 
afterwards  became  secre- 
tary of  the  corporation, 
retaining  the  position  un- 
til 1877,  when  he  was 
elected  treasurer  and 
general  manager  of  the 
R.  WaUace  &  Sons  Manu- 
facturing Company. 
From  his  first  connection  in  this  official  capacity 
with  the  company,  its  business  has  trebled  and  is 
still  increasing  rapidly.  He  has  been  called  by  his 
fellow-citizens  to  occupy  various  public  positions, 
including  that  of  burgess  of  the  borough  of  Wal- 
lingford for  four  years,  chairman  of  the  board  of 
water  commissioners  for  the  same  period,  and  he  is 
now  president  of  the  Wallingford  board  of  trade. 
Additionally  to  his  business  relations  above  speci- 
fied, he  is  the  president  and  a  director  of  the  Wal- 
lingford Gas  Light  Company,  director  in  the  First 
National  Bank,  and  has  membership  with  the 
Arcanum  Club  of  Wallingford,  and  the  Quinnipiac 
Club,  and  Republican  League  of  New  Haven. 
His  religious  connections  are  with  the  First  Congre- 
gational church,  and  his  political  faith  is  that  of  the 
republican  party.  Colonel  Leavenworth  has  a 
military  record  covering  nearly  twenty  years.  He 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  K,  Second  Regi- 
ment, Connecticut  National  (Juard,  September  15, 
1871;  was  appointed  first  sergeant  on  the  lyth  of 
the  same  month,  and  promoted  successively  to 
second  lieutenant,  December  14,  1871;  to  first  lieu- 
tenant, August  25,  1873;  and  to  captain,  January 
29,  1874;  resigning  January  17,  1877.  He  was 
again  appointed  to  the  captaincy  of  the  same  com- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


193 


panv,  November  11,  1880,  and  again  resigned  June 
16,  1882.  July  26,  1882,  he  was  elected  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment;  and  on  the  i6th 
of  February,  1885,  was  promoted  to  be  its  colonel. 
This  position  he  retained  for  several  years,  resign- 
ing from  the  command  on  the  22d  of  June,  1889. 
He  was  esteemed  as  an  efficient  officer  and  a  strict 
disciplinarian. 

Colonel  Leavenworth  was  married  to  Miss  Net- 
tie A.  Wallace  of  Wallingford,  daughter  of  Robert 
Wallace,  Esq.,  and  they  have  had  four  children, 
three  of  whom  are  now  living.  It  may  be  said  that 
he  has,  during  his  business  career,  identified  him- 
self prominently  with  every  proper  interest  of  his 
town,  in  the  line  of  public  improvements;  and  has 
earned  the  reputation  which  attaches  to  him,  of  be- 
ing an  honorable  and  useful  citizen. 


C.    C.     COMMERKOKD. 


■CHARLES     C.    COMMERFORD,    Waterbury: 

Ex-Postmaster. 

Charles  C.  Commerford  has  been  a  well-known 
figure  in  democratic  politics  in  the  state  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  was  born  in  New  York  city, 
June  2,  T833,  and  received 
an  English  and  classical 
education  in  the  schools 
of  the  metropolis.  He 
-\vas  engaged  in  mercan- 
tile pursuits  in  New  York 
until  1864,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Waterbury  and 
•entered  the  employ  of  the 
Great  Brook  Woolen  Mill 
Company.  There  he  be- 
came an  active  participant 
in  politics,  and  was 
elected  to  offices  of  trust 
and  responsibility,  includ- 
ing that  of  assessor  and  member  of  the  Center 
School  district  committee.  His  administration  of 
the  school  district  interests  won  for  him  great 
credit  in  the  city.  He  was  also  deputy  chief  of  the 
original  state  labor  bureau  in  1878.  He  was  ap- 
pointed postmaster  by  President  Cleveland,  assum- 
ing the  duties  of  the  office  March  14,  18S6,  and  re- 
tained the  position  until  the  appointment  of  Colonel 
John  B.  Doherty  by  President  Harrison.  Mr. 
Commerford  has  been  connected  with  journalism 
and  is  familiar  with  newspaper  men  throughout 
the  state.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  interesting  per- 
sonality. His  father,  John  Commerford  of  New 
York  city,  was  prominently  identified  with  political 
interests  in  the  metropolis,  and  was  a  candidate  for 
congress  on  the  republican  ticket  in  i860.  Many  of 
the  older  leaders  in  social  and  business  life  are  the 
personal  friends  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His 
wife,  who  was  a  New  York  lady,  was  Miss  Eliza- 


beth Hamilton,  daughter  of  Alexander  Hamilton, 
and  a  descendant  of  the  great  New  York  leader  of 
that  name,  whose  statesmanship  was  of  so  much 
value  in  the  first  decade  of  the  republic.  The 
family  includes  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  Mr. 
Commerford  is  connected  with  the  Episcopal 
church,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
order  for  thirty-two  years.  He  is  a  Cleveland  dem- 
ocrat and  is  thoroughly  in  sympathy  with  the  inter- 
ests and  principles  of  his  party. 


CROSSLEY    FITTON. 


CROSSLEY  FITTON,  Rockvili.e:    Agent  Rock 

Manufacturing  Company. 

Mr.  Fitton  was  born  in  Oldham,  Lancashire, 
England,  December  19,  1839,  and  was  brought  to 
the  United  States  by  his  parents  when  he  was  but 
three  years  of  age.  His 
father  settled  at  Woon- 
socket,  R.  I.,  where  he 
was  engaged  in  the  woolen 
manufactory  of  Edwaid 
Harris.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch  was  educated 
at  Lenox  Academy,  ni 
Berkshire,  Mass.,  and  be- 
came a  woolen  manufac- 
turer, as  was  his  fathe: 
before  him.  Twenty-six 
years  ago  he  came  to 
Rockville,  and  for  twenty- 
four  years  he  has  been 
the  agent  of  the  Rock  Manufacturing  Companj^, 
being  the  oldest  in  continuous  service  of  all  who 
have  held  official  connection  with  the  manufactur- 
ing establishments  of  Rockville.  As  a  woolen 
manufacturer  he  ranks  among  the  most  able  in 
New  England,  and  during  his  connection  with  the 
Rock  Company  it  has  enjoyed  continued  success 
and  prosperity  under  his  management.  The  mills 
have  been  enlarged,  the  most  improved  machinery 
obtained,  the  force  increased,  and  woolen  goods 
manufactured  equal  to  any  produced  in  the  coun- 
try. Mr.  Fitton  was  always  a  hard  worker,  and 
often  the  first  man  at  the  mill  in  the  morning  and 
the  last  to  leave  at  night. 

In  public  opinion  Mr.  Fitton  occupies  an  influen- 
tial place.  In  1885  he  represented  the  town  of 
Vernon  in  the  general  assembly,  serving  on  the 
republican  side.  He  was  an  active  associate  on 
the  building  committee  which  recently  erected  the 
beautiful  Union  Church  on  the  corner  of  Union 
street,  in  the  heart  of  the  city.  He  is  identified 
with  Fayette  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Rockville, 
and  with  the  Court  Hearts  of  Oak  of  Foresters. 
He  has  been  president  and  director  of  the  Rockville 
Water  Power  Company,  a  director  in  the  Rockville 
Railroad  Company,  the  Rockville  Aqueduct  Com- 


194 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


pany,  and  the  Rockville  Gas  Light  Company.  He 
has  always  taken  a  lively  interest  in  the  Rockville 
fire  department,  and  was  largely  instrumental  in 
securing  the  first  steam  fire  engine,  which  was 
named  in  his  honor.  Mr.  Fitton  married  Miss 
Carrie  R.  Tarbell  of  Chester,  Vt.,  and  they  have 
three  children,  one  daughter,  Mrs.  P.  B.  Leonard, 
and  two  sons,  George  and  James  Fitton.  He 
ranks  among  the  eminently  successful  manufac- 
turers and  business  men  of  the  city  and  state. 
Being  but  fifty -two  years  of  age,  he  is  still  in  the 
prime  of  life;  and,  as  a  man  of  great  public  spirit, 
Rockville  looks  to  his  future  career  as  certain  to  be 
one  of  much  usefulness  and  honor. 

[Mr.  Fitton  died  at  his  home  in  Rockville  April 
29,  1891,  after  the  above  sketch  had  been  prepared. 
—Ed.]  

HON.      STEPHEN      NICHOLS,      Bridgeport  : 
Farmer. 

Hon.  Stephen  Nichols,  son  of  William  and  Hul- 
d-ah  Nichols,  was  born  September  16,  1S04,  in 
Trumbull,  Fairfield  county,  Connecticut.  He  is  of 
the  eighth  generation 
from  Sergeant  Francis 
Nichols,  of  London,  Eng- 
land, who  with  his  family 
lemoved  to  America  and 
settled  in  Stratford, 
Conn.,  in  1639.  His 
great-grandfather,  The- 
ophilus  Nichols,  who  was 
fme  of  the  early  settlers 
ot  Fairfield  county,  died 
in  1774.  His  grandfather, 
Philip  Nichols,  was  a  man 
of  much  influence  in  pub- 
lic affairs,  and  a  magis- 
trate for  many  years.  HeAvasalarge  landholder; 
owned  several  slaves;  dealt  extensively  in  Hve 
stock,  many  of  which  he  imported  to  the  West 
Indies,  together  with  produce  of  various  kinds. 
He  owned  several  vessels  which  were  engaged  in 
the  West  India  trade.  William  Nichols,  the  father 
of  Stephen,  was  a  farmer  by  occupation.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  two  of  his 
sisters  married  Episcopal  clergymen.  He  was 
twice  married  ;  eight  children  were  born  of  the 
first  marriage,  and  seven  by  the  second.  Stephen 
Nichols  was  one  of  the  latter.  When  he  was  thir- 
teen years  old,  having  attended  the  public  schools 
and  acquired  a  respectable  education,  he  was 
obliged  on  account  of  the  death  of  his  mother  to 
seek  a  home  for  himself,  which  he  did  by  going  to 
Bridgeport  where  he  had  a  married  sister,  with 
whom  he  made  his  home.  He  worked  by  the 
month  for  farmers  for  several  years,  and  then 
learned  the  boot  and  shoe  trade,  which  business  he 


STEPHEN    NICHOLS. 


followed  for  about  twenty  years.  His  old  love  of 
the  farm  returning,  he  gradually  turned  his  atten- 
tion again  to  agricultural  pursuits,  for  which  he 
forsook  trade  and  in  which  he  has  since  been  en- 
gaged. Mr.  Nichols  was  a  whig  before  the  organ- 
ization of  the  republican  party,  but  since  that  time 
has  been  an  ardent  and  active  republican.  As 
such  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  town  of 
Bridgeport  in  the  general  assembly  of  187S,  being 
the  colleague  of  Hon.  P.  T.  Barnum,  and  serving 
on  the  cities  and  boroughs  committee.  Mr.  Nichols 
voted  in  1824  for  John  Qviincy  Adams,  and  has 
voted  at  every  presidential  election  since.  He  voted 
for  William  Henry  Harrison  in  1840,  was  present 
at  the  succeeding  inauguration  ceremonies,  and 
within  thirty  days  thereafter  attended  his  funeral. 
He  has  filled  various  public  offices  in  the  town  and 
city  of  Bridgeport,  having  been  justice  of  the 
peace,  selectman,  assessor,  member  of  the  common 
council  of  the  city  and  of  the  town  board  of  relief. 
Mr.  Nichols  is  a  member  of  the  North  Congrega- 
tional church  of  Bridgeport,  and  a  liberal  supporter 
of  its  ordinances.  Not  long  ago  he  made  a  cash 
donation  of  $5,000  to  the  Olivet  church,  and  more 
recently  has  still  further  shown  his  generosity  by  a 
gift  to  the  same  church  of  valuable  real  estate  on 
which  a  new  church  edifice  will  be  erected  and  pro- 
vision made  for  a  parsonage.  The  Bridgeport 
Standard,  which  alluded  to  the  first  donation  in 
very  complimentary  terms,  afterward  made  the 
following  reference  to  Mr.  Nichols'  later  gift : 

' '  Two  very  important  warrantee  deeds  were  ex- 
ecuted yesterday  by  Attorne}^  J-  J-  Rose,  by  which 
Stephen  Nichols,  Esq.,  makes  another  splendid  gift 
to  the  Olivet  Congregational  church.  By  these 
deeds  Mr.  Nichols  conveys  the  Hall  property  entire, 
which  he  recently  purchased  for  $10,000,  to  the 
church,  to  be  theirs  forever,  to  be  used  in  carrying 
forward  their  work.  The  first  deed  comprises  a 
strip  of  land  twenty  feet  wide  adjoining  the  church 
property,  thereby  making  ample  provision  for  the 
location  of  the  new  church.  The  second  deed  com- 
prises the  remaining  part  of  the  Hall  property,  in- 
cluding the  house,  the  income  of  which  is  to  be  ap- 
plied to  the  general  expenses  of  the  church,  pro- 
vision being  made,  however,  by  which  the  pastor 
will  receive  his  rent  free,  thus  virtually  increasing- 
his  salary.  The  property  is  conveyed  free  from  all 
incumbrance,  making  the  total  gift  of  Mr.  Nichols 
$15,000.  Olivet  church  is  now  in  possession  of  one 
of  the  finest  properties  in  the  city." 

The  liberalitj'  of  Mr.  Nichols  in  all  matters  pro- 
motive of  moral  and  religious  advancement,  is  pro- 
verbial, and  his  gifts  seem  to  afford  him  real  satis- 
faction. He  insists  that  this  last  bestowment  was 
one  of  the  proudest  acts  of  his  life.  He  is  not  now 
in  public  office,  and  the  only  membership  he  claims, 
aside  from  church  membership,  is  with  the  repub- 
lican party  and  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion. 

Mr.  Nichols  was  married,  March  4,  1829,  to  Eme- 
line  Beardsley,  daughter   of   Aaron    Beardsley  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


195 


Bridgeport.  She  died  of  pneumonia,  December  13, 
1890,  after  a  very  brief  illness.  She  is  spoken  of  as 
a  loving  and  devoted  wife,  a  kind  neighbor,  and  a 
most  estimable  lady.  Of  their  two  children,  one 
died  in  childhood  ;  the  other,  Stephen  Marcus 
Nichols,  served  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion  as  first 
lieutenant  of  Company  B,  Twenty-third  Connecti- 
cut regiment,  under  General  Banks,  and  died  July 
29,  1S70. 

Mr.  Nichols  resides  in  the  same  house  to  which 
he  took  his  young  bride  in  May,  1829,  and  where 
he  has  lived  for  sixty-two  years.  During  all  this 
time  he  has  not  been  absent  from  the  old  home 
more  than  a  dozen  nights  altogether.  It  has  been 
the  scene  of  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  his  wedded 
life,  and  it  is  not  strange  that  his  attachments  to  it 
are  now  ver}^  strong.  It  is  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
home  of  his  ancestors  for  centuries.  Ten  genera- 
tions in  a  continuous  line  have  been  born,  lived, 
died,  and  been  buried  within  two  or  three  miles,  at 
most,  of  the  spot  where  his  homestead  stands;  and 
there,  as  the  last  of  his  family,  he  expects  to  re- 
main until  called  to  join  the  majority.  Mr.  Nichols 
has  had  a  very  sad  and  singular  experience  of  be- 
reavement. The  death  of  his  only  son  in  1870  was 
a  severe  blow,  and  left  his  hopes  for  a  continuous 
posterity  centered  in  Wilbur  E.  Nichols,  an  only 
grandson.  Last  December,  as  above  stated,  Mr. 
Nichols'  wife  was  prostrated  by  a  fatal  illness.  On 
the  first  day  of  last  March  Wilbur  E.  Nichols,  aged 
twenty-six,  was  stricken  with  apoplexy  while  at- 
tending the  service  in  St.  John's  church,  and  was 
conveyed  to  his  home  where  he  died  a  few  hours 
later.  The  circumstances  were  particularly  dis- 
tressing. He  had  been  in  poor  health  for  some 
time,  and  was  intending  to  go  to  Florida  the  day 
following  that  on  which  he  died.  He  was  a  young 
man  greatly  esteemed  and  beloved,  and  his  loss 
was  mourned  by  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances. 
On  the  13th  day  of  the  same  month,  an  infant  son 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Swan  B.  Brewster,  and  a  great- 
grandson  of  Hon.  Stephen  Nichols,  died  suddenly, 
a  victim  of  diphtheria.  And  on  the  2 2d,  nine  days 
later,  Mrs.  Brewster,  the  child's  mother,  and  the 
grandchild  and  only  remaining  representative  of 
Mr.  Nichols'  family,  followed  her  infant  to  the 
grave,  having  been  attacked  with  the  same  terrible 
and  fatal  disease.  Mrs.  Brewster  was  a  young 
woman  of  amiable  disposition  and  with  .many  esti- 
mable qualities.  She  was  prostrated  with  grief  by 
the  loss  of  her  infant  son,  and  was  thus  doubtless 
an  easier  prey  to  her  disease.  She  was  devotedly 
attached  to  the  child,  as  were  the  entire  family. 
He  was  a  bright  and  interesting  boy,  the  pet  and 
pride  and  hope  of  his  great-grandfather,  who 
looked  upon  him  as  the  instrumentality  thi-ough 
whom  Providence  intended  to  transmit  to  posterity 
his  blood,  if  not  his  name.     [The  illustration  at  the 


head  of  this  sketch  is  engraved  from  a  photograph 
which  shows  the  child  in  the  arms  of  his  great- 
grandfather, the  Hon.  Mr.  Nichols,  the  subject  of 
this  biography.] 

Although  now  eighty-seven  years  of  age,  Mr. 
Nichols  is  still  in  the  enjoyment  of  perfect  health, 
with  erect  form,  ruddy  complexion,  and  faculties 
unimpaired.  He  looks  like  a  vigorous  man  of  sev- 
enty, and  gives  good  promise  of  becoming  a  cen- 
tenarian. His  life  has  been  an  eventful  one,  and 
within  his  memory  he  has  a  fund  of  personal  rem- 
iniscences which  constitute  him  a  most  agreeable 
and  entertaining  companion.  He  is  justly  es- 
teemed and  venerated  by  his  townsmen,  and  is  to 
all  his  acquaintances  not  only  a  lively  and  interest- 
ing relic  of  a  former  generation,  but  a  good  repre- 
sentative of  the  best  element  of  the  present  day. 


ALBERT    P.    MARSH,    New    Britain:     House 

Decorator. 

A.  P.  Marsh,  the  prosperous  and  youthful  pro- 
prietor of  a  well-known  paint  and  house  decorating 
establishment  in  New  Britain,  was  born  in  Bir- 
mingham, England,  July 
I,  1S67.  When  he  was 
eighteen  months  old  his 
parents  emigrated  to  this 
country,  and  afterwards 
resided  in  Boston,  Provi- 
dence, New  York,  Brook- 
lyn, finally  settling  in  New 
Britain  in  1S73.  From 
early  Hfe,  or  since  he  be- 
came eight  years  of  age, 
Mr.  Marsh  has  been  com- 
pelled to  rely  upon  his 
own  exertions  and  re- 
sources. He  managed 
to  attend  school  a  portion  of  several  years,  though 
compelled  to  work  between  school  hours  to  main- 
tain himself.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  he  forsook 
school,  and  commenced  life  in  the  shop,  later  learn- 
ing the  painters'  trade  in  all  its  several  branches, 
becoming  practically  proficient  in  each.  When  but 
nineteen  years  old  he  began  business  for  himself, 
without  capital  or  influential  friends,  and  in  the 
face  of  quite  formidable  obstacles.  His  obliging 
mannei's  and  evident  knowledge  of  his  business 
soon  brought  him  patrons,  however,  and  assured 
the  prosperity  which  has  almost  from  the  first  at- 
tended his  efforts,  and  which  has  given  his  estab- 
lishment a  prominent  place  among  the  best  in  his 
line.  In  1890  he  erected  a  fine  residence  on  Green- 
wood street,  which  was  a  significant  undertaking 
for  a  young  unmarried  man  to  engage  in.  Mr. 
Marsh  deals  quite  considerably  in  real  estate,  and 
in  the  prosecution  of  his  business  employs  a  large 


A.    p.    MARSH. 


196 


AN    ILLUvSTRATED    POPULAR 


force  of  skilled  workmen.  He  possesses  traits  of 
character  which  make  him  popular  among  those 
over  whom  he  exercises  authority,  and  which  at- 
tract patrons  to  his  place  of  business.  Being  thus 
"wise  in  his  day  and  generation,"  he  is  likely  to 
become  a  man  of  wealth  and  influence  in  the  city 
of  his  adoption. 


A.    F.    NASON. 


A.  F.  NASON,  Hartford:  Superintendent  of 
Agencies,  ^tna  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Almond  Francis  Nason,  son  of  Rufus  Nason,  was 
born  in  Waterville,  Me.,  December  14,  1841.  He 
fitted  for  Waterville  College  (now  Colby  Univer- 
sity), but,  preferring  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  went  to 
Boston  in  1859,  and  en- 
gaged as  bookkeeper. 
During  the  war  he  was  a 
regular  correspondent  for 
the  Waterville  Mail 
and  Portland  Daily 
Press.  In  1862  he  made 
a  trip  as  sutler  on  the 
United  States  steamer 
Rhode  Island,  Admiral 
Trenchard  commander, 
from  Boston  to  all  the 
blockaded  ports  of  the 
southern  confederacy  as  far  as  the  Rio  Grande  and 
return,  arriving  at  New  Orleans  in  October,  while 
General  Butler  was  in  possession  of  the  cit5^  On 
his  return  to  Boston  he  married,  and  re-engaged  as 
bookkeeper.  On  August  i,  1864,  he  began  his  first 
engagement  in  life  insurance  as  assistant  general 
agent  of  the  New  York  Life  Insurance  Company 
at  its  Boston  branch  office.  At  the  conclu- 
sion of  that  engagement  in  1867,  he  formed  a  co- 
partnership with  L.  A.  Lyon,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Lyon  &  Nason,  as  state  agents  for  Massachu- 
setts of  the  Mutual  Benefit  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  Newark,  N.  J.  Their  agency  became  the 
largest  in  Boston,  and  the  leading  one  of  the  com- 
pany. In  1870  Great  Britain  was  added  to  their 
management,  and  his  partner  visited  that  country 
to  estabhsh  agencies.  (This  was  the  only  foreign 
business  ever  done  by  that  company.)  In  1872  Mr. 
Lyon  disposed  of  his  interest  to  vS.  M.  Loveridge, 
the  firm  thereafter  being  Nason  &  Loveridge.  In 
January,  1875,  Mr.  Nason  retired  from  the  agency 
■with  a  competency.  That  year  he  organized,  in 
connection  with  his  former  partner,  Mr.  Lyon,  the 
Shawmut  Insurance  Company,  with  the  largest 
cash  capital  of  any  fire  insurance  company  in  Bos- 
ton ($500,000),  and  was  its  first  vice-president.  The 
financial  panic,  beginning  in  1875,  so  reduced  real 
estate  values  that  he  lost  heavily.  '  In  1877  he  or- 
ganized the  Locke  Regulator  Company,  and  was 


its  president.  In  1S79  he  disposed  of  his  interest 
to  Mr.  Nelson  Curtis,  — whose  name  the  company 
now  bears,  —  and  came  to  Hartford  to  accept  the 
position  of  adjuster  for  the  ^tna  Life  Insurance 
Companj-.  In  1SS2  he  was  appointed  superintend- 
ent of  agencies  of  that  company,  the  position  now 
held  by  him. 

Mr.  Nason  has  always  been  an  ardent  repub- 
lican ,  having  served  as  delegate  to  gubernatorial  and 
senatorial  conventions  in  Massachusetts.  He  is 
vice-president  of  the  First  Unitarian  Congrega- 
tional Society  of  Hartford.  He  was  for  ten  years 
on  the  standing  committee  of  the  famous  old  HoUis 
Street  church  in  Boston,  and  was  a  delegate  to  the 
national  convention  of  the  Unitarians  in  Saratoga 
(1S73)  and  Philadelphia  (1890).  He  was  appointed 
a  justice  of  the  peace  by  Governor  Rice,  and  re- 
appointed by  Governor  Washburn,  for  two  terms 
of  seven  years  each.  During  the  past  twelve  years 
he  has  traveled  very  extensively  and  almost  con- 
stantly over  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion  of 
Canada,  in  connection  with  the  responsible  duties 
of  his  position  with  the  old  and  well-known  com- 
pany with  which  he  has  so  long  been  associated. 

Mr.  Nason  was  united  (1862)  in  marriage  to  Miss 
Grace  E.  Blanchard  of  Boston,  who  died  in  1880, 
leaving  two  children,  a  son  and  daughter.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Masonic  fraternity.  His  experience 
in  life  insurance  has  been  wide  and  successful,  and 
he  is  esteemed  an  adept  in  the  department  of 
which  he  is  an  active  manager. 


E.  W.  DEWEY,  North  Granbv:    Judge  of  Pro- 
bate. 

Edward  Watson  Dewey  was  born  in  North 
Granby,  October  29,  1857,  and  was  educated  at 
Williston  Seminary,  East  Hampton,  Mass.  In  1889 
he  represented  the  town 
of  Granby  in  the  general 
assembly,  serving  on  the 
republican  side  of  the 
house.  He  is  the  judge 
of  probate  in  the  Granby 
district,  and  has  held  other 
responsible  offices,  includ- 
ing that  of  justice  of  the 
peace.  Judge  Dewey  has 
also  been  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits;  has  held 
the  chairmanship  of  the 
republican  town  commit- 
tee, and  is  the  Worshipful 
Master  of  St.  Mark's  Lodge,  No.  91,  F.  and  A.  M., 
of  Granby.  He  is  connected  with  the  Universalist 
church,  and  is  one  of  the  most  thoroughly  esteemed 
residents  of  the  town  of  Granby.  Judge  Dewey  is 
without  a  family. 


v..    W.    DEWEY 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


197 


DANIEL  J.  DONAHOE,  Miuuletown:  Attorney- 

at-Law. 

Daniel  J.  Donahue  is  a  native  of  Brimfield, 
Mass.,  born  February  27,  1853.  He  finished  his 
education  at  Wesleyan  University,  ^Middletown,  in 
1 8  72,  studied  law  for 
three  years,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  June, 
1875.  He  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession 
at  Meriden  three  years, 
then  located  in  ]\Iiddle- 
town,  where  he  has  since 
been  in  continuous  prac- 
tice. He  married  Mar- 
garet Burns,  who  died  in 
April,  1 888,  leaving  two 
young  children,  daugh- 
ters. Mr.  Donahoe  is  a 
member  of  the  Catholic 
church,  and  of  the  democratic  party.  He  holds 
the  associate  judgeship  of  the  ]\Iiddletown  city 
court,  is  a  member  of  the  city  board  of  education, 
and  president  of  the  town  board  of  health.  He 
stands  well  as  a  lawyer  before  the  bar  of  Middlesex 
County,  is  an  earnest  and  conscientious  advocate, 
and  a  gentleman  of  fine  literary  accomplishments. 
He  is  author  of  "  Idyls  of  Israel,  and  other  poems," 
published  in  1888,  and  "A  Tent  by  the  Lake,  and 
other  poems,"  1S89.  Both  volumes  have  had  a  fair 
sale,  and  have  been  well  received  by  the  public. 


D.  J.   DONAHOE. 


HENRY  M.  \VHITE,  Torrington:    Editor  "  Tor- 
rington  Register." 

Henry  M.  White,  member  of  the  general  assem- 
bly from  Torrington  for  the  current  term,  is  the 
editor  of  the  Torri/igion  Register,  which  has 
for  years  been  a  leading 
county  paper  in  Western 
Connecticut.  Mr.  White 
has  been  at  the  head  of 
the  paper  for  nine  years. 
In  18S9  he  founded  the 
Daily  Register,  which 
has  a  handsome  clientage 
in  the  flourishing  bor- 
ough of  Torrington  and 
the  adjacent  localities. 
Mr.  White  was  born  at 
Elba,  N.  Y.,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  the  Shelburne 
Falls  Acadeni}',  Mass.  He 
was  formerly  engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  hard- 
ware, occupying  the  positions  of  foreman  and  sales- 
man. He  has  resided  in  Shelburne  Falls  and 
Northampton,  Mass.,  and  in  New  York.  Mr. 
White  is  connected  with  the  Congregational  church 


H.    M.    WHITE. 


at  Torrington,  and  is  the  secretary  of  the  Y.  M.  C. 
A.  in  that  place.  He  was  the  superintendent  of 
the  Sunday-school  at  Northampton.  He  is  the 
president  of  the  Mercantile  Co-operative  Bank,  and 
is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of  Honor.  His  wife,  who 
is  living,  was  Miss  Minnie  A.  Cole  pi'ior  to  her 
marriage.     There  are  no  children. 


BULKl.EV   EDWARD 


BULKLEY   EDWARDS,    Ckomwei.l  :    President 

Cromwell  Savings  Bank. 

Mr.  Edwards  is  a  descendant  of  Churchill  Ed- 
wards, who  came  from  England  many  generations 
ago  and  settled  in  Wethersfield  in  this  state,  since 
which  his  descendants 
have  mostly  made  their 
homes  in  the  Connecticut 
valley.  Bulkley  Edwards 
was  born  in  Cromwell, 
May  29,  1811,  and  during 
the  forescore  years  of  his 
life  has  maintained  a  con- 
tinuous residence  in  the 
identical  house  wdiere  he 
was  born.  His  education- 
al training  was  at  the  dis- 
trict and  high  school  of 
Cromwell.  He  was  reared 
in  the  hotel  and  farm  life 

which  his  father  led  until  his  death  in  1836,  and 
which  he  then  took  up  and  has  since  followed.  He 
has  three  times  married;  his  first  wife  dying  in  1854 
and  the  second  in  1863;  he  married  last  Mrs.  Corne- 
lia Wilcox  of  Wetherslield,  December  28,  1887.  Of 
the  four  children  who  have  been  born  to  him, 
neither  is  now  living.  Additionally  to  his  hotel  busi- 
ness, Mr.  Edwards  is  something  of  a  farmer,  own- 
ing and  improving  a  considerable  tract  bordering 
on  the  Connecticut  River.  His  farm  has  been  cut 
in  two  twice  by  the  locating  across  it  of  the  Yalley 
and  the  Cromwell  railroads,  and  though  estimated 
to  have  been  thus  damaged  to  the  extent  of  $1,500, 
he  regards  the  railroads  as  of  more  practical  benefit 
than  damage  to  his  property.  Mr.  Edwards  is  pres- 
ident of  the  Cromwell  Savings  Bank,  which  posi- 
tion he  has  occupied  for  twelve  years.  He  has  been 
first  selectman  a  number  of  terms,  county  commis- 
sioner four  years,  member  of  the  board  of  assessors 
and  board  of  relief,  and  has  held  various  minor 
local  offices;  until  at  his  present  age  he  feels  that  he 
has  performed  his  part  of  the  public  service,  and 
has  declined  further  public  honors  or  burdens.  Mr. 
Edwards  was  reared  a  Jackson  democrat.  When 
he  became  of  age  and  was  made  an  elector,  he  re- 
calls that  his  father  told  him  to  vote  as  he  thought 
best,  but  alwaj's  to  put  his  ballot  down  right  side 
up.     As  a  democrat  he  has  for  five  different  terms 


198 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


represented  Cromwell  in  the  legislature,  and  he  has 
never  given  his  associates  or  constituents  reason  to 
think  that  he  was  ashamed  of  his  politics.  He  is  an 
attendant  at  the  Baptist  church  of  his  native  town, 
in  the  support  of  which  he  is  a  liberal  contributor. 


J.    A.    CRILLY. 


JOHN    A.    CRILLY,    Hartford:    Ex-Alderman 
Fourth  Ward. 

John  A.  Crillv  was  born  at  Pike  River,  in  the 
province  of  Quebec,  April  22,  1S47,  and  received  a 
common  school  education,  preparing  him  for  an 
active  and  successful  busi- 
ness career.  He  removed 
to  Hartford  in  1S62,  and 
has  since  been  a  resident 
of  the  city.  He  has  been 
connected  with  the  Hart- 
ford &  Wethersfield  Horse 
Railroad  Company  most 
of  the  time  since  his  re- 
moval to  Hartford,  and 
has  been  in  charge  of 
important  and  responsible 
interests  on  the  line  for  a 
number  of  years.  Mr. 
Crilly  is  one  of  the  most 
trusted  men  in  the  management  of  the  company, 
and  much  of  its  success  is  due  to  his  administration 
and  influence.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  court 
of  common  council  in  this  city  since  1877,  when  he 
was  first  elected  a  member  of  the  council  board 
from  the  Fourth  ward,  receiving  a  total  of  627 
votes.  He  served  in  that  board  for  six  consecutive 
years,  acquiring  special  familiarity  with  municipal 
interests.  In  1883  he  was  advanced  to  the  board 
of  aldermen,  receiving  a  larger  vote  for  that  office 
than  the  one  polled  when  he  was  first  elected  coun- 
.cilman.  Mr.  Crilly  has  served  eight  years  consecu- 
tively in  the  upper  board,  making  a  period  of  four- 
teen years  of  active  identification  with  the  municipal 
government.  No  one  in  local  public  life  has  been 
longer  associated  with  the  city's  interests,  and  it 
can  be  said  with  the  utmost  candor  and  honesty 
that  he  has  been  a  faithful  and  unfaltering  advocate 
of  local  progress.  The  different  municipal  depart- 
ments owe  a  great  deal  to  his  watchfulness  and 
supervision.  From  the  beginning  of  his  career  he 
has  been  an  intelligent  observer  of  the  effect  of 
city  legislation,  and  where  improvements  have  been 
needed,  he  has  promptly  and  efficiently  co-operated 
in  their  inauguration.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has 
held  the  chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  amuse- 
ments, a  place  of  decided  importance,  considering 
the  fact  that  the  chairman  must  be  constantly  on 
the  alert  against  the  admission  of  undesirable 
plays  and  companies  for  entertainments  in  the  city. 
The  matter  of   regulating  playbills  and   jjlacards 


placed  in  public  resorts  is  left  mainly  to  the  decision 
of  the  chairman  of  the  committee.  Ex-Alderman 
Crilly  is  a  prominent  Mason,  being  a  member  of 
St.  John's  Lodge,  Pythagoras  Chapter,  Wolcott 
Council,  and  Washington  Commandery,  Knights 
Templar.  He  is  one  of  the  oldest  members  and 
past  grand  of  Hartford  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.;  member 
of  Crescent  Lodge,  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  of  the 
Hartford  order  of  Elks.  One  year  ago  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen  of 
Hartford,  having  previously  served  one  term  by 
appointment.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Fourth 
ward  republican  committee  for  ten  years,  and  is 
also  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  town 
committee.  In  addition  to  the  work  that  has  de- 
manded his  attention  in  connection  with  the  horse 
railroad  company,  he  has  dealt  extensively  in  real 
estate,  and  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors 
of  the  Glastonbury  Horse  Railroad  Companj-.  Mr. 
Crilly  is  an  attendant  at  the  South  Park  Methodist 
church  in  this  city.  He  has  a  wife  and  one  son, 
John  A.  Crilljs  Jr.  Two  daughters  have  died. 
Mrs.  Crilly  was  Miss  Louisa  A.  Smith  of  Wethers- 
field prior  to  her  marriage.  As  a  citizen  and  busi- 
ness man  Mr.  Crilly  has  manifested  the  deepest 
interest  in  Hartford,  and  his  success  in  Aarious 
fields  of  activity  has  been  thoroughly  merited. 


FRANK  W.  MIX,  New  Britain:  Superintendent 
Corbin  Cabinet  Lock  Company. 
Major  Frank  W.  Mix  was  born  in  Terryville, 
February  17,  1S34.  He  attended  the  village  school 
until  he  was  sixteen,  when  he  went  into  the  factory 
with  his  father.  What  is 
now  the  Eagle  Lock  Com- 
pany in  Terr3'ville  was 
then  Lewis  &  Gaylord. 
Here  he  learned  the  art 
of  die-making  and  press- 
ing, and  obtained  a  gen- 
eral idea  of  machine  work. 
At  the  age  of  twenty  he 
left  home,  going  to  Water- 
bury  to  perfect  himself  as 
a  machinist  and  tool- 
maker.  At  the  end  of  six 
months  he  accepted  a  call 
from  New  Haven  to  take 
charge  of  the  die  and  press  work  of  the  New  Haven 
Clock  Company,  where  he  remained  a  year.  Still 
having  a  desire  to  become  a  perfect  tool-maker,  he 
secured  a  position  with  what  is  now  the  Winchester 
Arms  Company,  then  run  by  Smith  &  Wesson,  as 
a  tool-maker,  remaining  there  until  the  concern 
failed  in  1S57.  While  in  New  Haven  Major  Mix 
became  actively  interested  in  musical  matters,  hav- 
ing charge  of  the  choir  and  playing  the  organ  in 


K.    W.    MIX. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


199 


one  of  the  churches.  Here  he  was  also  married  in 
1856.  After  the  failure  of  the  pistol  company, 
Major  Mix  went  into  the  sewing-machine  business 
with  his  father-in-law,  R.  B.  Fuller,  locating  in 
Mansfield,  afterwards  in  Norwich,  continuing  until 
i860,  when  they  sold  out,  the  Major  going  to  the 
Sharps'  Rifle  factory  in  Hartford.  In  the  spring 
of  1 86 1,  his  health  being  impaired,  he  removed  to 
Michigan,  where,  September  i,  1S61,  he  enlisted  in 
the  Third  Michigan  cavalry,  with  which  he  served 
for  eleven  months,  when  he  was  appointed  a  cap- 
tain of  the  famous  Fourth  Michigan  cavalry.  While 
with  the  Third  he  took  part  in  the  capture  of  New 
Madrid  and  Island  No.  10,  and  the  battles  of 
Corinth,  Inka,  and  Boonville,  Miss.  He  joined  the 
Fovirth  cavalry  at  Mumfordsville,  Kj'.,  and  was  pro- 
moted to  be  major  for  gallantry  at  the  battle  of 
Stone  River.  While  he  was  in  command  of  the 
regiment  it  took  part  in  eighty-four  general  engage- 
ments, not  to  mention  scores  of  lesser  events. 
These  included  Chattanooga,  Chickamauga,  Mission 
Ridge,  and  most  of  the  important  actions  of  the 
western  army  up  to  the  siege  of  Atlanta.  He  was 
severely  wounded  at  Lovejoy's  Station  in  August, 
1864,  on  account  of  which  he  received  an  honorable 
discharge  in  the  following  November.  He  lost  two 
horses  in  action,  and  was  repeatedly  named  by 
corps  and  brigade  commanders  for  gallantry, 
promptness,  and  the  skillful  manner  in  which  he 
handled  his  regiment  in  tight  places.  On  two  dif- 
ferent occasions  the  brigade  commander  attributed 
the  success  of  his  brigade  ' '  to  the  brilliancy  and 
tenacity  of  the  fighting  of  the  Fourth  Michigan, 
tinder  the  command  of  Major  Frank  W.  Mix."  It 
■was  this  regiment  that  at  the  close  of  the  war  cap- 
tured Jefferson  Davis. 

During  the  last  twenty-five  years  Major  Mix  has 
resided  in  this  state,  engaged  in  the  manufacture, 
as  well  as  the  invention,  of  locks.  During  that 
time  he  has  probably  taken  out  more  patents  on 
cabinet  and  trunk  locks  than  any  man  in  the  coun- 
try. In  1S70  he  brought  out  a  padlock,  known  as 
the  Mix  lock,  which  the  government  adopted  for 
mail  bags,  and  which  was  manufactured  by  the 
Eagle  Lock  Company,  where  Major  Mix  was  em- 
ployed as  superintendent  for  ten  3'ears.  Since  that 
time  he  has  resided  in  New  Britain  as  superintend- 
ent of  the  Corbin  Cabinet  Lock  Companjr,  in  which 
position  he  has  made  a  notable  success,  as  is  at- 
tested by  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  business 
at  the  present  time.  He  is  also  half  owner  in  the 
Park  drug  store  in  New  Britain,  which  ranks  among 
the  first  in  the  city  and  state.  He  has  a  wife,  who 
before  her  marriage  was  Miss  Mary  J.  Fuller,  and 
three  children,  a  son  and  two  daughters,  his  only 
son  being  a  superintendent  of  the  government  lock 
repair  shop  in  Washington.  The  Major  is  always 
a  republican  in  politics,  is  connected  with  the  First 


Congregational  church,  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  of  the  O.  U.  A.  M.,  the  Grand  Army, 
the  New  Britain  Club,  the  Army  and  Navy  Club, 
and  the  Putnam  Phalanx.  He  is  a  useful  and  re- 
spected citizen,  and  occupies,  with  his  family,  an 
honorable  position  in  the  community. 

GEORGE  FLINT,  Thompson:  Judge  of  Probate. 
George  Flint  was  bomat  Oxford,  Mass.,  Oct.  17, 
1832,  and  received  a  common  school  education  in 
the  town  in  which  he  now  resides,  all  but  six  months 
of  his  life  having  been 
spent  in  that  community. 
He  has  been  the  judge  of 
probate  in  the  Thompson 
district  for  nineteen  years, 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief  for  twenty-four,  and 
registrar  of  voters  for  four 
years.  He  has  also  held 
the  office  of  selectman, 
and  in  every  position 
which  he  has  occupied  he 
has  faithfully  represented 
the  public  interest.  His 
general  avocation  has 
been  that  of  a  farmer.  He  has  been  a  republican 
in  politics  since  1856.  Judge  Flint  is  a  Hneal  de- 
scendant, on  the  paternal  side,  of  Thomas  Flint, 
who  came  from  Wales  to  Salem,  Mass.,  about  1642; 
on  the  maternal  side,  of  John  Cary,  who  came  to 
Plymouth  in  1635.  His  wife,  who  died  Nov.  6,  1889, 
was  Miss  Gertrude  I.  Dowling.     One  son  survives. 


GEORGE    FLINT. 


ROBERT  WALLACE,  Wallingford:  President 
R.  Wallace  &  Sons  Manufacturing  Company. 
Robert  Wallace,  the  creator  and  founder  of  the 
great  silver  and  plated-ware  manufactory  which 
bears  his  name,  was  born  in  Prospect,  Conn.,  No- 
vember 13,  1815.  In  his 
youth  he  had  the  advan- 
tages which  the  common 
schools  of  his  day  afford- 
ed, and  with  a  fair  educa- 
tion went  out  into  the 
world  to  seek  his  fortune. 
He  was  under  brief  en- 
gagements at  Watertown, 
Cheshire,  and  North  Ha- 
ven, but  many  years  ago 
gravitated  to  Walling- 
ford, where  he  established, 
at  first  in  a  small  way,  the 
industry  which,  under  his 
fostering  care  and  management,  has  since  become 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  of  its  kind  in  the  state. 
He  has  Hterally  spent  his  life  in  it,   devoting  his 


ROBERT    WALLACE. 


2CX) 


AX   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


time,  his  thought,  and  his  energies  to  it,  to  the  ex- 
chision  of  all  public  service,  and  largely  of  active 
participation  in  the  ordinary  enjoyments  of  social 
life.  His  history  is  practically  the  history  of  his 
company  and  its  business,  with  which  he  has  always 
been  intimately  identified.  Mr.  Wallace  was  mar- 
ried many  years  ago  to  Miss  Louisa  Moulthrop,  now 
deceased.  They  have  had  nine  children,  eight  of 
whom  are  still  living.  His  political  affiliations  are 
with  the  republican  party. 


REV.    H.    WINSI.OW. 


REV.  HORACE  WIXSLOW,  A.M.,  Weatogle, 
(Simsbury):  Congregational  Clergyman. 
Rev.  Horace  Winslow  is  a  lineal  descendant  of 
Kenelm  Winslow  (brother  of  Governor  Edward),  who 
first  settled  at  Marshfield,  Mass. ,  the  homestead  re- 
maining in  the  family  for 
four  generations.  Horace 
was  born  in  Enfield, 
Mass.,  May  i8,  1S14. 
When  he  was  about  two 
years  of  age,  his  father 
removed  to  Pittsford, 
Western  New  York.  Lat- 
er, he  was  employed  as 
clerk  in  a  bookstore  in 
Rochester,  which  cit}-  was 
his  home  until  he  was  set- 
tled in  the  ministry.  He 
was  married  May  S,  1S50, 
to  Miss  Charlotte  H.  Pet- 
tibone  of  Simsbury,  Conn.  Three  daughters  have 
been  born  to  them,  two  of  whom  are  now  living. 
He  was  educated  at  Hamilton  College,  from  which 
he  received  the  degree  of  A.M.,  and  at  Auburn 
Theological  Seminary,  and  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary  in  New  York  city.  He  was  ordained  and 
installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  New 
Windsor,  N.  Y.,  in  the  spring  of  1S42.  In  1S43  he 
became  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church 
in  Lansingburg.  In  1S45  he  was  settled  as  pastor 
of  the  Congregational  church  of  Rockville,  Conn. 
In  1852  he  resigned  and  accepted  a  call  from  the 
First  Congregational  church  of  New  Britain.  In 
January-,  1S58,  he  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  of  Great  Barrington,  Mass. 
Having  been  appointed  Chaplain  of  the  5th  regi- 
ment of  Connecticut  Volunteers,  in  February,  1S62, 
he  at  once  resigned  his  charge  and  joined  the  army. 
Late  in  the  year,  in  consequence  of  ill  health,  being 
unable  to  follow  the  regiment,  he  resigned  and  re- 
turned to  his  home.  In  1863  he  became  pastor  of 
the  Congregational  church  of  Bingham  ton,  X.  Y. 
After  five  years  of  service  there,  he  resigned  and 
returned  to  Connecticut.  For  a  few  months  he  was 
in  the  service  of  the  American  Missionaiy  Associa- 
tion, and  also  of  the  South  church  of  Woodbury, 


from  which  he  had  received  a  call,  but  finally  de- 
clined it  and  accepted  one  from  the  Congregational 
church  of  Willimantic,  where  he  was  settled  in 
1S69.  In  1876,  while  driving  in  a  severe  thunder 
storm,  he  was  struck  b)'  lightning,  thrown  from  the 
carriage,  and  taken  up  insensible.  After  recovering 
consciousness,  he  was  for  a  time  in  a  very  critical 
condition.  His  people  gave  him  a  vacation  for  six 
months,  after  which  he  resumed  work.  Finally, 
after  a  service  of  a  little  more  than  twelve  j-ears, 
his  health  not  being  firm,  he  resigned  his  charge,, 
and  located  at  Weatogue,  Simsbury,  where  he  now 
resides.  With  this  change  his  health  improved, 
and  in  a  short  time  he  resvimed  his  work  in  the  pul- 
pit, and  has  continued  to  the  present  time,  supply- 
ing in  Providence,  R.  I.,  for  two  years,  in  Litch- 
field, Hartford,  and  for  nine  months  in  his  former 
church  in  Great  Barrington,  ]\Iass. ;  also  about  three 
years  in  Simsbury. 

Mr.  Winslow  has  ever  been  an  earnest  worker  in 
the  interests  and  prosperity  of  the  communities  in 
which  he  has  lived,  in  the  elevation  of  the  schools, 
and  in  village  improvements.  The  two  parks  at 
Rockville  are  the  outcome  of  his  labors.  The  one 
in  front  of  his  church  (as  it  then  stood),  was  graded, 
enclosed,  and,  with  the  help  of  young  men,  set  out 
-^^-ith  trees  by  him.  Talcott  park  was  a  conception 
of  his.  He  secured  from  the  owners  of  the  land  a 
refusal  of  it  for  one  month,  for  two  thousand  dol- 
lars. Before  the  time  expired,  the  money  was 
raised  by  subscription,  the  amount  secured  by  a  very 
large  and  generous  gift  (nearly  one-half  the  amount) 
from  Judge  Phineas  Talcott.  While  the  spiritual 
interests  of  the  people  have  been  Mr.  Winslow's. 
first  consideration,  he  has  been  conspicuous  in  re- 
newing old  church  edifices  and  building  new  ones, 
securing  in  this  work  architectural  excellence,  con- 
venience, and  ventilation.  His  first  settlement 
witnessed  a  change  in  the  church  edifice.  The  year 
following  his  advent  in  Rockville,  twenty-five  feet 
were  added  to  the  church  building,  Avith  other  im- 
provements. Later  on,  a  colony  went  out  and 
formed  a  second  church.  Then  a  chapel  with  par- 
lors was  erected  for  the  old  church.  When  he  re- 
moved to  New  Britain  he  led  the  people  to  erect  a 
new  house  of  worship,  with  the  conveniences  of 
chapel,  parlors,  and  an  audience-room  seating 
twelve  hundred  people.  A  like  work  he  accom- 
plished at  Great  Barrington,  Mass.,  and  at  Willi- 
mantic. In  these  new  churches  acoustic  properties 
and  means  of  ventilation  were  complete.  He  had 
especial  care  that  the  house  should  be  adapted  to  its 
use;  that  the  church  edifice  should  have  architectu- 
ral excellence,  the  audience-room  be  adapted  to 
speaking  and  hearing,'  and  in  all  these  particulars 
he  had  perfect  success.  In  this  work,  also,  in  most 
cases,  he  had  the  chief  business  of  raising  money. 
In   Willimantic,    where    the   church   building   cost 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


20I 


forty-seven  thousand  dollars,  more  than  half  of  the 
amount  was  raised  through  his  personal  efforts.  In 
this  business  of  remodeling  and  building  anew 
he  created  no  burden  of  debt  upon  the  society,  and 
when  a  small  amount  was  left,  it  was  from  the 
choice  of  the  society.  In  Willimantic,  when  the 
final  debt  was  twelve  thousand  dollars,  and  recog- 
nized as  an  embarrassment  to  the  society,  he  took 
the  matter  up  and  raised  the  whole  amount.  In 
this  building  of  new  churches,  the  society  was 
lifted  into  greater  independence,  and  the  church 
into  a  new  spiritual  life.  ^Ir.  Winslow  has  been  an 
active  worker  in  the  temperance  cause,  and  his  Cold 
Water  Army  of  three  hundred  children  at  Rockville 
became  quite  famous.  Being  an  earnest  advo- 
cate of  human  rights,  he  was  an  anti-slavery  man, 
and  at  the  outbreak  of  the  rebellion  an  ardent  de- 
fender of  the  Union.  In  the  conflict  of  thought  at 
the  approach  of  the  war,  and  since,  he  has  given, 
on  occasions  of  special  interest,  many  discourses 
and  addresses,  which  have  been  published.  Mr. 
Winslow's  life  has  been  one  of  great  usefulness  to 
church  and  state,  and  he  is  united  by  the  strongest 
ties  of  friendship  with  large  numbers  of  the  best 
men  of  the  present  and  past  generation. 


He  was    prominently 


HOMER  L.  WANZER,  New  Fairkield:  Farmer. 
Homer  L.  Wanzer  was  born  in  New  Fairfield, 
March  3,  1S50,  being  the  son  of  Willis  H.  and 
Sarah  A.  Wanzer,  and  a  descendant  of  Abraham 
Wanzer,  who  emigrated 
to  America  from  Hesse 
Castle,  German}^  and  be- 
came a  lieutenant  in  the 
French  war  in  America. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  at- 
tended a  boarding-school 
in  Oswego  village.  His 
studies  were  completed  in 
1870  at  the  Chappaqua 
^Mountain  Institute  in 
Westchester  county.  New 
York  In  1878  he  married 
Miss  Mary  Alice  Gid- 
dings,  daughter  of  James  A.  Giddings,  Jr.  Mrs. 
Wanzer  died  within  a  few  years,  leaving  one  daugh- 
ter, Miss  Grace  Wanzer.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  is  a  farmer  by  avocation.  He  has  held  the 
presidency  of  the  Housatonic  Agricultural  Society 
two  years,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  and  president  of  the  New  Milford  Agri- 
cultural Association.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics, 
and  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen 
in  New  Fairfield  since  1884.  He  is  also  the  presi- 
dent of  the  town  board  of  health,  and  is  actively 
associated  with  local  interests  and  affairs. 


L.    WA.NZER 


E.  A.  MERRIMAN,  Meriden:  Attorney-at-Law. 
Judge  Emerson  A.  Merriman  has  represented 
Meriden  in  the  legislature  during  two  sessions, 
serving  in  1880  and  iSSi. 
identified  with  the  legis- 
lation of  both  years,  being 
connected  with  important 
committees  each  j-ear. 
He  is  a  republican  in 
politics.  For  thirteen 
vears  he  was  judge  of  the 
probate  court  in  i\Iei4den, 
serving  the  people  of  that 
city  with  marked  accept- 
ance and  success.  Both 
as  judge  and  member  of 
the  legislature  he  was 
governed  by  the  strictest 
personal  honor,  and  his 
public  career  has  deserved  and  received  the  most 
gratifying  approval.  He  is  a  member  of  ^Meriden 
Lodge,  No.  77,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  r^Ieriden.  Judge 
Merriman  was  born  at  Westfield,  ^lass.,  August  3, 
1S42,  and  was  educated  at  Suffield,  in  this  state, 
being  a  graduate  of  the  Literary  Institute  in  that 
place,  and  in  the  law  department  of  the  University 
of  Michigan.  His  wife  was  Miss  Frances  E.  John- 
son before  marriage.  There  are  no  children  in  the 
family.  Judge  Merriman  is  a  member  of  the  New 
Haven  county  bar,  and  one  of  the  leading  attor- 
neys in  Meriden. 


E.    A.    MEKRIMAX. 


JOHN  P.  WOOD,  Brooklyn:   Cashier  Windham 

County  National  Bank. 

John  Palmer  Wood  was  born  in  Scotland,  May 
30,  1833,  and  received  a  thorough  common  school 
education,  preparing  him  for  a  successful  business 
career.     He  was  a  repub- 
lican in  politics  until  1884. 
Since  that  time   he  has 
been  connected   with  the 
democratic  party.    He  re- 
mained  on   the    farm    in 
Scotland   until    h  e    was 
eighteen    years   of   age, 


when  he  became  interest- 
ed in  a  mercantile  life. 
From  1864  until  1870  he 
was  in  the  L^nited  States 
treasury  office  in  Wash- 
ington. He  then  removed 
to  Lynn,  Mass.,  where  he 

remained  until  1876.  Since  the  latter  year  he  has 
been  connected  with  the  position  which  he  now 
holds  in  the  bank.  He  was  elected  judge  of  the 
Brooklyn  probate  district  in  1890,  and  is  now  the 
judge  of  the  court.     Judge  Wood  is  connected  with 


202 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


the  L^nitarian  church.  His  wife,  who  is  j-et  Hving, 
was  Miss  Sarah  J.  Kimball,  daughter  of  Jacob  Kim- 
ball, prior  to  her  marriage.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wood 
have  had  six  children,  three  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing. The  family  occupy  a  prominent  place  in  the 
community  where  they  reside,  and  Judge  Wood  is 
a  leading  citizen  of  eastern  Connecticut.  He  is  a 
member  of  Moriah  Lodge,  No.  15,  F.  and  A.  M., 
of  Danielsonville,  one  of  the  oldest  ^lasonic  lodges 
in  the  state. 


G.    OSBORN. 


NORRIS     G.    OSBORN,    New    Haven:     Editor 
"  The  New  Haven  Register." 
Norris  G.  Osborn  was  born  in  New  Haven,  Conn., 
April  17,   1S58,  and   his   native   place   has  always 
been  his  home.     He  was  educated  in  the  private 
schools  of  that  city,  and 
in    Yale   College,    from 
which  institution  he  grad- 
uated with   the   class    of 
iSSo.     In  1 886  his   alma 
Diater    conferred    upon 
him   an  honorarj-  degree 
of  master  of  arts.     In  1SS4 
he  became  chief  editor  of 
TJie  Neiv  Have7i  Regis- 
ter, and  has  had  the  en- 
tire  management    of  the 
paper     since    that    time. 
Mr.     Osborn     sei-ved    as 
senior  aid,  with  the  rank 
of  colonel,  to  Governor  Waller,  during  his  adminis- 
tration, from   1882   to  1884.     He   is  a  member   of 
many  social  organizations,  chief  of  which  are  the 
Free  Masons  and  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revo- 
lution.    He  married,  in  1881,  Miss  Kate  Gardiner 
of  New  York  city,  and  thej^  have  three  children. 

Colonel  Osborn's  conduct  of  TJie  Register  since 
he  has  been  its  editor  has  been  as  notable  in  its 
way  as  was  that  of  his  father,  Minot  A.  Osborn, 
who  practically  founded  the  paper,  and  won  for  it 
a  wide  circulation  throughout  Connecticut.  He 
has  developed  and  broadened  the  scope  of  the 
paper,  so  as  to  keep  in  touch  with  the  most  en- 
lightened and  progressive  journalistic  spirit  of  the 
age.  While  he  has  always  defended  the  sound 
principles  of  Jeffersonian  democracy,  he  has  shown 
that  the  true  journalist  seeks  to  mould,  and  not 
follow  slavishly,  public  opinion.  He  has  not  hesi- 
tated to  use  his  influence  against  prevailing  ten- 
dencies in  his  party  which  he  deemed  unwise,  and 
has  always  had  the  courage  of  his  convictions. 
The  Register  was  an  earnest  advocate  of  tariff 
reform  some  time  before  the  action  of  President 
Cleveland  made  it  the  leading  issue  of  his  part}'. 
It  has  also  been  an  admirable  newspaper  —  enter- 
prising and  thorough  in  its  gathering  and  exposition 
of  news,  both  in  the  local  and  national  field.      As 


dramatic  critic  of  the  paper  Mr.  Osborn  has  shown 
himself  a  thorough  and  scholarly  student  of  the 
drama,  and  displayed  the  insight  of  a  keen  and 
fearless  critic. 

In  the  councils  also  of  the  democratic  party  Mr. 
Osborn  has  maintained  the  family  name  and  proved 
the  worthy  son  of  a  worthy  sire.  Always  a  patriot 
more  than  a  partisan,  he  has  opposed  tactics  that, 
while  they  might  secure  a  temporary  or  question- 
able advantage,  sacrificed  equity  and  justice.  Mr. 
Osborn's  winsome  nature  has  won  for  him  a  large 
circle  of  friends,  many  of  whom  are  found  among 
his  political  opponents.  A  capital  story-teller,  with 
a  cheery,  responsive  nature,  and  sterling  spirit  of 
good-fellowship,  he  is  always  a  welcome  comrade 
in  anv  social  circle. 


B.    WOOSTER. 


WILLIAM    BURR    WOOSTER,    Ansonia:    At- 
torney-at-Law. 

Colonel  William  B.  Wooster  represented  the 
state  with  honor  and  distinction  in  the  field  during 
the  war,  and  is  deserving  of  the  highest  recognition 
on  account  of  his  services. 
He  was  the  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Twentieth 
Regiment,  under  Colonel 
Ross  of  the  regular  army, 
and  won  a  brevet  colo- 
nelcy for  meritorious  con- 
duct. When  the  first 
colored  regiment  in  Con- 
necticut, the  Twenty- 
ninth,  was  organized  in 
1864,  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Wooster  was  selected  by 
Governor  Buckingham  as 
its  commander.  The  reg- 
iment was  mustered  into  the  service  at  New 
Haven,  March  8,  1864,  Colonel  Wooster  four  days 
afterwards  assuming  the  control.  A  few  days  be- 
fore the  organization  left  for  the  front  it  was  pre- 
sented with  a  set  of  colors  by  the  colored  women  of 
New  Haven,  Fred  Douglass  making  the  presenta- 
tion address.  March  20th  it  left  New  Haven, 
under  Colonel  Wooster,  for  the  front,  and  won  the 
proudest  of  records  in  the  field.  Its  behavior  at 
the  capture  of  Fort  Harrison  was  especially  com- 
mended. It  was  also  particularly  mentioned  for 
gallantry  on  the  Darby-town  road,  and  at  Chapin 
Farm,  before  Richmond.  When  the  confederate 
capital  succumbed,  the  Twenty-ninth  was  the  first 
infantry  to  gain  access  to  the  city.  Colonel 
Wooster's  associate  officers  in  the  regiment  in- 
cluded Lieutenant-Colonel  David  Torrance,  now  of 
the  supreme  court  of  errors;  the  late  Rev.  Edward 
W.  Bacon,  son  of  Dr.  Bacon  of  New  Haven;  and 
Captain  George  H.  Goodwin  of  the  Travelers  In- 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


203 


surance  Company.  After  remaining  at  Richmond 
for  a  few  days  after  the  capture  of  the  city  the 
Twenty-ninth  was  transferred  to  Texas,  reaching 
Brazos  de  Santiago  in  July,  1865.  Thence  the 
command  marched  to  Brownsville,  where  it  re- 
mained until  ordered  home  in  November.  The 
organization  was  paid  off  and  mii.stered  out  in 
Hartford,  Nov.  25,  1865.  Colonel  Wooster  re- 
turned to  his  home  in  Derby  and  resumed  the  prac- 
tice of  law.  He  is  a  prominent  member  of  the 
Grand  Army,  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connec- 
ticut, the  Society  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
of  the  Connecticut  Union  Prisoners'  Association. 
He  was  honored  with  the  position  of  assistant 
marshal  on  the  staff  of  General  Joseph  R.  Hawley 
Battle  Flag  Day,  Sept.  17,  1879,  an  occasion  of  un- 
surpassed military  interest  in  the  history  of  Con- 
necticut. But  it  is  not  for  the  service  alone  which 
Colonel  Wooster  rendered  during  the  war  that  he 
is  to  be  held  in  honor  by  his  fellow-citizens  of  the 
state.  Prior  to  the  war  he  had  won  place  and  dis- 
tinction in  the  public  service.  In  185S  he  was  a 
member  of  the  house  of  representatives  from  the 
town  of  Derby,  his  associates  in  that  body  includ- 
ing the  late  Governor  R.  D.  Hubbard  of  Hartford, 
Governor  Charles  R.  Ingersoll  and  the  Hon.  Hiram 
Camp  of  New  Haven,  ex-Congressman  Augustus 
Brandegee  of  New  London,  Robbins  Battellof  Nor- 
folk, A.  H.  Byington  of  The  Noriualk  Gazette, 
who  subsequently  proved  himself  one  of  the  most 
brilliant  of  war  correspondents;  A.  A.  Burnham  of 
"Windham,  who  occupied  the  position  of  speaker; 
the  Hon.  A.  P.  Hyde  of  Hartford,  and  the  Hon. 
Hezekiah  S.  Sheldon  of  Suffield.  In  1859  he  rep- 
resented the  old  Fifth  Senatorial  District  in  the 
senate,  his  colleagues  in  that  body  including  Judge 
Dwight  W.  Pardee  of  Hartford,  Judge  James 
Phelps,  and  the  Hon.  Hiram  Willey  of  East  Had- 
dani.  In  1861,  the  initial  year  of  the  war,  Colonel 
Wooster  was  again  a  member  of  the  house.  Ex- 
Congressman  Brandegee  was  elected  to  the  speaker- 
ship, while  on  the  floor  were  such  men  as  the  late 
Colonel  Henry  C.  Doming  of  Hartford,  Thomas 
H.  Seymour,  who  had  been  governor  of  the  state 
and  minister  at  St.  Petersburg;  Abijah  Catlin,  the 
late  Green  Kendrick  of  Waterbury,  and  Carnot  O. 
Spencer  of  the  school-fund  office.  The  legislative 
career  of  Colonel  Wooster  reflected  honor  on  the 
state.  In  politics  he  has  been  a  republican  from 
the  outset,  and  the  honesty  and  uprightness  of  his 
political  views  have  been  exemplified  in  every  step 
of  his  career.  He  believed  in  abolition,  and  led  his 
troops  with  the  idea  uppermost  in  mind  that  the 
war  would  result  in  the  extinction  of  slavery.  But 
it  required  great  moral  courage  not  less  than 
loyalty  to  one's  convictions,  to  assume  the  leader- 
ship of  a  regiment  of  colored  men  even  in  1864. 
All  honor  is  due  to  Colonel  Wooster  for  the  frank- 


ness and  manliness  of  his  course.  He  was  born  in 
Oxford,  Aug.  22,  1821,  and  received  a  common 
school  and  academic  education,  pursuing  the  latter 
course  at  the  South  Britain  Academy.  He  grad- 
uated from  the  Yale  Law  School  in  1846,  being  a 
classmate  of  Tilton  E.  Doolittle  of  New  Haven. 
He  is  at  present  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of 
Wooster,  Williams  &  Gager.  He  has  traveled  ex- 
tensively, spending  upwards  of  three  years  in 
Europe.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Jay 
A.  Wallace.  There  are  no  children  in  the  famih". 
Colonel  Wooster  was  formerly  paymaster-general 
of  the  state,  and  is  one  of  the  worthiest  citizens  of 
Connecticut. 


HON.  SAMUEL  A.  YORK,  New  Haven:  Attor- 

ney-at-Law. 

Samuel  A.  York  was  born  in  North  Stonington, 
May  25,  1839,  and  was  educated  in  the  Connecticut 
Literary  Institute  at  Suffield,  and  at  Yale  College, 
graduating  from  the  uni- 
versity in  the  class  of 
1863.  The  members  of 
his  class  included  Pro- 
fessor William  G.  Sum- 
ner, William  C.  Whitney, 
secretary  of  the  navy 
under  President  Cleve- 
land ;  General  E  r  a  s  t  u  s 
Blakeslee  of  the  first  Con- 
necticut Cavalr}-,  now  a 
prominent  divine  in  Mas- 
sachusetts; and  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Leander  T.  Chamber-  ^     .    ,.^„,. 

S.    A.    YORK. 

lain.       The   class  was   a 

brilliant  one  and  its  representatives  have  been  distin- 
guished throughout  the  country.  Judge  York  grad- 
uated from  the  Albany  Law  School  in  1864  and 
practiced  in  Michigan  for  three  years.  He  then  re- 
turned to  Connecticut  and  was  elected  clerk  of  the 
house  of  representatives  in  1873,  which  was  con- 
trolled by  the  democrats,  ex-United  States  Senator 
Eaton  of  Hartford  being  speaker.  In  1874  he  was 
elected  clerk  of  the  senate.  From  1867  to  1874  he 
occupied  an  editorial  position  on  the  iXeiu  Haven 
Register,  the  manager  and  proprietor  of  the  paper, 
the  late  Minot  A.  Osborn,  being  his  father-in-law. 
He  became  judge  of  probate  in  the  New  Haven 
district  July  4,  1876,  and  retained  the  position  until 
Jan.  I,  1887,  when  he  became  the  mayor  of  the 
city,  occupying  that  office  for  two  years.  Judge 
York  is  a  leading  democrat  in  New  Haven  county, 
and  is  a  gentleman  of  high  social  prominence.  His 
career  as  judge  of  one  of  the  most  important  pro- 
bate courts  in  the  state  was  characterized  by  the 
highest  sense  of  honor.  He  is  universally  honored 
in  the  city  where  he  resides. 


204 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    PC^PULAR 


BURTON    HAMILTON    MATTOON,     Water- 
town:  Merchant. 

B.  H.  Mattoon  is  a  native  of  Watertown,  Litch- 
field county,  Conn. ,  and  has  lived  there  from  in- 
fancy until  the  present  time.  He  was  born  Octo- 
ber 15,  1S50.  When  he 
became  of  age,  with  a 
thorough  education  ob- 
tained at  the  Watertown 
Academy  and  Stamford 
Seminary,  he  embarked 
in  mercantile  business  in 
his  native  town,  opening 
the  store  there  in  1871, 
which  he  still  owns  and 
manages.  In  1S75  he 
married  Miss  Estella  Min- 
erva Scott;  their  familj^ 
includes  six  children, 
three  sons  and  three 
daughters.  He  is  a  member  and  vestryman  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  and  a  Mason  of  high  degree. 
As  a  republican  he  has  held  the  offices  of  town 
clerk  and  treasurer  for  a  number  of  years,  also  clerk 
of  the  Center  School  district,  of  Watertown.  He  is 
now  town  clerk  and  treasurer,  as  well  as  registrar 
of  births,  marriages,  and  deaths. 


E.    H.   MATTOON. 


GEORGE  B.  EDMONDS,  Bridgeport:  Optician. 
George  B.  Edmonds,  collector  of  customs  at 
Bridgeport,  was  born  in  Torrington,  June  30,  1838, 
and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  South- 
bridge,  Mass.,  his  people 
removing  from  Connec- 
ticut when  he  was  but  a 
child.  He  established 
himself  in  business  in 
Bridgeport  in  1878,  as  a 
manufacturer  and  dealer 
in  optical  goods.  Prior  to 
that  period  he  had  resided 
in  Lowell,  Mass.,  Paw- 
tucket,  R.  I.,  and  at  Phil- 
adelphia. Collector  Ed- 
monds is  an  enthusiastic 
republican,  and  was  in- 
strumental in  organizing 
the  Bridgeport  republican  club.  He  has  been  on 
its  executive  committee  for  five  years,  and  is  a 
recognized  leader.  In  18S6  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  council  board  from  the  first  ward,  and  a 
member  of  the  board  of  aldermen  in  1SS7.  He  was 
appointed  collector  by  President  Harrison,  April  15, 
1890,  the  term  being  for  four  years.  His  first  year 
in  the  office  has  been  eminently  satisfactory,  the 
duties  of  the  place  being  discharged  with  the 
utmost  fidelity.     He  is  a  member  of  the  order  of 


G.   B.   EDMONDS. 


Odd  Fellows  in  Bridgeport,  and  is  a  man  of  excep- 
tional popularity  in  that  city.  His  family  consists 
of  a  wife  and  two  daughters.  The  former  was 
Miss  Mary  Hopper  of  Winsted,  prior  to  her  mar- 
riage. The  first  vote  of  Collector  Edmonds  was 
cast  for  President  Lincoln. 


S.    p.    WILLIAMS. 


S.  P.  WILLIAMS,  Plainville  :    Principal   of  the 
Graded  and  High  School. 

Schuyler  P.  Williams  is  one  of  the  most  success- 
ful public  school  instructors  in  this  state.  He  is 
the  president  of  the  Connecticut  State  Teachers' 
Association,  and  an  in- 
fluential member  of  the 
State  Council  of  Educa- 
tion. Seventeen  years  ago 
he  was  appointed  principal 
of  the  Plainville  Graded 
and  High  School,  and  has 
succeeded  in  making  it 
one  of  the  model  schools 
of  the  countriy.  When  he 
assumed  the  duties  of  the 
principalship  the  school 
had  no  regular  course  of 
study,  or  high  school 
grade,  and  only  five 
teachers.  Now  the  corps  of  instructors  has  been 
advanced  to  eight,  and  a  high  school  grade,  wdth  a 
complete  course  of  study,  established.  A  class  is 
graduated  each  year.  Formerly  the  pupils  pre- 
ferred to  go  elsewhere  and  complete  their  studies. 
Under  the  management  of  Mr.  Williams  the  town 
now  possesses  a  high  school  whose  graduates  have 
very  creditably  entered  Wellesley  and  other  colleges. 
In  1 888  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was  (jffered  the  prin- 
cipalship of  the  Meriden  High  School,  but  dechned 
the  position,  preferring  to  remain  at  the  head  of  the 
institution  in  which  the  best  work  of  his  hfe  has 
been  performed.  Mr.  Williams  prepared  for  col- 
lege at  the  Hudson  River  Institute,  a  militarj- 
school  at  Claverack,  and  became  a  colonel  of  bat- 
talion in  the  military  department.  He  entered 
Yale  in  i86g,  graduating  in  1873.  His  classmates 
included  Judge  Samuel  O.  Prentice  of  the  superior 
court,  Alderman  Atwood  Collins  of  this  city.  Prin- 
cipal A.  B.  Morrill  of  the  State  Normal  School  at 
Willimantic,  Frank  B.  Tarbell,  Gardiner  Greene, 
Jr.,  and  S.  T.  Dutton,  formerly  superintendent  of 
the  New  Haven  schools.  His  family  removed  to 
Southington  when  he  was  nine  years  of  age,  and 
his  home  was  in  that  town  during  his  collegiate 
career.  After  graduation  he  taught  for  one  year 
in  the  select  school  conducted  at  Granby  by  Rev. 
T.  D.  Murphy,  and  in  1875  was  called  to  the  posi- 
tion which  he  has  since  occupied.  He  is  an  in- 
fluential member  of  the  Plainville  Congregational 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


205 


church,  and  has  held  the  chairmanship  for  several 
years  of  the  society's  committee.  He  was  also 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  for  five  years. 
During  the  current  year  he  declined  a  unanimous 
re-election  to  the  superintendency  of  the  school, 
being  compelled  to  adopt  this  course  on  account  of 
increasing  duties  in  other  directions.  Mr.  Williams 
is  a  member  of  Friendship  Lodge,  No.  33,  F.  and 
A.  M.,  of  Southington.  His  family  consists  of  a 
wife  and  daughter,  the  former  being  Miss  Josephine 
E.  Woodruff  of  Southington  prior  to  her  marriage. 
The  daughter  is  Miss  Martha  J.  Williams.  In 
politics  Principal  Williams  is  a  republican.  He  is 
secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Plainville  Cemetery 
Water  Company,  and  as  a  citizen  of  the  town  is 
held  in  the  highest  esteem. 


NELSON  MORSE,  North  Woodstock:  Farmer. 
Nelson  Morse  was  born  in  East  Woodstock,  May 
3,  1818,  being  now  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his 
age.  He  is  a  descendant  in  the  eighth  generation 
from  Anthony  Morse,  who 
emigrated  to  this  country 
from  England  and  settled 
in  Newbury,  Mass.,  in 
1635.  To  this  same  line 
belonged  also  Jedediah 
Morse,  author  of  the  well- 
known  Morse  Geography, 
and  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse, 
inventor  of  the  telegraph. 
Nelson  Morse  lived  at 
home  on  his  father's  farm 
until  he  was  seventeen 
years  of  age,  when  he 
left  the  farm  and  learned 
the  trade  of  blacksmithing  and  general  carriage 
ironwork.  He  followed  the  business  of  country 
smithing  several  years,  manufactured  carriages  and 
wagons  in  company  with  L.  M.  Dean,  in  1840  and 
1841,  and  for  a  short  time  afterwards  alone.  He 
changed  his  business  later  to  that  of  carriage  spring 
making,  which  he  carried  on  until  1866  when  he  re- 
turned to  farming,  in  which  occupation  he  has  since 
been  engaged.  His  early  education  was  such  as 
the  common  schools  of  his  native  town  afforded, 
and  his  entire  life  has  for  the  most  part  been  spent 
in  North  Woodstock.  Mr.  Morse  is  at  present  liv- 
ing with  his  third  wife,  who  before  her  marriage 
was  Miss  Lucia  A.  Bass;  his  first  wife,  Pamelia 
Lyon,  and  his  second,  Jane  Carey,  both  being  de- 
ceased. There  are  three  children  living,  Sidney 
Nelson,  who  graduated  at  Yale  L^niversity  in  the 
class  of  1890,  Anna  Clift,  and  Henry  Waldo.  He  is 
a  republican  in  politics,  and  has  held  the  offices  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  selectman,  county  commis- 
sioner, and  representative  in  the  state  legislature. 


NEI.SO.X     MOKSE. 


In  religious  matters  Mr.  Morse  is  a  Congregation- 
alist,  and  a  member  of  the  Third  Ecclesiastical 
society  of  North  Woodstock. 


L.  J.  NICKERSOX,  Cornwall:  Attorney-at-Law. 
Leonard  J.  Xickerson  was  born  at  Cornwall,  Oc- 
tober 23,  1857.  After  leaving  the  Alger  Institute, 
in  Cornwall,  where  he  acquired  his  education,  he 
taught  school  for  several 
3'ears  and  studied  1  a  w 
with  Hon.  A.  D.  Warner, 
then  of  Cornwall.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar 
April  22,  1879,  a  few 
months  after  becoming 
twenty-one  years  of  age. 
He  entered  at  once  into 
the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  Cornwall,  and  was 
admitted  to  practice  in  the 
United  States  courts  in 
April,  1882.  From  that 
time  on  he  has  devoted 
his  time  almost  exclusively  to  his  legal  business 
Mr.  Nickerson  is  a  republican,  and  as  such  has 
been  called  to  fill  various  public  offices.  He  repre- 
sented Cornwall  in  the  state  legislature  in  1883,  and 
drafted  the  temperance  law  which  was  passed  by  the 
general  assembly  of  that  year.  He  was  secretary 
of  the  Cornwall  board  of  education  for  nine  j^ears, 
and  has  held  other  positions  of  public  trust. 


L.    J.    NICKER-SON. 


COMFORT    S.    BURLINGAME,    Canterbury  : 

Agent  Brooklyn  Creamery. 

Comfort  Starr  Burlingame  has  been  a  member  of 
the  general  assembly  through  three  sessions,  his 
first  term  occurring  in  1879.  He  was  returned  for 
the  consecutive  sessions 
of  18S7  and  1889.  His 
colleagues  from  AVindham 
county  in  1879  were  ex- 
vSpeaker  E.  H.  Bugbee  of 
Killingly,  Clark  E.  Bar- 
rows of  Eastford,  at  pres- 
ent deput}-  United  States 
marshal  for  eastern  Con- 
necticut, Randolph  H. 
Chandler  of  Thompson, 
Charles  P.  Grosvenor  of 
Pomfret,  William  C.  Jill- 
son  and  John  L.  Hunter 
of  Windham,  and  Colonel 

Wm.  E.  Hyde  of  Killingly,  who  served  as  aid-de- 
camp on  the  staff  of  Gov.  Henr\-  B.  Harrison. 
Windham  county  has  not  often  been  represented 
by  a  finer  group  of  men.     Mr.  Burlingame  was  ap- 


BURLINGAME. 


206 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


pointed  on  the  committee  on  manufactures,  at  the 
head  of  which  was  Congressman  Frederick  Miles, 
then  a  state  senator  from  Litchfield  county.  His 
services  have  been  of  a  valuable  character  in  the 
legislature.  In  politics  he  is  a  democrat.  He  has 
for  fourteen  years  been  school  visitor  in  his 
town,  and  is  connected  with  the  Unitarian 
church.  He  is  the  agent  of  the  Brooklyn  Cream- 
ery and  a  director  of  the  Windham  County  Na- 
tional Bank  and  Insurance  Company.  He  is  also 
associated  with  the  Grange.  He  was  born  at  Canter- 
bury, Jan.  5,  1853,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  Formerly  he  was  engaged  in  teaching. 
Most  of  his  life  has  been  spent  in  Canterbury.  He 
is  unmarried. 


G.   R.   WARNER. 


REV.   GEORGE  RUSSELL  WARNER,    Hart- 
ford :  Rector  St.  Thomas  Episcopal  Church. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Ellington, 
Conn.,  March  22,  183S,  and  is  a  son  of  Dan  War- 
ner   and    Mary    E.    (Chaffee)   Warner.      He   was 
reared    on     his     father's 
farm,  a  portion  of  which 
had  been  in  the  Warner 
family    for    two    genera- 
tions. 

His  great-grandfather 
on  his  mother's  side  was  a 
soldier  in  the  war  of  the 
American  Revolution;  he 
enlisted  in  Colonel  Meigs' 
regiment,  and  took  part 
in  the  capture  of  Stony 
Point,  where  he  was 
wounded.  His  grand- 
father was  in  the  LTnited 
States  service  in  the  Florida  war.  Like  all  farmer 
boys  of  his  time,  Mr.  Warner  received  his  primary 
education  in  the  district  school,  and  at  the  age  of 
seventeen  entered  the  Ellington  High  School,  which 
for  many  years  was  celebrated  as  a  college  prepara- 
tory. Later  on  he  began  teaching  in  his  native 
town,  continuing  his  studies  with  the  view  of  enter- 
ing college.  In  1858,  he  married  Miss  Sarah  M. 
Hyde,  and,  as  the  fruit  of  that  union,  there  are 
living  three  sons  and  three  daughters.  In  1862,  he 
enlisted  in  the  Twenty-fifth  Regiment,  Connecticut 
Volunteers,  serving  the  full  time  of  the  rfegiment, 
and  was  regularly  mustered  out  in  August,  1863. 
Returning  to  his  native  town,  he  resumed  teaching, 
and  finally  took  charge  of  the  Ellington  High 
School,  where  he  remained  until  1871,  when  he  was 
called  to  the  charge  of  the  CoUinsville  High  School 
at  CoUinsville,  Conn.,  and,  after  nearly  three  years 
service,  severed  his  connection  to  accept  an  appoint- 
ment from  the  American  Missionary  Association, 
as  an  instructor  in  Tougaloo  University,  in  the  state 


of  Mississippi.  In  1S75,  he  was  ordained  a  Congre- 
gational minister,  occasionally  supplying  the  pulpit 
in  his  native  town  and  elsewhere.  The  same  year 
he  was  elected  principal  of  the  graded  and  high 
school  at  West  Stratford  (now  East  Bridgeport), 
and  continued  in  charge  six  years.  While  located 
at  West  Stratford,  he  entered  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal church,  and,  in  addition  to  his  duties  as 
teacher,  became  assistant  to  Rev.  N.  S.  Richard- 
son, D.D.,  rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church  at  Bridge- 
port. In  1880  he  was  ordained  deacon,  and  in 
October,  1881,  was  called  to  St.  Peter's  parish  in 
the  town  of  Monroe,  Conn.,  and  there  ordained 
priest  in  1882.  After  nearly  three  years  service  he 
was  called  to  the  charge  of  St.  Albans'  church  at 
Danielsonville,  Conn.  After  five  years  of  remark- 
ably successful  work,  by  which  St.  Albans'  was 
greatly  strengthened  and  built  up,  he  was  elected 
rector  of  St.  Thomas'  parish,  Hartford,  Conn., 
where  he  now  resides.  His  ministrations  have 
been  abundantly  successful  here.  During  the  first 
two  years  of  his  rectorship,  one  hundred  and  twelve 
members  were  added  to  the  church,  of  whom  eighty 
were  confirmed,  and  thirty-two  were  received  by 
letters  of  transfer. 

During  his  ministerial  life  he  has  been  activel}- 
identified  with  the  cause  of  education.  Before  leav- 
ing his  native  town  he  served  three  years  as  chair- 
man of  the  school  board,  and  school  visitor,  and 
while  rector  in  Danielsonville  he  was  elected  chair- 
man of  the  board  of  education,  and  served  as 
special  visitor  of  the  high  school. 

Being  of  a  social  and  generous  nature,  he  natur- 
ally has  sought  and  found  companionship  within 
the  lines  of  the  Masonic  brotherhood,  where 
he  has  won  the  friendship  and  confidence  of 
the  craft  wherever  he  is  known.  He  was  made 
a  Mason  in  Fayette  Lodge,  No.  69,  at  Rock- 
ville  soon  after  his  return  from  the  war,  and 
while  located  at  Danielsonville  transferred  his 
membership  to  Moriah  Lodge,  No.  15,  and  since 
has  affiliated  with  St.  John's  Lodge,  No.  4,  at 
Hartford.  He  also  became  a  member  of  Warren 
Chapter,  No.  12,  and  Montgomery  Council,  No.  2, 
at  Danielsonville,  and  in  these  bodies  held  some  of 
the  most  important  offices.  He  has  also  served 
several  terms  as  grand  chaplain  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  Connecticut.  March  27,  1891,  he  was  knighted 
in  Washington  Commandery,  No.  i.  Knights  Tem- 
plar at  Hartford.  These  fraternities  he  holds  in 
high  esteem,  for  here  he  has  found  much  to  assist 
in  strengthening  the  better  elements  of  his  nature 
and  stimulating  the  mind  to  more  active  service  in 
the  cause  of  humanity  and  in  the  service  of  the 
Divine  Master.  There  are  richly  blended  in  Mr. 
Warner's  composition  the  elements  of  a  character 
that  fit  him  for  successful  labor  in  his  profession, 
possessing,  as  he  does,  abundant  zeal  and  tact,  a 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


207 


kind,  genial,  and  compassionate  spirit,  with  ear- 
nestness in  causes  that  he  may  espouse,  that  inspires 
confidence  and  reaches  the  great  heart  of  humanity. 
In  fact  he  lives  among  men,  striving  by  his  teach- 
ing and  example  to  lift  humanity  to  a  higher  and 
better  sphere,  depending, 

"  Not  by  the  helplessness  of  men  — 
But  by  the  strength  that  God  supplies, 
And  sends  in  mercy  from  the  skies." 

Mr.  Warner  is  also  a  member  of  Charter  Oak 
Lodge,  No.  2,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  Robert  O.  Tyler  Post, 
No.  50,  G.  A.  R.,  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of 
Connecticut,  and  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution. 

J.    K.    \v. 


M.    LANDERS. 


GEORGE  M.  LANDERS,  New  Briiain  :  Vice- 
President  "  Landers,  Frary  &  Clark." 
George  M.  Landers,  son  of  Capt.  Marcellus  Lan- 
ders, and  grandson  of  Capt.  Asahel  Landers  (the 
latter  having  served  for  two  years  in  the  Revolution- 
ary war,  and  having  been 
with  Gen.  Wayne  at  the 
capture  of  Stony  Point), 
was  born  at  Lenox,  Mass. , 
February  22,  1813. 

In  Camp's  History  of 
New  Britain  we  find  the 
following  sketch  :  "In 
1820  he  came  to  Hartford 
with  his  father,  who  for 
several  years  was  a  teach- 
er in  that  city.  He  re- 
mained in  Hartford  until  '"' 
his  father's  death  in  1824, 
when  he  returned  to  Len- 
ox to  live  with  his  grandfather.  He  came  to  New 
Britain  at  sixteen  years  of  age  and  learned  the  car- 
penter's trade,  but  speedily  engaged  in  manufac- 
turing, and  in  due  time  incorporated  his  business, 
which  corporation  now  exists  under  the  style  of 
Landers,  Frary  &  Clark,  of  which  he  was  president 
until  he  retired  from  active  business  in  1870.  He 
is  still  a  director  and  the  vice-president  of  this  com- 
pany, and  a  director  and  the  president  of  the  New 
Britain  Gas  Company.  He  was  for  many  years  a 
director  of  the  New  Britain  National  Bank,  resign- 
ing to  accept  his  appointment  as  bank  commis- 
sioner. He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the 
New  Britain  Bank,  of  the  gas  company,  the  New 
Britain  and  Middletown  Railroad,  and  the  New 
Britain  Institute,  all  of  which  received  special  char- 
ters from  the  general  assembly.  He  has  for  many 
years  been  a  director  in  the  New  York  &  New  Eng- 
land Railroad  Company.  He  has  been  identified 
with  most  of  the  important  measures  of  progress  in 
the  town  and  city  of  New  Britain  since  their  incor- 


poration. He  was  one  of  the  water  commissioners 
when  water  was  introduced  into  the  borough,  and 
was  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  board  of 
sewer  commissioners,  remaining  in  oflfice  until  the 
principal  trunk  sewers  were  constructed.  He 
served  for  several  j-ears  on  the  school  committee. 
He  has  several  times  been  elected  to  the  general 
assembly  as  a  democrat,  being  a  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives  in  1851,  1867,  and  1S74, 
and  of  the  senate  in  1853,  1869,  and  1S73.  At  this 
time  Hartford,  West  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  Rocky 
Hill,  Berlin,  New  Britain,  and  Southington  were 
included  in  the  first  senatorial  district.  Mr.  Lan- 
ders was  chairman  of  the  committee  that  changed 
the  original  plans  for  the  state  capitol  to  those  of 
the  present  building.  He  was  elected  to  congress 
in  1 8  74,  and  again  in  1876,  being  a  member  of  the 
forty-fourth  and  forty-fifth  congresses.  He  has 
twice  been  appointed  state  bank  commissioner,  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  having  charge  of  the 
erection  of  the  normal  school  building,  and  has 
been  called  to  other  offices,  in  all  of  which  he  has 
done  much  to  advance  the  interests  of  New  Britain 
and  of  the  state." 


^'''•'S^ 


ALBERT  H.  BOND,  Hartford:  Life  Insurance. 
A.  H.  Bond,  who  for  more  than  a  score  of  years 
has  represented  the  ^Massachusetts  Mutual  Life  In- 
surance Company  of  Springfield,  as  its  Connecticut 
general  agent,  was  born  in 
AVilmington,  3Iass.,  Oct. 
14,  1834.  At  the  age  of 
nine  his  father's  fam- 
ily moved  to  Colchester  in 
this  state,  and  three  years 
later  to  Springfield,  at 
which  two  last-named 
places,  and  at  Andover, 
Mass.,  his  education  was 
acquired.  Returning  to 
Wilmington  he  was  en- 
gaged for  a  number  of 
years  with  his  father  in  the  ,,^x., 

A.    H .   BON O. 

Avholesale  cracker  busi- 
ness; and  in  1S65  he  entered  life  insurance,  which  has 
since  engrossed  his  attention.  He  spent  three  years 
in  Springfield  in  life  insurance,  representing  a  New 
York  company,  and  in  1868  settled  in  Hartford, 
where  he  established  an  office  and  has  maintained 
the  general  agency  since  to  the  present  time.  In 
1S64  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  A.  Walker  of 
Wakefield,  Mass.  They  have  one  daughter,  Miss 
^Marion  Walker  Bond,  a  graduate  of  the  Hartford 
public  high  school  in  the  class  of  '85. 

Mr.  Bond  is  an  ardent  reijublican,  having  been 
a  member  of  that  party  since  its  formation.  Though 
positive  in  his  convictions  and  earnest  in  his  sup- 


208 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


port  of  the  principles  and  candidates  of  his  party, 
he  has  declined  to  accept  political  office  of  any  kind, 
gi\-ing  his  entire  attention  to  business  and  the  ordi- 
nary duties  of  private  life.  He  is  an  attendant  at 
the  Park  church. 


C.    SKINNER 


COL.  WILLIAM  C.  SKINNER,  Hartford:  Aid- 
de-Camp  on  staff  of  Gov.  Morgan  G.  Bulkeley, 
1SS9-90. 

William  C.  Skinner  was  born  in  Malone,  N.  Y., 
January  26,  1855.  He  has  resided  in  Hartford  since 
1S72.  in  which  year  he  entered  Trinity  College, 
graduating  in  1876.  The 
two  winters  following  he 
^^^^^  attended   lectures  at   the 

I  '  ^'^^^H  Albany  Law  School.     In 

%^B^»-''''''''''^rlw»  ^^79  ^®  became  a   mem- 

F«^  ,';'.7  ber  of  the  extensive  wool 

firm  of  Dwight,  Skin- 
ner &  Co.,  Hartford, 
which  connection  he  still 
retains.  He  is  a  ver\' 
•wpular  and  able  busi- 
ness man.  Colonel  Skin- 
ner is  a  director  in  sev- 
eral of  the  life  and  fire 
insurance  companies, 
financial  institutions,  and  minor  corporations  of 
Hartford.  His  wife,  a  lady  of  many  accomplish- 
ments, is  the  daughter  of  Mr.  Ebenezer  Roberts, 
one  of  Hartford's  most  esteemed  citizens. 

Among  the  j'oung  business  men  of  the  capital 
city  there  is  none  who  gives  promise  of  a  more 
useful  or  brilliant  career  than  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  

BYRON  LOOMIS,  Suffield: 

Mr.  Loomis  w^as  born  in  Suffield,  May  2.  1S31,  in 
which  town  his  entire  life  has  been  spent.  His 
early  mental  training  was  received  in  the  public 
schools,  from  which  he 
passed  to  the  Connecticut 
Literary  Institute  of  Suf- 
field, where  his  education 
was  completed.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-three  he 
married  Miss  Elizabeth 
B.  Cowles,  daughter  of 
the  late  Stephen  Cowles, 
Esq.,  of  Suffield,  who 
has  borne  him  four  chil- 
dren, of  whom  three  still 
survive  —  one  son  and 
two  daughters.  Mr.  Loo- 
mis has  been  president  of 
the  First  National  Bank  of  Suffield,  sustaining  that 
i-elation  for  several  years;  he  was  also  president  of 
the  Suffield  Savings  Bank  for  a  similar  period.    He 


was  chosen  a  director  of  the  Hartford  &  Connecti- 
cut Western  Railroad  Company  at  the  first  meeting 
of  the  stockholders  of  the  corporation,  continuing 
such  until  the  re-organization  of  the  company  in 
1878.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Suffield  Congrega- 
tional church,  of  which  he  was  treasurer  and  socie- 
ty's committee  for  some  years.  Among  the  local 
offices  which  he  has  held  the  most  important  are 
those  of  selectman  and  town  treasurer.  He  has  led 
a  life  of  great  activity  and  usefulness,  and  has  been 
connected  with  various  enterprises  which  have 
called  for  the  exercise  of  mature  judgment  and  ex- 
ecutive sagacity.  As  member  of  various  building 
committees  he  has  aided  in  the  planning  and  erec- 
tion of  many  of  the  public  edifices  of  Suffield,  and 
has  thus  aided  by  word  and  work  in  beautifying 
and  practically  benefiting  his  native  town.  Mr. 
Loomis  is  held  in  high  esteem  by  his  fellow-towns- 
men as  an  upright  and  honorable  gentleman  and  a 
useful  citizen. 


KVRdN    LOOMIS. 


HON.      MORRIS     WOODRUFF      SEYMOUR, 
Bridgeport:    Attorney-at-Law. 
Morris  W.  Seymour,  son  of  the  late  Hon.  Origen 
S.  Seymour  of  Litchfield,  was  born  in  that  town,  Oc- 
tober 6,  1842.     Graduating  from  Yale  College  in  the 
class  of  1866,  he  acquired 
a  thorough   legal   educa- 
tion at  the  Columbia  Law 
School  of  New  York,  and 
began  the  practice  of  the 
legal  profession  at  Bridge- 
port in  the  fall  of  1868,  in 
which   city   he   has  since 
resided.     In   1870  he  was 
^    elected  assistant  judge  of 
the  Bridgeport  city  court, 
and   was   also    appointed 
that  year  on  the  stai?  of 
Governor  James  E.  Eng- 

M.     W.    SEY.MOUR.  ^.^^^      ^^,.^^      ^^^      ^^^^     ^£ 

colonel.  The  following  year  he  was  chosen  city 
clerk  of  Bridgeport,  and  in  1S72  and  1S73  held  the 
offices  of  city  att(jrney  and  corporation  counsel. 
He  was  appointed  a  United  States  commissioner  in 
1871,  and  held  the  position  until  his  resignation  in 
18S0,  to  accept  the  office  of  state  senator,  to  which 
he  was  chosen  in  the  fall  election  of  that  year.  He 
served  with  distinguished  credit  in  the  upper  house 
through  the  sessions  of  1881  and  1882,  being  chair- 
man of  two  important  joint  committees,  and  a  mem- 
ber of  the  senate  committee  on  contested  elections. 
In  every  public  position  to  which  Mr.  Seymour  has 
been  called  to  serve  his  city  or  the  state  he  has  dis- 
charged its  duties  with  marked  abiUty  and  a  con- 
scientious regard  for  the  interests  of  his  constituents 
and  the  commonwealth. 

In  his  legal  practice  Mr.  Seymour  is  in  partner- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


209 


ship  with  Howard  H.  Knapp,  under  the  firm  name 
of  Seymour  &  Knapp,  taking  rank  among  the  lead- 
ing law  firms  of  Bridgeport.  Personally  he  has  a 
great  love  for  his  profession,  in  which  he  has 
always  been  an  earnest  and  persistent  worker.  He 
is  the  author  of  the  present  method  of  pardoning 
and  commuting  the  sentence  of  prisoners  in  this 
state,  —  a  system  that  has  been  commended  as  the 
best  in  the  country  by  people  who  have  investigated 
the  subject,  and  which  has  in  substance  been  copied 
by  other  states.  His  practice  is  such  that  he  is  quite 
actively  engaged  in  the  United  States  courts,  in 
patent  and  admiralty  causes;  and  such  time  as  he 
can  command  from  the  business  activities  of  his 
profession  is  fully  occupied  in  those  diversions 
which  attend  his  position  as  a  law  lecturer  at  Yale 
University,  a  director  in  the  Connecticut  Industrial 
School  for  Girls,  and  in  the  exacting  duties  of  do- 
mestic and  social  life. 

Mr.  Seymour  is  a  gentleman  of  many  pleasing 
-accomplishments,  an  able  and  honorable  lawyer, 
and  a  jjatriotic  citizen.  As  such  he  posses.ses  the 
esteem  of  a  large  circle  of  associates  and  personal 
friends. 

DeWITT    C.     BRADLEY,    Weston:     Manufac- 
turer of  Edge  Tools. 

Representative  DeWitt  C.  Bradley,  who  was 
elected  to  the  general  assembly  for  the  third  con- 
secutive term  by  the  republicans  of  Weston,  in 
November,  1S90,  is  en- 
gaged in  the  manufactur- 
ing business,  being  con- 
nected with  the  lirm  of 
G.  W.  Bradley's  vSons. 
This  company  has  an 
established  reputation  for 
edge  tools,  and  carries  on 
a  prosperous  and  exten- 
sive business.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was 
born  in  Weston,  Dec.  26, 
1846,  and  received  a  com- 
mon school  and  academic 
education.  He  spent  two 
years  in  the  regular  army, 
ley  is  a  member  of  Temple  Lodge,  No.  65,  F.  and 
A.  M.,  of  Westport,  Clinton  Commandery,  No.  3, 
Knights  Templar,  and  Washington  Chapter,  No.  24, 
R.  A.  M . ,  of  Norwalk.  His  wife  was  Miss  Emma  J . 
Sherwood  prior  to  marriage.  There  are  no  children  in 
the  family.  Mr.  Bradley  has  added  extensively  to 
his  circle  of  friends  and  acquaintances  during  the 
three  sessions  in  which  he  has  been  in  the  legisla- 
ture. He  was  first  elected  in  1S86,  making  his  first 
appearance  as  a  member  in  the  capitol  in  1887. 
His  three  terms  have  been  marked  with  able  and 
conscientious  service  as  a  legislator. 


D.   W.   C.   UR.'\DI.EV. 


Representative  Brad- 


CHARLES  O.  WARREN,  Eastford:  Town  Clerk 

and  Treasurer. 

Charles  Orville  Warren  was  bom  in  Vernon ,  July 
7,  1 85 1,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools, 
and  the  Franklin  academy  at  Somerville,  Mass.  In 
1 88 5  he  was  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representa- 
tives from  Eastford,  serv- 
ing on  the  republican  side 
during  the  session.  For 
the  past  three  years  he  has 
been  the  secretary  and 
treasurer  of  the  Eastford 
creamery  corporation,  and 
chairman  for  eight  years 
of  the  republican  town 
committee.  As  a  business 
and  pubHc  man  he  is 
highly  esteemed  in  the 
community  where  he  re- 
sides. He  is  a  member  of 
of  South  Woodstock,  and  has  been  advanced  in  the 
order  to  the  Royal  Arch  degrees.  Mr.  Warren  is 
an  attendant  of  the  Congregational  church.  His 
wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Mary  Lyon  Sum- 
ner, daughter  of  Increase  I.  Sumner  of  Illinois. 
There  are  two  children  —  William  Sumner  and  S. 
Florence  Warren. 


C.    O.    WARREN. 


Putnam  Lodge,  No.  46 


JAMES  HENRY  BEARD,  Shelton. 

J.  H.  Beard  was  born  in  that  portion  of  the  town 
of  Huntington  known  as  the  Long  Hill  District, 
January  16,  1839.  He  received  a  common  school 
and  academic  education, 
being  chiefly  engaged 
during  his  minoritj-  upon 
his  father's  farm.  Since 
becoming  of  age  most  of 
his  time  has  been  spent  in 
manufacturing  and  mer- 
cantile pursuits  in  his  na- 
tive town,  where  he  has 
always  resided.  He  has 
dealt  quite  largely  in  real 
estate,  has  been  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of 
fancy  wood  brackets,  and 
during  1868  he  erected 
and  occupied  as  a  grocery  the  first  store  in  the 
village  of  Shelton.  He  has  been  honored  by  his 
native  town  with  most  of  the  positions  of 
public  trust  within  their  power  to  bestow,  having 
served  them  as  constable,  selectman,  member 
of  the  board  of  relief,  registrar  of  electors,  town 
agent,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  town  auditor, 
covering  a  period  of  about  a  quarter  of  a  century. 
He  represented  the  town  in  the  general  assembly  in 


J.    H.    BEARD. 


2IO 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


1883,  and  is  now  a  burgess  of  the  Borough  of  Shel- 
ton.  His  reHgious  connections  are  with  the  Con- 
gregational church  of  Birmingham,  and  his  poHtical 
affiUations  are  with  the  democratic  party.  He  was 
married,  October  6,  1868,  to  Miss  Emily  Elizabeth 
Hurd  of  Monroe,  who  died  January  28,  1888,  leav- 
ing one  child,  a  daughter,  Helen  Willard  Beard. 
He  was  married  to  his  present  wife,  Miss  Margaret 
Elizabeth  Blue,  of  the  city  of  Defiance,  Ohio, 
September  9,  1S89. 


J.    E.    SCANLAN. 


JOHN   E.  SCANLAN,   Harti-ord:    Editor  "The 
Connecticut  Catholic,"  and  Lawyer. 
Probably  no  young  man  in  the  state,  during  the 
past  few  years,  has  been  more  active  and  influen- 
tial in  the  democratic  party  than  John  E.  Scanlan 
of  Hartford.    He  is  famil- 
i  ar  with  the  best  methods 
of  honest  political  work, 
is  acquainted   with   the 
leading  men  of   both   of 
the   great   political    par- 
ties, and  enjoys   the   re- 
spect and    confldence   of 
them  all. 

Mr.  Scanlan  was  repre- 
sentative from  Hartford 
in  the  legislatures  of  1886 
and  1887  —  the  last  of  the 
annual  sessions  and  the 
first  of  the  biennial  terms. 
Both  years  he  was  on  the  important  committee  of 
incorporations,  and  also  chairman  respectively  of 
forfeited  rights  and  woman  suffrage.  He  was 
prominent  in  forwarding  reformatory  legislation, 
and  in  advocating  the  rights  of  the  workingman. 
The  high  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  col- 
leagues was  manifested  on  many  occasions.  Every 
report  made  by  him  each  year  was  adopted  by  the 
republican  majority.  The  young  legislator  was 
elected  county  auditor  by  the  Hartford  county  sen- 
ators and  representatives,  and  the  legislature  also 
elected  him  state  auditor  each  year.  He  thus  served 
the  county  four  terms  and  the  state  three  years, 
owing  to  the  recent  change  in  the  constitution  of 
the  state.  He  was  appointed  clerk  during  the  or- 
ganization of  the  house  of  '86.  He  has  been  grand 
juror  and  justice  of  the  peace  several  years,  and  a 
member  of  the  board  of  school  visitors  since  No- 
vember, 1886. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  of  Irish  par- 
ents, in  Simsbury,  Hartford  county,  this  state.  May 
22,  1858,  during  a  mixture  of  weather  of  hail,  rain, 
and  snow.  He  was  educated  in  the  district  school 
there;  in  St.  Peter's  parochial  school,  Hartford;  St. 
Charles  College,  Ellicott  City,  Md. ;  and  Niagara 
L'^^niversity,  Suspension  Bridge,  N.  Y.,  from  which 
last-named  institution  he  graduated  in   1S77.     He 


has  lived  in  Hartford  since  1869,  when  his  parents 
moved  there.  Immediately  after  graduation  he 
began  to  study  law  in  the  office  of  Hyde  &  Joslyn, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Hartford  county  bar  three 
years  later.  After  practicing  his  profession  for  a 
time,  he  became  connected  with  his  brother,  M.  F., 
in  the  publication  of  The  Connecticut  Catholic, 
and  has  been  editor  of  that  able  and  influential  pa- 
per since  November,  1882. 

In  society  affairs  Mr.  Scanlan  has  been  promi- 
nent. He  was  grand  knight  of  Green  Cross  Coun- 
cil, Knights  of  Columbus,  two  years,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  government  of  the  order,  and 
attended  all  the  conventions  for  the  past  six  years. 
He  was  president  of  the  2d  division,  Ancient  Order 
of  Hibernians,  two  terms,  and  has  been  county  del- 
egate since  May,  1888.  He  was  a  delegate  to  the 
national  convention  of  this  order,  held  in  Hartford 
in  May,  iSgo,  and  was  chairman  of  the  local  gen- 
eral committees  of  arrangement  and  entertainment. 
He  was  a  delegate  from  the  Connecticut  Weekly 
Press  Association  to  the  National  Editorial  Associ- 
ation conventions  in  Boston,  June  24-27,  1890,  and 
in  St.  Paul,  July  14-17,  1891.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Catholic  Press  Association  of  the  United  States. 
He  was  one  of  the  three  delegates,  appointed  by 
Bishop  McMahon,  who  represented  this  state  in  the 
first  Catholic  congress  of  America,  held  in  Balti- 
more, November  11  and  12,  1889.  Mr.  Scanlan  is 
intensely  American,  and  believes  the  government 
of  the  L^nited  States  is  the  best  in  existence.  He  is 
glad  to  feel  that  our  system  of  popular  government 
is  a  beacon-light  of  freedom  and  liberty  to  all  the 
nations  of  the  world. 


HON.  EDWARD  BUTLER  DUNBAR,  Bristol: 
State  Senator;  Manufacturer. 
Edward  B.  Dunbar  was  born  in  Bristol,  Novem- 
ber I,  1842.  He  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion at  home,  and  finished  his  studies  at  Williston 
Seminary,  East  Hamp- 
ton, Mass.,  on  the  com- 
pletion of  which,  in  the 
spring  of  1S60,  he  went 
to  New  York  city,  and 
engaged  in  the  manufac- 
ture of  hoop  skirts.  After 
remaining  there  five  years 
he  returned  to  his  native 
place,  where  he  has  since 
been  engaged  in  the  man- 
ufacture of  clock  springs 
and  small  springs,  under 
the  firm  name  of  Dunbar 
Brothers.  Mr.  Dunbar 
early  took  great  interest  in  politics,  and  has  been 
an  active  worker  in  the  democratic  party  since  he 
became  a  voter.     He  has  been  grand  juror,  and  is 


E.    K.    DUNHAR. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


211 


now,  as  he  has  been  continuously,  for  the  last 
eighteen  years,  registrar  of  voters;  has  been  on 
democratic  town  committee  for  the  past  twenty 
years,  and  chairman  for  the  last  six  years.  He  is 
chairman  of  the  board  of  fire  commissioners,  a 
jjosition  he  has  held  for  the  last  eight  years, 
always  taking  great  interest  in  the  fire  department 
and  its  efficiency.  He  is  chairman  of  the  High 
School  committee,  and  has  been  since  the  institu- 
tion was  first  established;  and  is  a  member  of  the 
third  school  district  committee.  He  has  always 
been  a  strong  friend  of  educational  interests,  as  his 
course  in  town  meetings  and  his  speeches  in  public 
meetings  will  testify.  He  has  been  a  director  in 
the  Bristol  National  Bank  since  it  was  established 
in  1875;  is  at  present  a  director  in  the  Bristol  Sav- 
ings Bank;  is  vice-pre.sident  of  the  Bristol  board  of 
trade;  and  was  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Chris- 
tian Association  four  years,  ending  in  October, 
iSgo.  Mr.  Dunbar's  legislative  experience  consists 
of  two  terms  as  member  of  the  house,  and  two 
terms  in  the  senate;  having  been  first  elected  to 
the  house  in  1869,  and  again  in  1881;  and  to  the 
senate  in  1884,  and  re-elected  in  1886;  on  both  of 
these  occasions  running  more  than  one  hundred 
ahead  of  the  state  ticket,  in  his  own  toAvn.  In 
fact,  he  has  never  yet  been  defeated  when  placed 
before  the  people  for  their  suffrages.  His  legisla- 
tive record  gave  great  satisfaction  to  his  constitu- 
ents. Possessed  of  warm  SA^mpathy  for  working 
men,  he  looked  well  to  their  interests.  He  was  one 
of  the  most  earnest  advocates  of  the  weekly  pay- 
ment law,  and  inaugurated  the  system  in  his  own 
factory  before  the  law  was  passed.  In  1890  his 
name  was  mentioned  with  others  as  a  possible  can- 
didate for  congressional  honors,  but  he  peremptori- 
ly refused  its  use  by  his  friends,  as  his  private 
business  requires  all  his  time.  Mr.  Dunbar  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church  of  Bristol, 
and  has  been  chairman  of  the  society's  cornmittee 
at  different  times;  is  also  a  member  of  the  Bristol 
Club,  a  social  organization. 

Mr.  Dunbar  was  married  in  1875  to  Alice,  daugh- 
ter of  Mr.  Watson  Giddings,  carriage  maker,  of 
Bristol.  They  have  one  daughter.  Marguerite, 
eleven  years  old;  and  one  son,  Edward  Giddings, 
two  years  old.  His  father,  the  late  Edward  L. 
Dunbar,  was  in  former  years  a  prominent  manu- 
facturer of  Bristol,  and  was  elected  representative 
in  1862.  He  established  the  business  now  carried 
on  by  the  subject  of  this  sketch  and  an  older 
brother,  Winthrop  W.  Dunbar.  A  yovinger 
brother,  William  A.  Dunbar,  represented  the  town 
in  the  legislature  in  1879;  he  retired  from  the  firm 
of  Dunbar  Brothers,  April  i,  1890.  Mr.  Dunbar 
and  his  family  are  living  in  the  house  built  half  a 
century  ago,  and  occupied  for  a  time  by  the  late 
Chauncy  Jerome,  the  famous  clock-maker.     Three 


years  ago  he  had  it  remodeled,  inside  and  out;  and 
one  of  the  pleasant  spots  in  it  is  the  library,  in 
which  are  some  eight  hundred  volumes  of  books 
which  he  has  been  collecting  since  his  school  days, 
and  where  he  welcomes  his  friends. 


WILLIAM  B.  RUDD,  Lakeville  (Salisbury)  : 
Secretary-  and  Treasurer  HoUey  Manufacturing 
Company. 

General  Rudd  is  one  of  the  best-known  business 
men  in  Litchfield  county.  He  was  bom  in  Fredo- 
nia,  N.  Y.,  August  17,  183S.  His  paternal  grand- 
father was  Major  Nathan- 
iel Rudd  of  Vergennes, 
Vt. ;  his  grandmother  a 
sister  of  Judge  Hopkins 
of  Hopkinton,  N.  Y.,  for 
many  years  prominent  in 
the  politics  of  the  states 
of  New  York  and  V  e  r- 
mont.  His  father.  Rev. 
George  R.  Rudd,  was  ed- 
ucated at  Hamilton  Col- 
lege, was  graduated  in 
the  class  of  1823,  prepared 
for  the  ministry   at  the  -w.  k.   rudd. 

Auburn  Theological  Sem- 
inary, was  ordained  and  installed  by  the  presbj'tery 
of  Cayuga  over  the  Presbyterian  church  of  Scipio, 
in  January,  1827;  in  October  of  the  same  year  mar- 
ried Miss  Frances  Beardslee  of  Auburn,  a  lady  of 
far  more  than  ordinary  literary  and  social  attrac- 
tions. Rev.  Mr.  Rudd  was  a  close  student,  a  man 
of  fine  intellect,  cultivation,  and  refinement.  His 
son,  William  B.,  removed  to  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  with  his 
parents,  sister  and  brothers,  in  1S50.  He  received 
a  common  school  education  until  sixteen,  when  he 
began  his  business  life,  first  with  his  brother,  Ed- 
ward P.  Rudd,  of  the  firm  of  Rudd  &  Carleton, 
book  publishers,  New  York  city,  later  continuing  in 
the  same  business  in  Lyons,  N.  Y.,  acting  also  for 
several  years  as  agent  for  the  American  Express 
Company.  He  entered  the  army  in  the  fall  of  1861, 
in  the  Ninety-eighth  N.  Y.  regiment,  serving  in  the 
Peninsula  campaign;  in  the  spring  of  1865  was  ap- 
pointed adjutant  of  the  107th  regiment,  National 
Guard,  state  of  New  York;  was  married  in  June, 
1865,  to  Maria  C.  Holley,  daughter  of  ex-Gov.  A. 
H.  Holley  of  Lakeville,  Conn.,  and  became  con- 
nected with  the  "Holley  Manufacturing  Co."  of 
Lakeville,  on  removing  to  that  place  in  the  spring 
of  1866;  from  the  first  has  been  its  secretary,  still 
holding  that  position,  as  well  as  treasurer  and  gen- 
eral manager,  and  is  one  of  the  directors  and  larg- 
est stockholders.  He  has  been  a  republican  since 
the  formation  of  the  party  (his  first  Presidential 
vote  being  cast  for  Abraham  Lincoln),  and  more  or 


212 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


less  connected  with  and  interested  in  politics  for 
many  years;  was  a  member  of  the  state  central 
committee  for  ten  years;  a  district  delegate  to  the 
Cincinnati  convention  in  1876,  and  a  member  of  the 
Chicago  convention  in  1888.  He  was  on  Governor 
Bigelow's  staff  in  1881-82,  as  aid-de-camp,  with  the 
rank  of  colonel;  and  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Bulkeley,  in  1889,  to  the  office  of  quartermaster- 
general  of  the  state,  holding  the  position  more  than 
the  full  term  of  two  years,  by  reason  of  a  disagree- 
ment in  the  matter  of  a  successor  to  Governor  Bulk- 
eley at  the  end  of  his  official  term.  He  is  treasurer 
of  Hematite  Chapter,  Royal  Arch  Masons,  at  Lake- 
ville,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity since  1864.  He  is  also  a  member  and  past 
commander  of  Orren  H.  Knight  Post,  G.  A.  R., 
of  Lakeville. 

General  Rudd  has  four  children.  His  only  daugh- 
ter, Fanny,  is  now  Mrs.  Martin  Cantine,  her  hus- 
band being  a  paper  manufacturer  of  Saugerties, 
N.  Y.  Alexander  Holle)^  Rudd,  the  oldest  son, 
married  Miss  Oliver  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and  is  con- 
nected with  the  Pennsylvania  Railroad,  with  head- 
quarters in  Philadelphia,  his  residence  being  Media, 
Pa. ;  they  have  a  son,  nearly  two  years  old,  at  present 
the  only  grandchild  of  General  Rudd.  The  second 
son,  Malcolm  Day  Rudd,  fourteen  years  of  age,  is 
now  engaged  on  a  genealogical  history  of  the  Rudd 
family.  He  has  a  great  love  for  such  researches, 
as  well  as  for  antiques  and  relics.  His  room  shows 
a  goodly  number  and  variety  of  curiosities  of 
his  own  collecting.  The  General's  youngest  son, 
Charles  Edward  Rudd,  is  a  boy  of  ten. 


CAPT.    RUSSELL    FROST,   South    Norwalk  : 
Lawyer. 

Russell  Frost  is  a  New  Yorker  by  birth,  his  na- 
tive place  being  Delhi,  the  county  seat  of  Delaware 
county.     He  is  of  English  descent  and  Connecticut 
stock  on  both  sides.     His 
mother's     maiden     name 
was  Mary  Griswold,  and 
she   was   connected   Avith 
the      Connecticut      Gris- 
wolds,  of  whom  Matthew 
and   Roger  were  among 
the   earlier  governors   of 
this  state.     He  is  a  great- 
great-grandson    of    Gen- 
eral John  Mead  of  Horse- 
neck,     now     Greenwich, 
who   was    colonel   of   the 
Ninth  Connecticut  Infan- 
try  and  general  in  com- 
mand of  the  Third  Connecticut  Brigade  in  the  Revo- 
lutionary war,  serving  under  General  Washington 
in  the  Connecticut  and  New  York  campaigns,  and 


RUSSELL   FROST. 


being  a  personal  friend  and  military  comrade  of 
General  Israel  Putnam.  His  paternal  ancestors 
came  to  Connecticut  about  1650,  his  great  grand- 
father, John  Frost,  moving  to  Vermont  after  the 
war  of  the  Revolution,  and  his  grandfather,  Russell 
Frost,  settling  in  New  York  in  1800. 

At  the  age  of  fifteen.  Captain  Frost  was  a  stu- 
dent at  the  Delaware  Academy  in  Delhi,  fitting  to 
enter  college.  He  was  induced  by  the  president  of 
the  Delaware  National  Bank  of  that  place  to  enter 
the  employ  of  the  bank,  where  he  remained  three 
years,  being  bookkeeper,  teller,  and  acting-cashier. 
He  then  spent  a  year  in  his  father's  employ  in  the 
hardware  business,  but  during  this  year  his  college 
hopes  and  ambitions,  which  had  been  slumbering, 
again  asserted  themselves,  and  so  strongly  that  he 
gave  up  business  and  resumed  his  preparatory 
studies.  At  the  academy  again,  and  also  under 
the  instructions  of  private  tutors,  he  fitted  for  col- 
lege. He  entered  Yale  in  1873,  and  graduated 
among  the  honor  men  of  his  class  in  1877.  Choos- 
ing the  law  for  his  profession,  he  was  assistant  to 
the  district  attorney  for  Delaware  county  at  Delhi 
for  two  years,  and  conducted  a  prosperous  private 
practice  at  that  place  for  three  years.  He  was 
then  offered  a  position  under  the  United  States 
government  to  investigate  and  aid  United  States 
district  attorneys  in  the  prosecution  of  criminal 
offenses  against  the  pension  laws,  forgery,  perjury, 
false  personation,  and  other  frauds.  His  head- 
quarters were  for  most  of  the  time  at  Cincinnati, 
Ohio,  although  his  work  took  him,  at  times,  through 
Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Indiana,  Illinois,  and  Mis- 
souri, where  he  investigated  the  conduct  of  many 
prominent  physicians,  lawyers,  ex-army  officers, 
some  of  very  high  rank,  as  well  as  public  officers, 
whose  connection  with  pension  cases  had  been  sus- 
picious or  criminal.  He  was  instrumental  in  put- 
ting behind  prison  bars  a  number  of  men  who  had 
been  distinguished  in  their  respective  states,  be- 
sides several  notorious  criminals,  and  many  others 
of  less  prominence. 

After  serving  in  this  capacity  for  three  years. 
Captain  Frost  resigned  his  position  to  resume  the 
private  practice  of  his  profession.  He  chose  South 
Norwalk  as  a  promising  field,  opening  an  office 
there  in  1885.  He  made  no  mistake  in  his  choice, 
for  his  business  has  been  active  and  prosperous, 
entirely  absorbing  his  time  and  attention.  Soon 
after  going  to  South  Norwalk,  he  was  elected  cap- 
tain of  Company  D  of  the  Fourth  Regiment,  Con- 
necticut National  Guard.  He  had  seen  no  previous 
military  service,  but  he  took  up  the  study  of  tactics 
and  regulations  with  energy,  and  became  an  effi- 
cient commandant  and  good  disciplinarian.  He 
raised  the  military  standard  of  his  command  to 
such  a  degree  that  for  three  successive  years  it  has 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  Fourth  Regiment  in  figure 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   C(WNECTICUT. 


213 


of  merit  for  drills  and  service.  He  is  a  republican 
in  politics,  strong  in  his  convictions,  but  public 
office  never  had  for  him  as  strong  allurements  as 
his  profession  offered,  and,  while  often  urged,  he 
has  alwaj-s  refused  to  be  a  candidate  for  office, 
although  active  in  the  interest  of  others.  Captain 
Frost  is  a  Free  Mason,  and  a  member  of  the  Delta 
Kappa  Epsilon  Fraternity,  which  he  joined  at  Yale. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  University  Club  of  the 
city  of  New  York,  and  of  the  Connecticut  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  He  is 
vice-president  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  South 
Norwalk,  and  is  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church  of  that  place.  As  a  speaker  on  special 
literary  and  patriotic  occasions  he  has  been  in 
much  demand. 


THOiMAS  A.  LAKE,  Rockville:  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  Hartford  Lumber  Company. 
Thomas  A.  Lake  is  a  native  of  Woodstock  in  this 
state,  where  he  was  born  June  3,  1848.  His  early 
years  were  .spent  in  acquiring  the  rudiments  of  an 
education  in  the  district 
schools  of  his  native  town. 
When  the  war  of  the  re- 
bellion broke  out  his 
patriotic  ardor  overcame 
his  educational  inclina- 
tions, and  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  he  ran  away 
from  home  and  joined  the 
Eighteenth  Connecticut 
regiment  in  Baltimore,  on 
its  way  to  the  front,  in 
the  capacity  of  waiter  for 
the    company   officers   of  -j..  a.  lake. 

companj'  G.   He  remained 

with  the  regiment  through  its  trying  experiences  up 
to  the  time  of  the  battle  of  Winchester,  Va. ,  in 
June,  1863,  when  he  was  captured  with  others  by 
the  Confederate  forces  June  15.  During  the  excite- 
ment after  the  surrender  he  made  his  escape  into 
the  swamp  just  beyond  the  lines,  and  six  days 
later,  after  a  wearisome  and  hazardous  tramp,  came 
out  at  a  point  over  the  Pennsylvania  border.  He 
received  from  Major  Matthewson  a  certificate  stat- 
ing that  he  was  not  an  enlisted  man,  and  com- 
menced his  homeward  journey  without  means  for 
obtaining  transportation.  He  was  put  off  the  trains, 
which  he  boarded  as  a  deadhead,  at  nearly  every 
station  between  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  and  Putnam, 
Conn.,  the  latter  place  being  his  objective  point  by 
railroad  and  but  a  few  miles  from  his  home.  After 
the  regiment  was  "  exchanged,"  the  same  autumn, 
he  returned  to  it  and  formally  enlisted,  and  served 
until  the  close  of  the  war.  As  soon  as  possible 
thereafter  he  engaged  in  business  and  continued 
with  varying  fortunes  in  Woonsocket,  R.  L,  Worces- 


ter, Mass.,  and  for  a  time  in  Stromsburg,  Neb.  He 
married  in  Woodstock,  Miss  Martha  A.  Cocking, 
by  whom  he  has  three  children.  During  his  resi- 
dence in  Woodstock  he  represented  that  town  for  a 
single  term  in  the  legislature  in  1SS5.  He  removed 
to  Rockville  in  1S87,  and  at  varioi:s  times  has  held 
the  positions  of  state  auditor,  member  of  the  state 
board  of  agriculture,  and  secretary  of  the  Tolland 
County  Agricultural  Society,  the  last  two  of  which 
positions  he  still  holds.  His  business  is  that  of  a 
lumber  merchant,  being  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
the  Hartford  Lumber  Company  of  Hartford,  and 
proprietor  of  the  Lumber  Yard  at  Rockville.  His 
neglect  to  avail  himself  in  his  youth  of  the  facilities 
offered  for  acquiring  a  liberal  education  has  led 
him  to  provide  carefully  for  the  thorough  education 
of  his  children.  His  son  is  in  Harvard  College,  the 
elder  daughter  is  at  Wellesley  College  and  the 
younger  is  about  to  enter  Mount  Holyoke  semi- 
nary. Mr.  Lake  is  in  the  prime  of  life,  a  thor- 
oughly energetic  man,  and  devoting  earnest  atten- 
tion to  his  business,  in  which  he  has  accomplished 
most  satisfactory  results.  It  is  his  intention  to 
associate  his  son  with  him  in  it  as  soon  as  the  young 
man  shall  graduate  from  college. 


P.   H.  WOODWARD,  Hartfori.. 

P.  Henry  Woodward,  eldest  son  of  Ashbel  Wood- 
ward, M.D.,  and  Emeline  (Bicknell)  Woodward, 
was  born  in  Franklin,  Conn.,  March  19,  1833.  His 
father,  a  distinguished 
physician,  was  perhaps 
even  better  known  as  an 
antiquarian  and  genealo- 
gist in  matters  pertaining 
to  New  England.  The 
son  inherited  thoughtful 
and  studious  habits  from 
a  long  line  of  clerical  an- 
cestors; a  sturdy  integ- 
rity from  Puritan  stock  on 
both  sides;  and  a  natural 
cheerfulness  of  disposi- 
tion, which  has  been  of 
unusual  service  to  him  in 

his  years  of  dealing  with  his  fellow-men.  Begin- 
ning as  do  most  youths  of  New  England  whose 
parents  have  the  pecuniary  ability,  he  graduated 
from  Yale  College  in  1855,  and  afterward  studied 
law  at  Harvard.  Although  he  never  engaged  in 
active  practice,  his  legal  training  sharpened  and 
poli.shed  a  mind  naturally  subtle  and  acute,  and 
probably  did  much  to  fit  him  for  those  peculiar 
duties  which  in  later  life  devolved  upon  him. 
Mr.  Woodward's  tastes  are  literary  and  schol- 
arly, and  the  field  of  journalism  was  one  espe- 
cially congenial.  From  1862  to  1S65  he  was  the 
editor   of   the   Ha7'tford  Coiiranf,    remaining   in 


r.  H.  woodward. 


214 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


that  position  till  the  end  of  the  war.  At  that  time 
nothing  in  the  disorganized  south  stood  more  in 
need  of  reconstruction  than  the  post-office  service; 
and,  during  Johnson's  administration,  Mr.  Wood- 
ward, as  special  agent  of  the  post-office  depart- 
ment, bent  all  his  faculties  to  the  reorganiza- 
tion of  that  most  important  branch.  He  estab- 
lished, on  suitable  lines,  railway  post-offices  for  the 
distribution  of  through  mails;  and,  at  the  end  of 
four  years,  the  South  had  a  far  more  complete  and 
perfect  mail  service  than  ever  before.  He  was 
then  employed  for  several  years  largely  in  impor- 
ant  cases  where  it  was  the  object  of  the  govern- 
ment to  discover,  not  to  suppress  or  ignore,  facts. 
In  1S73  he  was  called  from  the  south  to  New  York 
cit}'  to  conduct  the  investigations  which  led  in  the 
post-office  to  the  overthrow  of  the  old  regime,  and 
the  incoming  of  Thomas  L.  James,  afterward  post- 
master-general. In  1 8 74  he  was  made  chief  of  the 
corps  of  post-office  inspectors,  which  he  at  once  re- 
organized on  a  plan  that  has  never  since  been 
materially  modified,  and  which  he  raised  by  sift- 
ings  and  promotions  for  merit,  to  such  a  state  of 
efficiencj^  that  other  departments  of  the  govern- 
ment repeatedly  called  upon  him  for  aid  in  import- 
ant cases.  Relieved  from  service  in  the  closing 
da^'s  of  Grant's  second  administration,  at  the  time 
Bristow  and  Jewell  left  the  cabinet,  one  of  the 
early  acts  of  the  Garfield  administration  was  by 
telegraph  to  invite  him  to  return  to  conduct  the 
investigation  of  the  Star  Route  robberies.  The 
public  have  not  forgotten  the  gigantic  scale  on 
which  those  frauds  were  planned  and  executed,  or 
the  overwhelming  evidence  of  the  guilt  of  cer- 
tain officials  and  contractors.  It  was  due  to  Mr. 
Woodward's  trained  mind,  and  his  capacity  for 
managing  his  subordinates,  that  these  villainies 
were  unearthed.  He  had  charge  of  collecting  and 
arranging  the  evidence,  and,  in  his  testimony  be- 
fore the  congressional  investigating  committee, 
Attorney-General  Brewster,  the  prosecuting  attor- 
ney for  the  government,  declared  in  the  most  em- 
phatic way,  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to 
properly  prepare  the  cases  without  the  invaluable 
aid  of  Mr.  Woodward.  The  words  of  Mr.  Brewster, 
as  given  on  page  885  of  the  printed  report,  will  bear 
quoting:  "  When  I  first  went  into  the  case,"  says 
General  Brewster,  "  I  did  not  know  Mr.  Woodward. 
He  was  a  stranger  to  me.  After  the  case  went  on 
he  was  necessarily  detailed  and  handed  over  to  the 
department  of  justice.  He  was  at  the  elbow  of  Mr. 
Bliss  all  the  while,  and  at  Mr.  Merrick's  elbow 
whenever  he  was  needed.  I  do  not  think  there  was 
a  fact  in  the  case  they  did  not  acquire  from  him. 
When  I  prepared  the  short  argument  I  made  in  the 
first  case  —  the  investigation  and  prejDaration  in- 
dicated by  this  file  of  notes  I  have  shown  you  — 
when    I    prepared   that    argument,    I    consulted   a 


great  deal  with  Mr.  Woodward.  I  had  learned  his 
value.  I  think  without  Mr.  Woodward  these  cases 
never  could  have  been  instituted.  I  think  he  was, 
to  use  one  word,  invaluable.  He  is  a  man  of  re- 
markable intelligence;  he  is  a  man  of  great  purity 
of  character;  he  is  an  educated  gentleman.  In  all 
my  life,  in  an  experience  of  over  forty-six  years  of 
legal  practice,  I  never  have  met  with  a  man  who 
could  assist  a  lawyer  better  than  Mr.  Woodward. 
He  understood  his  subject  thoroughly.  He  under- 
stood all  the  bearings  and  relations  of  each  point 
he  submitted,  and  he  would  instruct  himself  in  the 
law  bearing  upon  it,  by  conference  with  counsel. 
He  was  the  most  valuable  assistant  I  ever  had,  and 
I  believe  to  him  mainly  is  owing  the  fine  prepara- 
tion that  was  made  in  these  cases,  the  complete  and 
thorough  preparation.  The  government,  I  think, 
is  in  debt  to  Mr.  Woodward  for  his  intelligence,  in- 
dustry, and  integrity.  I  have  learned  to  admire 
and  respect  him  very  much."  Conviction  in  the 
District  of  Columbia  was  impossible,  but  morally 
the  case  was  an  overwhelming  success. 

With  the  close  of  the  Star  Route  cases  ended 
Mr.  Woodward's  connection  with  the  government. 
vSince  that  time  he  has  resided  with  his  family  in 
Hartford.  His  keen  intellect  is  never  weary 
in  exploring  some  fresh  domain,  whether  of 
finance,  science,  or  literature.  His  antiquarian 
bent  has  caused  him  to  take  delight  in  genealogical 
pursuits,  and  he  has  prepared  various  monographs 
on  historical  and  other  subjects.  Some  of 
the  experiences  in  the  secret  service  of  him- 
self and  others  he  embodied  in  a  book  called 
"Guarding  the  Mails,"  which  contains  many 
spirited  and  stirring  sketches  of  western  and 
southern  life.  Much  of  his  literary  work  has  been 
journalistic,  and  necessarily  fugitive;  but  it  is  all 
distinguished  by  that  peculiar  clarity  and  luminos- 
ity of  style  which  betokens  definiteness  of  thought. 
In  1 888  Mr.  Woodward  was  elected  secretary  of  the 
Hartford  board  of  trade,  and  the  following  year 
prepared  a  handbook  of  the  city,  which  is  a  model 
of  its  kind.  The  duties  of  his  position  do  not  deter 
him,  as  they  have  not  deterred  him  for  many  years, 
from  assisting  with  his  legal,  business,  and  finan- 
cial knowledge  the  many  friends  who  are  contin- 
ually applying  to  him  for  advice.  Such  is  the 
reflex  action  on  character  of  a  life  of  altruism  and 
true  beneficence,  that  once  more  is  exemplified  the 
truth  of  Shakespeare's  words,  "  It  blesseth  him  that 
gives  and  him  that  takes." 

Mr.  Woodward  married,  September  11,  1867, 
Mary,  daughter  of  Charles  Smith  of  South  Wind- 
ham, Conn.,  one  of  the  successful  leaders  in  the 
great  industrial  movement  which  began  about  1820, 
and  to  which  Connecticut  is  largely  indebted  for  her 
prosperity  and  wealth.  He  has  two  children,  a 
daughter  and  a  son. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


215 


ISRAEL  B.  WOODWARD,  Thomaston:  Presi- 
dent Thomaston  Savings  Bank. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Water- 
town,  March  12,  1814,  and  received  a  common 
school  and  academic  education.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  two  years  in  the 
west  his  hfe  has  been 
spent  in  his  native  town 
and  at  Thomaston.  He 
has  been  married  twice. 
There  is  one  child  living. 
Mr.  Woodward  has  held 
the  offices  of  justice  of 
the  peace,  grand  juror, 
selectman,  assessor,  and 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief,  represented  Thom- 
aston in  the  legislature 
in  the  session  of  1879, 
and  now  holds  the  office 

of  town  agent.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Congre- 
gational church,  and  is  a  republican  in  politics. 
Mr.  Woodward  is  living  in  retirement,  having  with- 
drawn from  active  business  pursuits.  He  was  for- 
merly a  leather  manufacturer.  Years  ago  he  was 
connected  with  the  state  militia.  He  has  been 
honored  with  public  trust  in  many  ways,  and  is 
highly  esteemed  as  a  citizen  of  the  town  where  the 
most  of  his  life  has  been  spent. 


WOODWARD. 


RICHARD    JORDAN    GATLING,    Hartford: 

President  Gatling  Gun  Companj-. 

R.  J.  Gatling,  whose  name  is  perhaps  more 
widely  known  than  that  of  any  other  living  Ameri- 
can in  connection  with  modern  war  enginery,  as 
the  inventor  of  the  cele- 
brated revolving  battery 
gun  which  bears  his  name, 
was  born  in  Hertford 
county.  North  Carolina, 
September  12,  1818.  His 
father  was  a  substantial, 
industrious  farmer,  who 
taught  his  children  the 
necessity  of  labor  and 
economy  as  the  surest 
road  to  fortune.  He  re- 
ceived his  primary  educa- 
tion at  such  schools  as 
were  near  his  home,  and 
when  nineteen  years  of  age  taught  school  for  a 
short  time.  At  twenty  he  engaged  in  merchandis- 
ing for  several  years,  and  during  this  time  he  in- 
vented the  propelhng  wheel  now  used  in  ocean 
steamers,  but  was  preceded  by  Ericsson  a  few 
weeks   in   application   for   a   patent.      In   1844  he 


J.    GATLING. 


moved  to  St.  Louis,  Mo.,  and  having  invented 
a  seed-sowing  machine  for  sowing  wheat  and 
other  small  grains,  engaged  extensively  for 
some  time  in  their  manufacture  and  sale.  He 
was  the  first  man  to  introduce  this  class  of 
farm  implements  into  the  northwestern  states. 
While  engaged  in  this  business,  and  during  a  trip 
by  water  from  Cincinnati  to  Pittsburg,  he  was 
taken  with  small-pox  and  came  very  near  dying  — 
the  vessel  on  which  he  was  making  the  trip  being 
frozen  up  in  the  ice  for  thirteen  days,  and  having 
no  physician  on  board.  This  experience  induced 
him  to  take  up  the  study  of  medicine,  which  he  did 
for  several  years,  attending  courses  of  lectures  at 
various  colleges,  acquiring  a  thorough  knowledge 
of  the  medical  science,  and  the  title  of  "doctor," 
although  he  had  no  intention  of  undertaking  medi- 
cal practice.  In  1849  he  invented  a  method  of 
transmitting  power  from  one  locality  to  another, 
through  the  medium  of  compressed  air  in  pipes  ; 
other  inventions  following,  previous  to  1S61,  about 
which  latter  date,  early  in  the  war  of  the  rebellion, 
he  conceived  the  idea  of  making  a  machine  gun 
which  would,  to  a  great  extent,  supersede  the 
necessity  of  large  armies.  He  made  his  first 
revolving  battery  gun  in  the  city  of  Indianapolis, 
Ind. ,  and  in  the  spring  of  1862  he  fired  it,  in  its 
then  imperfect  state,  at  the  rate  of  over  three 
hundred  shots  per  minute,  in  the  presence  of  many 
army  officers  and  citizens.  In  the  fall  of  the  same 
year  he  had  a  battery  of  six  of  his  guns  made  in 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  and  later  twelve  more  —  which 
were  afterwards  used  by  General  Butler  in  repelling 
rebel  attacks  near  Richmond,  Va.  In  1865  he 
made  additional  improvements  in  the  weapon. 
Thorough  tests  of  it  were  made  at  the  Frankfort 
Arsenal  in  Philadelphia,  and  subsequently  at 
Washington  and  Fortress  Monroe,  which  proved  so 
satisfactory  as  to  induce  Secretary  Stanton  and 
General  Dyer,  chief  of  ordnance,  to  adopt  the 
arm  into  the  service  ;  and  in  1866  an  order  was 
given  for  one  hundred  of  the  guns  of  various 
calibres.  They  were  made  at  Colt's  Armory 
in  Hartford,  and  delivered  in  1867.  Since 
their  adoption  bj^  the  United  States  Government, 
Russia,  Turkey,  Hungary,  Egj'pt,  and  England 
have  adopted  the  Gatling  gun,  which  are  still  made 
by  the  Gatling  Gun  Company  at  the  Armory  Build- 
ing of  the  Colt's  Patent  Fire  Arms  Manufacturing 
Company  in  Hartford,  which  city  Dr.  Gatling  has 
for  many  years  made  his  home.  The  inventor  of 
this  pioneer  in  the  line  of  revolving  battery  guns  has 
devoted  twenty-tive  years  of  his  life  to  the  continual 
improvement  and  final  perfection  of  his  invention, 
and  has  spent  considerable  time  abroad  testing  his 
gun  before  nearly  all  the  crowned  heads  of  Europe. 
His  name  and  fame  as  the  inventor  of  something 
absolutely   unique   and   revolutionary    in    modern 


2l6 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


warfare  will  be  preserved  and  perpetuated  in  the 
world's  history. 

Dr.  Gatling  was  married  in  1S54  to  Miss  Sanders, 
the  youngest  daughter  of  Dr.  John  H.  Sanders,  a 
prominent  practitioner  of  medicine  in  Indianapolis, 
Indiana.  He  has  one  daughter  and  two  sons.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Club,  and  a  republican 
in  politics  —  being  president  of  the  "  Harrison 
Veterans  of  1840,"  an  organization  existing  in 
Hartford,  whose  membership  is  indicated  by  its 
name.  He  is  also  president  of  the  American 
Association  of  Inventors  and  Manufacturers  of  the 
United  States. 


MICHAEL  F.  SKELLY,  Woodbury. 

Mr.  Skelly  is  a  native  of  Ireland;  was  born  Sep- 
tember 6,  1837,  in  the  village  of  Carrobeg  Skelly, 
parish  of  Cashel,  Longford  county.  Came  to  this 
country  in  1853,  and  to 
Woodbury  in  1854,  where 
he  found  a  home  in  the 
family  of  the  late  Joseph 
F.  Walker,  and  from  him 
learned  the  blacksmith 
trade.  After  six  years  in 
the  service  of  Mr.  Walker 
he  established  a  business 
of  his  own,  which  he  per- 
sonally conducted  in  the 
same  locality  for  thirty- 
^  one  consecutive   years. 

».    ,-    c-.-T^,,,.  He  received  some  educa- 

M.    t .    SKELL\ . 

tion  in  the  national  school 
in  Ireland,  and  in  the  common  school  in  Woodbury. 
Since  his  residence  in  Woodbury  he  has  for  ten 
years  occupied  the  office  of  registrar  of  voters ;  was 
for  three  years  a  grand  juror;  is  now  and  has  been 
for  twelve  years  a  justice  of  the  peace;  for  the  last 
eight  years  has  acted  as  a  trial  justice;  for  eighteen 
years  a  member  of  the  democratic  town  committee; 
is  a  member  of  the  twentieth  district  senatorial 
committee,  and  for  several  years  its  chairman.  He 
was  one  of  the  corporators  of  the  Woodbury  Sav- 
ings Bank,  has  been  one  of  the  directors  since  its 
organization,  and  is  now  a  loan  agent  for  the  bank. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Catholic  Total  Abstinence 
Union  of  Connecticut,  and  was  for  three  years 
treasurer  of  that  organization.  Is  a  member  of  the 
National  Catholic  Total  Abstinence  Union  of  Amer- 
ica, and  was  a  delegate  to  the  national  convention 
held  at  New  Haven,  August,  1885.  He  hates  all 
prevalent  vices  of  the  day,  but  especially  the  vice 
of  intemperance.  He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
school  visitors,  and  takes  great  interest  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  youth  of  his  adopted  town.  He  takes 
a  lively,  active  part  in  all  that  concerns  the  welfare 
of  his  town.  Althoiigh  Mr.  Skelly  has  always  been 
a  fearless  and  outspoken  democrat,  and  was  elected 


to  the  legislature  as  the  candidate  of  that  party  in 
1 886,  he  has  the  satisfaction  of  knowing  that  his 
election  was  aided  by  his  fellow-citizens  and  neigh- 
bors, regardless  of  party  lines;  and  durmg  his  leg- 
islative experience  he  did  not  forget  that  he  was  in 
the  house  the  representative  of  the  citizens  of  Wood- 
bury, and  not  of  any  party  in  the  exclusive  and  of- 
fensive sense.  During  the  session  he  proved  him- 
self to  be  an  energetic,  faithful,  and  influential 
member,  never  absent  from  his  duties,  and  giving 
satisfaction  to  his  constituency  of  all  parties.  He 
was  a  candidate  for  state  senator  in  the  fall  of  1S88, 
and  now  occupies  the  position  of  assistant  superin- 
tendent of  the  state  capitol  and  grounds  at  Hart- 
ford, to  which  he  was  appointed  the  present  year. 
Mr.  Skelly  furnishes  an  excellent  example  of  what 
a  boy,  born  abroad  and  coming  to  this  country 
without  money  or  acquaintances,  can  do,  by  the 
exercise  of  the  virtues  of  industry,  temperance,  and 
a  laudable  ambition,  under  the  benign  influence  of 
our  free  institutions.  He  has  furnished  an  exam- 
ple worthy  of  emulation  by  the  youth  of  this  coun- 
try, and  especially  by  those  of  his  own  nationality. 


EDWARD  S.   WHITE,   Hartford:  Attorney-at- 
Law. 

Judge  Edward  S.  White,  of  the  firm  of  Chamber- 
lin.  White  &  Mills,  was  born  in  Granby,  Hamp- 
shire county,  Mass.,  March  12,  1848,  and  was  edu- 
cated at  Wilbraham  acad- 
emy and  Yale  College, 
graduating  from  the  uni- 
versity in  the  class  of 
1 8 70.  During  the  first 
year  after  graduation  he 
taught  in  General  Rus- 
sell's Military  School  in 
New  Haven,  being  in 
charge  of  the  classical  de- 
partment. He  studied 
law  with  the  firm  of 
Chamberlin  &  Hall  in 
this  city,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  1873. 
One  year  afterwards  he  was  made  a  member  of  the 
firm,  the  name  being  changed  to  Chamberlin,  Hall 
&  White.  This  designation  was  retained  until  the 
death  of  Mr.  Hall,  who  was  a  leading  lawyer,  in 
1877,  when  the  name  of  Chamberhn  &  White  was 
adopted.  In  1883  a  new  change  was  effected  by 
the  admission  of  Hiram  R.  Mills,  who  has  since  re- 
mained in  the  firm.  It  is  one  of  the  ablest  legal 
concerns  in  this  locality,  and  has  an  extensive 
practice.  Judge  White  has  been  an  indefatigable 
worker  through  life,  and  has  won  an  enviable  posi- 
tion in  this  community.  He  has  manifested  genu- 
ine interest  in  the  city's  educational  progress,  and 


E.    S.    WHITE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


217 


has  served  on  th©  Hartford  High  School  commit- 
tee, and  the  district  committee  of  the  Washington 
district.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  High 
School  building  committee,  serving  in  that  capacity 
with  Messrs.  James  G.  Batterson  and  James  L. 
Howard,  and  the  Rev.  Drs.  George  L.  Walker  and 
E.  P.  Parker.  In  1SS3  he  was  elected  associate 
judge  of  the  Hartford  police  court,  and  retained 
the  position  until  July,  1889.  He  is  the  secretary 
and  treasurer  of  the  Overman  Wheel  Company, 
and  its  legal  adviser.  Judge  White  is  a  member 
of  the  South  Congregational  church,  and  a  gentle- 
man of  the  most  exertiplary  character.  He  has 
been  married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  Alice 
E.  Smith  of  Granby,  Mass.,  the  marriage  occurring 
Aug.  13,  1S74.  February  11,  18S3,  Mrs.  White's 
death  took  place  in  this  city.  The  second  marriage 
was  celebrated  Oct.  28,  1885,  the  bride  being  Miss 
S.  Adelaide  Moody  of  Belchertown,  Mass.  Her 
death  also  occurred  in  this  city,  the  date  being  Feb. 
13,  1890.  There  are  three  children  b}^  the  first  and 
one  by  the  second  wife.  The  oldest  daughter, 
Miss  Ruth  Dickinson  White,  is  a  student  at  the 
Hartford  High  School.  Both  of  the  Judge's  wives 
were  ladies  of  collegiate  education ,  being  graduates 
of  Mount  Holyoke  Seminary.  The  first  graduated 
in  1869  and  the  second  in  1S71.  Both  were  re- 
garded with  the  sincerest  affection  and  esteem  in 
this  city.  As  a  lawyer  and  citizen  Judge  White  is 
an  honored  representative  of  the  city. 


ANDREW  B.  MYGATT,  New  Milford:  Banker. 
A.  B.  Mygatt,  son  of  the  late  Eh  Mygatt,  was 
born  in  New  Milford,  October  31,  1820,  and  has 
always  resided  there.  He  has  one  son,  Henry  S. 
Mygatt,  cashier  of  the 
First  National  Bank  of 
New  Milford,  and  two 
daughters  who  reside  in 
Bridgeport.  He  received 
an  academical  education 
and  prepared  for  college, 
but  was  unable  to  enter 
on  account  of  trouble  with 
his  eyes.  He  engaged  in 
mercantile  business  in 
1S40,  at  the  age  of  twenty, 
and  pursued  it  with  suc- 
cess until  1855,  when  he 
retired  owing  to  ill  health. 
In  1 878  he  was  chosen  president  of  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  of  New  Milford,  which  position  he  still 
holds.  He  has  always  been  a  public-spirited  and 
progressive  citizen,  and  identified  with  most  of  the 
improvements  and  enterprises  that  have  been 
undertaken  for  the  benefit  of  the  town.  He  laid 
out  several  new  streets  and  built  numerous  houses. 


A.  B.  myc;att. 


and  is  still  a  large  owner  of  real  estate  in  New  Mil- 
ford. 

In  politics  Mr.  Mygatt  was  originally  a  whig, 
casting  his  first  presidential  vote  for  Henry  Clay  in 
1844.  Since  the  formation  of  the  republican  pa.ty, 
he  has  always  been  one  of  its  ardent  supporters. 
He  has  been  much  in  public  life.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  state  senate  in  1S60  and  1S61,  the  latter 
year  being  president  pro  tern,  of  that  body.  In 
1865  he  represented  New  Milford  in  the  house  of 
representatives.  From  1S61  to  1864  he  was  state 
bank  commissioner,  and  in  1S65  he  was  appointed 
national  bank  examiner  for  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island,  and  served  in  that  office  with  distingui:;hed 
ability  for  twenty-two  years,  resigning  in  18S7.  in 
the  second  year  of  President  Cleveland's  adminis- 
tration, and  retiring  with  the  cordial  commenda- 
tions of  his  superior  officers,  though  of  a  different 
political  party. 

Mr.  Mygatt  was  married  June  7,  1S43,  to  Miss 
Caroline  Canfield,  daughter  of  Colonel  Samuel  Can- 
field. 


WILLIAM  N.  CLEVELAND,  Andover:  Farmer. 
William  Nelson  Cleveland  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Bozrah,  April  16,  18 19,  and  received  a  district 
school  education.  He  is  a  descendant  of  John 
Cleveland  of  Brooklyn, 
Conn.,  the  earh'  home  of 
many  of  the  family.  The 
first  wife  of  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  Pamelia  S. 
Standish,  was  of  the 
seventh  generation  from 
Captain  Miles  Standish. 
Mr.  Cleveland  was  first 
married  when  he  reached 
the  age  of  22.  The  result 
of  this  union  was  five 
children,  William  Chaun- 
cey,  Henry  Franklin, 
Eliza  M.,  Fannie  F.,  and 
Hattie  S.  Cleveland.  The  two  sons  enlisted  in  the 
war,  William  uniting  with  the  Tenth  and  Henry 
with  the  Eighteenth  Connecticut.  The  latter  re- 
turned from  the  field,  broken  in  health,  and  died 
within  a  brief  period.  The  remaining  son  is  in  the 
employ  of  the  government  at  Washington,  D.  C. 
The  wife  of  Mr.  Cleveland  died  May  17,  18S6. 
His  .second  marriage  occurred  March  9,  1887,  the 
bride  being  Miss  Esther  D.  Phillips  of  Andover, 
sister  of  the  Rev.  James  M.  Phillips.  The  maiden 
name  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  mother  was  Mar}-  Cong- 
don,  daughter  of  Daniel  Congdon  of  Warwick,  R.  I. 
She  died  at  Preston  Cit3^  March  14,  1S37.  Mr. 
Cleveland's  father  died  at  Bozrahville,  April  10,1838. 
Mr.  Cleveland  has  resided  in  the  towns  of  Gris- 
wold,  Norwich,  Colchester,  and  Windham,  and  is 


W.    N.    CLEVELAND. 


2l8 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


well  known  in  those  localities.  He  came  to 
Andover,  his  present  residence,  October  6,  1S41. 
He  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in  blacksmithing, 
farming,  and  mercantile  business.  He  was  one  of 
the  first  republicans  in  Andover,  and  has  held  a 
number  of  town  offices.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Methodist  church. 


AUGUSTUS    STORRS. 


AUGUSTUS    STORRS,  ^Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and 
Mansfield:  A  Retired  New  York  Merchant. 
Augustus  Storrs,  second  son  and  second  child  of 
Royal  and  Eunice  Freeman   Storrs,  was   born  in 
Mansfield,  June  4,  1817.     He  is  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  sixth  generation  of 
Samuel   Storrs,    the   first 
resident  bearing  the  name 
of    Storrs    in    Mansfield, 
and  the  first  in  the  Eng- 
lish   colonies.     He   came 
from     Sutton-cum-Iound, 
Nottinghamshire,    E  n  g  - 
land,  to  Barnstable, Mass. , 
in  1663,  and  removed  from 
there  to  Mansfield  in  1698, 
and    became    one    of    its 
most     active,    respected, 
and    influential     citizens. 
The   Herald's  College  of 
London  makes  this  family  descendants  of  Philip  du 
Storrs,  companion  of  William  the  Conqueror  when 
he  entered  England  in   1066.     Edmund  Freeman, 
Mr.  Storrs'  maternal  great-grandfather,  was  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College  in  1733,  and,  after  teach- 
ing a  few  years  in  Massachusetts,  moved  in  1742  to 
Mansfield,  where  he  became  a  practical  farmer,  and 
was  highly  esteemed  as  an  intellectual  and  cultured 
Christian  gentleman.     His  wife,  Martha  Otis,  was 
a  daughter  of  Hon.  Nathaniel  Otis  of  Sandwich, 
Mass.,  and  first  cousin  of  James  Otis,  the  patriot 
and  orator,  and  great-granddaughter  of  Rev.  John 
Russell  of  Hadley,  Mass.,  who  secreted  in  his  own 
house  for  a  longtime  the  regicides  WhalleyandGoffe. 
Mr.  Storrs  was  educated  in  the  common  schools 
of  his  native  town.     His  father  was  a  farmer  and 
a  manufacturer  of  horn  combs;  but  his  means  were 
rather  limited,  and  so  both  he  and  his  wife  saw  to 
it  carefully  that  their  six  children  made  the  most  of 
their  time  when  in  school;  when  out  they  were  re- 
quired to  perform  what  labor  they  could   for  the 
general  welfare  of  the  family,  and  with  the  two 
vocations  there  was  never  lack  of  work;   but,  as 
their  home  was  always  made  pleasant  for  them, 
their   tasks  were   seldom  irksome.      Augustus  re- 
mained at  home  with  his  father  until  after  he  reached 
his  majority,  taking  entire  charge  of  the  comb-shop 
the  last  two  years  of  his  stay,  and  assisting  on  the 
farm     as     occasion     demanded,    there    acquiring 


habits  of  industry  and  order,  and  a  love  of  agricul- 
tural pursuits,  that  have  never  left  him. 

In  the  spring  of  1839,  while  he  was  considering 
in  what  business  he  would  start  in  life  for  himself 
(his  father  having  decided  to  give  up  comb-making), 
an  unexpected  opportunity  presented  itself.  Two 
men  of  the  town ,  who  had  come  into  possession  of 
a  dry-goods  and  grocery  store  in  Gurleyville  (Mans- 
field), proposed  to  young  Storrs  to  "  run  "  the  store 
under  the  firm  name  of  A.  Storrs  &  Co. ,  offsetting 
his  work  against  their  capital,  and  sharing  equally 
with  them  in  the  profits.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
he  had  never  had  a  day's  experience  in  mercantile 
life,  he  courageously  accepted  the  proposition. 
When  he  commenced  business  in  the  store  he  was 
solicited  to  take  the  agency  of  the  Mansfield  Silk 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  he  accepted  that 
trust  also.  The  silk  factory  was  in  the  same  vil- 
lage, and  was  the  first  factory  for  the  manufacture 
of  silk  in  the  United  States.  In  September  of  that 
year  he  married  Antoinette  Abbe  of  Windham,  by 
whom  he  had  two  daughters.  The  Abbes  were 
among  the  earlj^  and  prominent  settlers  of  that 
town.  He  continued  in  business  in  Gurleyville  a 
little  over  six  years,  giving  entire  satisfaction  to  his 
partners  and  to  the  silk  company.  At  the  end  of 
that  time  the  senior  partner  of  the  store  died,  and 
the  business  was  closed. 

In  April,  1846,  he  moved  to  Willimantic,  and,  in 
company  with  another  young  man,  opened  a  store 
there.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  he  had  an  ad- 
vantageous offer  to  go  as  traveling  agent  for  a 
manufacturing  and  commission  house  in  Hartford. 
He  at  once  closed  a  bargain  with  that  firm,  and 
disposed  of  his  business  in  Willimantic  and  moved 
to  that  city.  In  185 1  he  was  employed  by  the  same 
company  in  New  York  city,  and  he  removed  with 
his  family  to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  In  1854  he  united 
with  his  two  brothers,  Charles  and  Royal  Otis, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Storrs  Brothers,  to  carry 
on  a  commission  business  in  staple  American  goods 
in  New  York  city.  On  account  of  other  business, 
Royal  O.  found  it  impracticable  for  him  to  join 
them  in  New  York,  and  after  a  little  he  withdrew 
from  the  firm.  Augustus  and  Charles  continued 
the  business  under  the  same  firm  name  twenty-five 
years,  and  were  sagacious,  honorable,  and  success- 
ful merchants. 

Soon  after  going  to  Brooklyn  Mr.  Storrs  united 
with  Plymouth  church  —  Rev.  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's.  He  is  a  constant  attendant  there  (when 
in  the  city),  and  a  liberal  supporter.  He  has  been 
a  trustee  of  Plj^mouth  church  twenty-six  years, 
treasurer  eighteen  years,  and  president  of  the  board 
of  trustees  six  years.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say, 
as  he  still  holds  these  offices,  that  he  has  given 
satisfaction  in  them  —  that  he  is  a  careful  and 
efficient  business  manager. 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


219 


As  he  increased  in  years  and  means  he  had  a 
longing  for  a  rural  home,  where  he  could  spend  at 
least  his  summers,  and  his  thoughts  and  affections 
reached  after  the  home  of  his  boj'hood;  and  the  re- 
sult was  that  in  1875  he  bought  the  old  homestead 
(his  parents  having  passed  away)  of  his  brother,  R. 
O.  Storrs.  He  has  added  to  that  purchase,  and 
now  owns  between  four  and  five  hundred  acres  in 
the  place.  On  commencing  work  on  his  land  he 
determined  to  ascertain  what  and  how  much  it 
could  be  made  to  produce.  In  a  few  years  his  large 
crops  of  grass,  grain,  and  vegetables  clearly  demon- 
strated that,  under  thorough  and  scientific  tillage, 
it  was  possible  to  greatly  increase  the  productive- 
ness of  our  Connecticut  farms.  He  had  been  con- 
templating doing  something  for  his  native  town  and 
state  that  would  be  of  permanent  benefit  to  them, 
and  had  thought  of  various  things,  but  could  not 
settle  upon  any  one  thing  until  he  had  had  this  ex- 
perience in  farming.  Then  it  seemed  to  him  that 
it  was  as  necessary  for  farmers  to  be  thoroughly 
educated  in  their  vocation  —  taught  what  kind  of 
fertilizers  different  soils  require,  and  the  kind  of 
crops  best  adapted  to  different  places  —  as  it  was 
for  professional  men  and  mechanics  to  acquire  a 
thorough  knowledge  of  their  business;  and  he  de- 
cided that  he  could  do  nothing  more  conducive  to 
their  welfare  than  to  give  land  to  the  state  to  found 
an  agricultural  school.  Consequently,  in  April, 
iSSi,  he  deeded  to  the  state  of  Connecticut,  for  this 
purpose,  two  farms  in  Mansfield,  near  his  home, 
containing  in  all  170  acres,  on  which  were  buildings 
sufficient  for  the  commencement.  His  brother 
Charles,  with  whom  he  had  been  in  company  so 
long,  was  in  full  sympathy  with  the  movement,  and 
gave  several  thousand  dollars  to  furnish  all  neces- 
sary equipments  for  starting  such  a  school.  It  is 
now  ten  years  since  the  "  Storrs  Agricultural 
School  "  was  organized.  The  young  farmers  who 
have  graduated  fi'om  it  think  that  their  time  was 
very  profitably  spent  there,  and  the  present  indica- 
tions are  that  the  institution  will  prove  as  beneficial 
as  Mr.  Storrs  and  his  brother  believed  that  it 
would. 

Until  his  wife's  death  in  the  spring  of  1888,  Mr. 
Storrs  took  his  household  with  him  each  j^ear  to  his 
Mansfield  home  to  spend  the  summer.  His  daugh- 
ter, wife  of  B.  E.  Valentine,  a  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
lawyer,  with  her  five  young  daughters,  joined  them 
there  every  summer,  filling  the  house  with  life 
and  cheerfulness,  to  the  great  delight  of  their 
grandfather,  who  is  exceedingly  fond  of  his  grand- 
children. Harriet,  Mr.  Storrs'  eldest  daughter,  a 
most  estimable  young  lady,  died  at  the  age  of 
*"wenty-one.  Since  Mrs.  Storrs'  death  he  has 
divided  his  time  about  equally  between  Brooklyn 
and  Mansfield,  going  to  each  place  as  business  re- 
quires, making  himself  useful  in  both  places. 


HENRY  ROBINSON  TOWNE,  Stamford:  En- 
gineer and  Manufacturer;  President  The  Yale  & 
Towne  Mfg.  Co. 

Henry  R.  Towne  was  born  at  Philadelphia,  Pa., 
August  28,  1S44,  where  he  was  educated  at  private 
schools  and  at  the  Universitj-  of  Pennsylvania, 
class  of  1865.  He  left 
college  before  graduation 
to  enter  business,  but  in 
1887  was  given  an  honor- 
ary degree  of  M.  A.  En- 
tering the  Port  Richmond 
Iron  Works,  Philadelphia, 
in  1S62,  as  a  mechanical 
draughtsman,  he  was  en- 
gaged for  over  four  years 
on  general  engineering 
work,  especially  heavy 
marine  engines  for  the 
monitors  and   other   war  "•   ^-    T'^^'^-^'e. 

vessels,    the    erection    of 

which  he  superintended  at  the  Boston,  Portsmouth, 
and  Philadelphia  navy  yards.  In  1866  he  made  an 
extensive  tour  of  the  engineering  establishments  of 
England,  Belgium,  and  France,  spending  nearly 
six  months  in  Paris,  where  he  studied  at  the  Sor- 
bonne.  In  October,  1868,  a  partnership  was  ar- 
ranged between  him  and  the  late  Linus  Yale,  Jr., 
best  known  as  the  inventor  of  the  "Yale  Lock," 
whose  business  was  then  located  at  Shelburne  Falls, 
Mass.,  and  employed  about  thirty  hands.  The 
new  enterprise  was  incorporated  under  the  name 
of  "  The  Yale  Lock  Manufacturing  Co.,"  and  Stam- 
ford, Conn.,  thirty- four  miles  from  the  city  of  New 
York,  selected  for  its  location.  Having  purchased 
land  here,  Mr.  Towne  began  the  erection  of  a 
factory  building,  when,  December  25,  1868,  Mr. 
Yale  died  suddenly,  leaving  the  young  enterprise 
on  the  hands  of  Mr.  Towne  and  a  son  of  Mr.  Yale. 
The  former  became  president  of  the  corporation, 
and,  a  year  later,  bought  out  the  interest  of  the 
Yale  estate.  Since  1S69  I\Ir.  Towne  has  controlled 
the  business  and  has  personally  directed  its  affairs, 
during  which  time  the  number  of  employes  has 
grown  from  30  to  1,000.  For  several  years  he  was 
entirely  alone  in  the  ownership  and  management  of 
the  business,  but  its  rapid  growth  led  him  first  to 
associate  others  with  him  in  the  management,  and, 
later,  to  augment  the  capital  by  permitting  others 
to  subscribe  for  new  issues  of  the  stock.  Although 
the  Yale  patents  have  all  expired,  the  policy  of  con- 
stant experimental  work  has  developed  a  series  of 
inventions  and  improvements  which  have  retained 
for  the  company  a  position  of  recognized  leadership 
in  the  manufacture  of  fine  locks  of  all  kinds,  and 
this  department  is  still  the  most  important  one  in 
the  business,  including  not  only  key  locks  in  vast 
varietv  but  also  time  and  combination  bank  locks. 


220 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


fine  hardware,  and  metal-working.  Other  depart- 
ments are  devoted  to  cranes  and  heavy  hoisting 
machinery,  to  chain  tackle-blocks,  and  to  post-office 
equipments.  In  1883  the  corporate  title  was 
changed  to  "  The  Yale  &  Towne  Mfg.  Co.,"  and  a 
special  charter  obtained  from  the  state.  Additions 
to  the  plant  continue  to  be  made  almost  every  year 
to  provide  for  the  constant  growth  of  the  business. 

;Mr.  Towne  has  been  an  active  member  of  the 
American  Society  of  ^Mechanical  Engineers  almost 
from  its  formation,  a  member  of  its  council,  and  its 
president  in  1S88-S9.  In  1SS9  he  was  chosen  chair- 
man of  a  joint  party  of  some  300  American  engi- 
neers, civil,  mechanical,  and  mining,  which  visited 
England  and  France.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  and  Engineers'  Clubs,  in  the  city  of 
New^  York,  a  director  in  several  large  industrial 
corporations,  member  of  the  American  Society  of 
Civil  Engineers,  the  Institution  of  Mechanical  En- 
gineers, London,  England,  and  other  scientific 
organizations. 

Mr.  Towne  married,  early  in  life.  Miss  Cora  E. 
White  of  Philadelphia,  and  they  have  two  sons.  In 
politics  he  is  a  republican. 


ELISHA  J.  STEELE,  Torrington:  Mechanic. 

Elisha  Jones  Steele  was  born  in  Torrington ,  June 
29,  1843,  and  received  a  public  school  education. 
During  the  war  he  was  a  member  of  the  First  Con- 
necticut Heavy  Artillery, 
serving  from  1S61  until 
1865.  He  is  a  member 
and  past  commander  of 
Steele  Post,  No.  34,  G.  A. 
R.,  of  Torrington,  and 
was  one  of  the  Con- 
necticut aid-de-camps  on 
the  staff  of  National 
Commander  Alger.  He  is 
also  a  prominent  repre- 
sentative of  the  Knights 
of  Honor,  being  a  past 
dictator.  At  present  he  is 
a  member  of  the  state  ex- 
ecutive committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian 
Association  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Steele  has  been 
an  active  republican  in  Litchfield  county  for  years. 
In  1887  he  was  a  member  of  the  house  of  represent- 
atives, and  was  appointed  to  the  chairmanship  of 
the  committee  on  appropriations,  one  of  the  most 
important  of  the  legislative  committees.  He  is  the 
president  of  the  Young  Republican  Club  of  Tor- 
rington. Mr.  Steele  is  a  member  of  the  Third  Con- 
gregational church,  and  is  thoroughly  identified 
with  the  religious  and  educational  work  of  the  com- 
munity of  which  he  is  so  active  and  influential  a 
member.     For  three  years  he  was  chairman  of  the 


E.    J.    STEELE. 


Torrington  board  of  education.  His  business  asso- 
ciations are  with  the  Coe  Brass  Manufacturing 
Company,  being  the  superintendent  of  the  wire  and 
tube  departments.  His  familj^  consists  of  a  wife 
and  three  children.  The  former  was  Miss  Sophia 
H.  Skiff  before  marriage.  As  a  soldier  and  citizen 
'Sir.  Steele  is  held  in  high  esteem  and  honor  in  his 
native  town. 


ROBERT    W.    NELSON,    Hartford:    President 
Thorne  Type-Setting  Machine  Company. 
R.  W.  Nelson  was  born  in  Granville,  Washington 
county.  New  York,  September  20,  1S51.     He  was 
educated   at  the    Union   School    of    Schenectady, 
learned    the   printer's 
trade,  became  an  associ- 
ate publisher  of  the  Joliet 
(111.)   A^ews,    spent   some 
years  in  Chicago,  was  for 
two    years    a    merchant, 
and  in  1882,  in  connection 
with  Major   O.   J.   Smith 
and   G.    W.    Cummings, 
organized   the    American 
Press  Association  of  New 
s    York  city,   with  which  he 
was    connected    for    five 

R.W.NELSON.  >'^^^^-     He  was  doubtless 

largely  instrumental  in 
accomplishing  the  phenomenal  success  which  has 
attended  that  association's  progress  almost  from 
the  outset.  He  personally  introduced  the  patent 
stereotype  plate  matter  of  the  association  to  hun- 
dreds of  established  newspapers  throughout  the 
country;  and  through  his  agency,  and  by  the  aid  of 
such  "  matter,"  additional  hundreds  of  new  period- 
icals were  started,  many  of  which  have  since  come 
into  prominence  and  success.  Five  years  ago, 
while  still  connected  with  the  American  Press 
Association,  Mr.  Nelson  became  interested  in  the  in- 
genious Thorne  Type-Setting  Machine,  then  manu- 
factured in  a  small  way  in  Hartford  by  its  inventor 
and  patentee,  Joseph  Thorne.  He  acquired  first  a 
one-half  interest  in  the  enterprise,  and  a  year  or 
two  later  bought  out  Mr.  Thorne  altogether,  and 
proceeded,  with  the  aid  of  expert  assistants  to  im- 
prove and  at  length  to  perfect  the  machine.  Having 
accomplished  this,  he  organized  the  Thorne  Type- 
Setting  Machine  Company,  with  a  capital  of  one 
million  dollars,  established  a  factory  in  the  west 
wing  of  Colt's  Armory,  in  Hartford,  filled  it  with 
special  machinery,  and  is  now  employing  about 
seventy-five  skilled  mechanics  in  the  manufacture 
of  type-setting  and  distributing  machines,  the  pro- 
duct of  the  plant  being  about  twenty  of  these 
machines  per  month.  The  Thorne  is  the  only  type- 
setting machine  now  in  use  to  any  considerable  ex- 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


221 


tent.  It  revolutionizes  the  art  of  composition,  as 
the  introduction  of  power  presses  revokitionized 
the  art  of  printing.  Mr.  Nelson  is  president  of  the 
company,  and  its  general  manager;  as  such,  he 
has  introduced  the  "  Thorne  "  into  all  parts  of  the 
United  States,  Canada,  England,  Ireland,  Scotland, 
and  Australia. 

Mr.  Nelson  is  married  and  has  one  child.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Asylum  Avenue  Congregational 
church,  the  Hartford  Club,  and  the  Aldine  Club  of 
New  York  city. 


CHARLES   H.    LAWRENCE,    H.^rtford  :    Sec- 
retary   Phcenix    Mutual    Life    Insurance    Com- 
pany. 
Charles  Hammond  Lawrence  was  born  in  New 


He  was  educated  in 

the   New    Y'ork    Free 


H.    LAWKENCE. 


Y^ork  city,  August  23,   1845. 
the  public  schools   and  at 
Academy;  and  at  the  con- 
clusion of  this  preparatory 
cotirse  entered  as  clerk  the 
New  York  branch  of  the 
Hartford  firm  of  Smith  & 
Bourn.      In  1866,  still  in 
the   employ  of  this  firm, 
he  came  to  Hartford,  and 
for   the   next   four    years 
was    connected   with   the 
home  establishment.     On 
the  first  of  January,  1S71, 
he   entered    into    an    en- 
gagement with  the  Phoe- 
nix   Mutual    Life    Insur- 
ance Company,  which  has  since  continued  uninter 
ruptedly  for  more  than  twenty  years.     Beginning 
as    clerk,    he   was   advanced    through   succeeding 
gra-les,  and  in  1889  was  chosen  to  the  secretaryship 
of  the  company,  his  present  position.     In   1S72  he 
was  married  to  Miss  JuUette  H.  Fisher,  daughter 
of  the  late  Thomas  T.  Fisher,  Esq.,  of  Hartford,  a 
well-remembered     and    successful    merchant    and 
stock-broker,   and  a  prominent  citizen  of  his  day. 
Two  children,  a  son  and  daughter,  have  been  added 
to  the  family. 

Mr.  Lawrence  has  been  quite  active  in  municipal 
and  state  politics  for  several  years.  He  is  a  repub- 
lican of  pronounced  type,  and  as  such  has  been 
elected  for  three  successive  terms  to  the  common 
council;  also  for  four  years  on  the  board  of  alder- 
men; and  president  of  the  board,  representing  the 
second  ward  of  the  city.  He  is  a  conscientious  po- 
litical worker,  and  has  done  much  to  elevate  the 
standard  of  local  political  influence  in  all  branches 
of  the  public  service.  He  is  at  present  a  member 
of  the  Republican  State  Central  Committee.  Ad- 
ditionally to  his  official  connection  with  the  Phoenix 
Mutual  Life,  he  is  a  director  in  the  State  Bank,  and 


G.    C.    WALDO. 


sustains  similar  relations  with  other  Hartford  cor- 
porations. He  is  a  member,  with  his  family,  of 
Trinity  (Episcopal)  parish,  and  a  liberal  contributor 
to  its  institutions  and  charities. 


GEORGE    CURTIS    ^YALDO,    B  r  1  u  c,  e  I'O  rt: 
Journahst;  Editor  "  Daily  Evening  Standard." 
George  Curtis  Waldo  was  born  in  Lynn,  Mass., 
March  20,  1837.     He  is  eldest  son  of  the  late  Rev. 
J.  C.  Waldo  of  New  London,  and  his  mother  was  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Rev. 
Hosea  Ballou,  of  Boston, 
and    a     cousin    of    Eliza 
Ballou,     the    mother     of 
President  Garfield.      Mr. 
Waldo  was  graduated  at 
Tufts  College,   Mass.,   in 
i860,  studied  law  in  com- 
pany with  T.   M.   Waller 
in  the  office  of  the  late  A. 
C.  Lippitt   at   New  Lon- 
don,   and,  together    with 
Governor  Waller,  enlisted 
in   the     first  company 
raised  in   that    town   for 
the  civil  war,  serving  through  the  campaign  of  61. 
After  receiving  his  dischai'ge  from  the  army  he 
engaged,  on  account  of  impaired  health,  in  active 
business  in  New  London  and  Bridgeport,  and  in 
1867  became   city   editor   of  the   Daily   Evening 
Standard  in  the  latter  place.     In  i  S69  he  purchased 
an   interest  in    the   company,    and  was    associate 
editor  for  many  years  under  the  late  Hon.  John  D. 
Candee,  becoming  editor-in-chief  upon  the  death  of 
Mr.  Candee,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

In  1S74  he  married  Annie,  daughter  of  Major 
Frederick  Ffye,  formerly  of  Bridgeport,  then  of 
New  Orleans,  and  they  have  four  children. 

Mr.  Waldo  is  a  member  of  Christ  (Episcopal) 
church,  Bridgeport,  and  was  for  four  years  its 
junior  warden.  He  was  one  of  the  founders,  and 
for  five  years  secretary  of  the  Bridgeport  Scientific 
Society;  is  vice-president  and  historian  of  the  Fair- 
field County  Historical  Society;  was  first  president 
of  the  Eclectic  Club  of  Bridgeport;  and  is  at  pres- 
ent president  of  the  Sea  Side  Club  of  that  city,  an 
organization  of  over  three  hundred  of  its  most 
prominent  citizens.  He  was  for  five  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Bridgeport  board  of  education,  and  for 
two  years  chairman  of  the  committee  on  schools. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  board  of  directors  of  the 
Bridgeport  Public  Library,  a  member  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  the  Army  and  Navy 
Club  of  Connecticut.  In  1889  he  was  appointed  by 
Governor  Bulkeley  a  member  of  the  shell-fishery 
commission  of  Connecticut.  He  is  a  republican  in 
politics. 


222 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


W.    J.     MCCO.WILLE. 


WILLIAM  J.  McCONVILLE,  Hartford:  Judge 
of  City  Police  Court. 

Judge  William  J.  McConville  was  born  in  Balti- 
more, Md.,  March  13,  1851,  and  was  educated  in 
the  common  schools  of  this  state  and  the  Connecti- 
cut Literary  Institute  at 
Sufifield.  The  first  years 
of  his  career  in  this  state, 
which  were  spent  in  the 
towns  of  Manchester, 
Vernon,  South  Windsor, 
and  Suffield,  were  attend- 
ed with  difficulties  and 
obstacles,  the  aspirations 
of  the  lad  in  the  direction 
of  education  far  exceed- 
ing his  opportunities  and 
means.  But  the  way  was 
not  abandoned  on  that 
account.  Prior  to  his 
admission  to  the  Hartford  county  bar  Judge 
^IcConville  learned  the  trade  of  a  harness-maker, 
and  personally  earned  the  money  which  was  used 
in  carrying  him  through  his  studies.  He  was  in 
the  office  of  Judge  H.  S.  Barbour,  one  of  the  oldest 
and  most  respected  lawyers  in  this  city,  and  was  a 
careful  and  painstaking  student.  The  success 
which  Judge  McConville  has  attained  is  due  to  the 
energy  and  perseverance  which  have  characterized 
his  course  from  the  outset.  These  traits  of  charac- 
ter were  as  prominent  during  his  early  j^ears  as 
they  have  since  been  in  manhood.  Judge  ]\IcCon- 
ville  was  the  clerk  of  the  council  board  in  Hartford 
for  a  number  of  years,  where  the  reforms  introduced 
by  him  in  connection  with  the  journals  of  the 
board  have  since  been  retained,  and  the  effect  of 
his  influence  is  still  felt  in  the  council  administra- 
tion. In  1886  he  was  elected  assistaift  clerk  of  the 
house  of  representatives,  and  clerk  in  1887.  In  the 
latter  position  he  was  able  to  inaugurate  improve- 
ments that  will  long  be  continued  in  the  house  re- 
lative to  the  journals.  His  anah'sis  of  the  house 
proceedings  from  day  to  day  presented  in  com- 
pact and  intelligent  form  the  business  of  the 
session.  In  18S9  Judge  McConville  was  ad- 
vanced to  the  senate  clerkship,  where  his  ideas 
and  methods  were  again  exemplified  in  a  most 
satisfactory  manner.  The  excellent  work  which  he 
has  performed  in  the  house  and  senate  clerkships 
entitles  him  to  great  credit  from  the  public.  He 
received  the  republican  nomination  for  the  police 
court  judgeship  from  the  Hartford  county  caucus  in 
1SS9,  and  was  elected  by  the  general  assembly 
while  he  was  the  incumbent  of  the  senate  clerk- 
ship. This  recognition  of  his  ability  and  worth  by 
the  men  who  knew  him  best  was  exceedingly  grati- 
fying. The  confidence  reposed  in  his  capability 
and  judgment  was  not  misplaced  by  the  legislature, 


the  judge  having  proved  himself  an  able  and 
judicious  public  official.  His  career  on  the  police 
bench  has  been  eminently  successful.  The  laws 
have  been  enforced  without  fear  or  favor.  Judge 
McConville  has  been  a  member  of  the  Center  church 
in  Hartford  for  twenty-two  years.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  Hartford  Lodge,  No.  88,  F.  and  A.  M., 
and  of  Charter  Oak  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows.  He  is 
connected  with  the  order  of  Red  Men  in  the  city, 
being  a  member  of  Wangunk  Tribe;  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  and  the  Young  Men's 
Republican  Club.  He  has  been  identified  for  years 
with  the  interests  of  the  First  ward,  and  was  a 
delegate  in  the  republican  state  conventions  from 
this  citj'  during  the  state  and  national  campaigns 
of  1888.  He  has  traveled  extensively  through  the 
LTnited  States,  and  is  a  gentleman  of  wide  infor- 
mation. He  was  for  three  years  an  active  member 
of  the  First  Company  Governor's  Foot  Guard,  in 
this  city,  and  belongs  to  the  Veteran  Corps  of  that 
organization.  Judge  McConville  is  without  a 
family,  never  having  been  married.  As  a  lawyer, 
Judge  ]\IcConville  occupies  a  position  commanding 
the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  public.  He  has 
met  with  more  than  an  ordinar}^  share  of  success 
in  life,  and  his  practice  has  brought  him  before  the  su- 
preme court  on  important  issues  and  principles  of  law. 


WILLIAM  J.  DICK,  Newtown. 

William  J.  Dick  was  born  in  Newtown,  Sept.  12, 
1S22,  and  received  a  common  school  and  academic 
education,  completing  the  course  at  Chilton  Hill 
Seminary,  Elizabeth,  N. 
J.  Mr.  Dick  has  trav- 
eled extensively  through 
the  United  States,  visit- 
ing nearly  every  state  and 
territory  in  the  L^nion. 
He  has  been  engaged  in 
mechanical  and  manu- 
facturing pursuits,  and 
was  for  twenty-six  years 
the  proprietor  and  man- 
ager of  the  hotel  at  New- 
town. He  retired  from 
business,  however,  some 
time  ago.  In  politics  Mr. 
Dick  is  a  republican,  and  is  connected  with  the 
Episcopal  church.  He  has  held  various  local  of- 
fices, being  at  present  a  member  of  the  burgess 
board  of  Newtown,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and 
president  of  the  Cemetery  Association.  The 
wife  of  Mr.  Dick,  Mary  E.  Beardslej',  was  a  cousin 
of  Governor  Isaac  Toucey  of  this  state,  who  was 
subsequentl}^  United  States  Senator  from  Connec- 
ticut, and  the  secretary  of  war  in  President  Buchan- 
an's cabinet.  There  were  four  children,  all  of 
whom  have  died. 


W.     J.    DICK. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


223 


TERRILL. 


M.  W.  TERRILL,  Middlefield. 

Moses  Weld  Terrill  was  born  in  Morristown,  Vt., 
October  2,  1826,  and  is  son  of  the  late  Moses  Terrill 
and  Matilda  (Weld)  Terrill.     His  paternal   great- 
grandfather was  born  in 
East  Canaan,  Conn.,  and 
is   believed    to   have    de- 
scended from  Roger  Ter- 
rill, who  was  one  of   the 
first  settlers   of    Milford, 
Conn.,  in  1639,  and   who 
later   joined    the    colony 
from  that  town  which  set- 
tled   New    Milford.     His 
mother  was  a  descendant 
of   Joseph    Weld,    who 
came  from  Wales  and  set- 
tled in   Roxbury,   Mass., 
in  163S.     Mr.  Terrill's  ed- 
ucation was  obtained  for  the  most  part  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  his  native  town.     This  was  supple- 
mented by  one  term  in  the  academy  in  Johnson, 
Vt.,  and  two  terms  in  a  private  school  taught  in  his 
own  town.     He  finished  his  studies  just  at  the  com- 
pletion of  his  eighteenth  year,  and  taught  school 
the  following  winter.     In  the  spring  of  1845  he  en- 
tered a  country  general  store  as  clerk,  in  which  oc- 
cupation he  spent  three  years.     In  March,  1848,  in 
company  with  another,  he  embarked  in  mercantile 
business  in  Wolcott,  Vt.     At  the  end  of  one  year 
the  business  was  sold,  and  Mr.  Terrill  removed  to 
his   native  town    and   engaged   in  the  same  line. 
This  business  was  continued  until  1S61,  when  he 
removed  to  Middlefield,  and  with  the  late  David  Ly- 
man, Esq.,  joined  in  estabhshing  under  the  joint 
stock  law  of  Connecticut,  the  Metropolitan  Wash- 
ing Machine  Company  (now  the  MetropoUtan  Manu- 
facturing Company),  for  the  manufacture  and  sale 
of  washing  and  wringing  machines,  and  other  laun- 
dry utensils.    Mr.  Terrill  was  president  of  the  com- 
pany until  Mr.  Lyman's  death,  in  1S71,  when,  upon 
the  re-organization  of  the  company,  he  was  elected 
treasurer,  which  office  he  still  holds. 

Raised  on  a  farm,  Mr.  Terrill's  inchnations  to- 
ward agricultural  pursuits  were  so  strong  that  he 
bought  land  in  Middlefield,  and  erected  a  full  set  of 
buildings  thereon.  Since  1864  he  has  continued  to 
conduct  this  farm  on  the  lines  of  general  agriculture 
and  the  breeding  of  thoroughbred  cattle  (Short-horn 
and  Jersey  breeds).  At  present  he  has  a  large  and 
valuable  herd  of  Jersey  cattle.  He  has  also  given 
attention  to  fruit  culture,  especially  to  the  cul- 
ture of  the  peach,  and  at  this  time  he  has  a  young 
orchard  of  one  thousand  trees.  In  his  native  town 
he  held  the  office  of  constable  and  collector  of 
taxes,  and  assessor,  and  twice  represented  the  town 
in  the  state  legislature.  In  the  home  of  his  adop- 
tion he  has  served  several  years  as  selectman,  as- 


sessor, member  of  the  board  of  relief,  since  1865  as 
school  visitor,  and  for  many  years  as  justice  of  the 
peace  and  notary  public.  He  also  occupied  a  seat 
in  the  Connecticut  legislature  in  the  years  1S66  and 
1867,  also  in  1883.  In  his  legislative  experience  he 
has  served  on  committees  of  claims,  state  prison, 
and  agriculture,  three  times  as  chairman. 

In  July,  1848,  Mr.  Terrill  was  married  to  Miss 
Almira  O.  Ferrin,  also  of  Morristown,  Vt.,  sister  of 
Hon.  W.  G.  Ferrin  of  Montpeher,  Vt.  Their  child- 
ren are  three  sons  and  two  daughters,  all  of  whom 
are  living  at  the  present  time.  By  temperament, 
mental  structure,  and  inheritance,  Mr.  Terrill  is  a 
repubUcan.  His  father  supported  James  G.  Birney 
and  successive  candidates  of  the  liberty  party  until 
it  grew  into  the  republican  party  in  1856.  Mr.  Ter- 
rill's first  national  vote  was  cast  for  Van  Buren  and 
Adams  in  1848;  also  for  J.  P.  Hale  in  1852.  In  re- 
ligious conviction  and  association  he  is  a  Methodist. 
He  has  occupied  various  responsible  positions  in 
this  church,  and  at  present  is  a  trustee.  He  is  also 
a  supporter  of  the  principle  of  prohibition  of  the 
liqvior  traffic. 

ALEXANDER  SEMPLE,  Bro.a.d   Brook   (E.\st 
Windsor):  Agent  Broad  Brook  Company. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  remarkable  illus- 
tration of  the  strength  of  purpose  which  is  so  often 
found  in  "  self-made  men."     He  was  born  at  John- 
stone, Renfrewshire,  Scot- 
land,  on  the  8th  day  of 
May,  1835,  and  is  descend- 
ed from  the  family  of  Lord 
Semple  (1560),  of  the  an- 
cient family  Semple,  Bar- 
ons of   Elliestoun   (1214), 
on  the  father's  side,  and 
from    the    Buchanans   of 
the  family  of  the  distin- 
guished     reformer      and 
Latin  poet,  George  Bucha- 
nan (1506), on  the  mother's. 
His  parents  were  in  hum- 
ble circumstances,  and  be- 
yond the  plain  rudiments  of  an  English  education 
Semple  had  no  advantage  over  the  other  boys  of 
his  native  town.     Like  them  he  had  to  contribute 
to  the  income  of  the  household,  and  at  an  early  age 
went  to  work  learning  the  business  of  a  weaver. 
At  the  age  of  thirteen  years  he  emigrated  to  New 
York  state,  finding  employment  in  a  cotton  mill. 
Seeing  an  opportunity  to  better  himself,  he  secured 
work  as  a  weaver  in  the  woolen  mill  at  Warehouse 
Point;  then  was  engaged  as  loom  fixer  in  the  mills 
at  Broad   Brook.     In  this   place   and   position   he 
determined  to  seize  every  opportunity  in  which  to 
become  a  manufacturer,  little  thinking  that  years 
hence  he  would  be  called  upon  to  take  the  manage- 


.\LEX.\NUER    SEMI'LE. 


224 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


ment  of  the  same  concern.  After  a  few  years 
sojourn  at  Broad  Brook  he  removed  to  Dracut, 
Mass.,  thence  to  Amesbury,  thence  to  Windsor, 
Conn.,  and  thence  to  Lee,  Mass.  During  these 
changes  he  was  mastering  one  after  the  other  the 
details  of  the  business,  and  in  1862  was  engaged 
by  the  Globe  Woolen  Mills,  L^tica,  N.  Y.,  as  their 
superintendent  and  designer,  which  position  he 
creditably  filled  for  seven  years.  At  the  end  of 
this  time  he  was  engaged  by  the  Broad  Brook  com- 
panv  as  their  mill  manager,  in  which  position  he  is 
widely  known  as  one  of  the  most  successful  manu- 
facturers in  the  United  States,  his  goods  more  than 
holding  their  own  in  the  most  fastidious  mart.  He 
entered  a  woolen  mill  at  the  age  of  thirteen  years, 
and  has  worked  continuously  ever  since,  a  period 
of  forty-three  years.  He  is  proud  of  his  persever- 
ance, and  to  this  inestimable  quality  he  attributes 
his  success  in  life.  His  mind  is  quick  and  penetrat- 
ing in  its  perceptions,  and  his  directness  of  action, 
combined  with  his  insight  and  force  of  character, 
would  make  a  man  of  real  worth  among  any  people. 


GEORGE  H.  HOYT,  St.a..mford-.  Banker. 

George  H.  Hoyt  is  a  prominent  citizen  of  Stam- 
ford and  has  served  three  terms  in  the  general 
assembly  of  the  state.  He  was  first  elected  to  the 
house  by  the  democrats 
in  1876.  In  1 88 1  he  was 
chosen  for  the  second 
time  and  was  returned 
again  in  18S5.  He  made 
many  friends  in  the  state 
during  his  legislative 
career.  He  occupied  the 
office  of  burgess  for  six 
vears  in  Stamford  and 
has  served  on  the  board 
of  education  for  five. 
He  is  a  vestryman  and 
1;.   I!.   HOYT.  treasurer     in    St.    John's 

Episcopal  church  at  Stam- 
ford and  holds  a  prominent  place  socially  in  the 
commi:nity.  Mr.  Hoyt  is  the  president  of  the 
Stamford  Savings  Bank,  vice-president  of  the 
Stamford  National  Bank,  director  and  treasurer  in 
the  Stamford  Water  Company,  member  of  the 
board  of  managers  of  the  New  York  Transfer  Com- 
pany, and  a  director  in  the  Stamford  Safe  Deposit 
Company.  He  was  connected  with  the  New  York 
&  New  Haven  road  from  1857  until  1S73,  when  he 
resigned  to  devote  his  entire  attention  to  the  bank- 
ing business.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Hoyt,  who  was 
Miss  Josephine  E.  Bailey  prior  to  marriage,  is  liv- 
ing. There  are  also  two  children.  Mr.  Hoyt  was 
born  in  Stamford,  December  11,  1838,  and  was 
educated  in  the  public  and  private  schools  of  that 
town  and  of  Darien. 


J.    M.    N.    LATHROP. 


JOHN  MILTON  NEWTON  LATHROP,  Frank- 
lin: Farmer. 

Mr.  Lathrop  was  born  in  Franklin,  May  20,  1830, 
and  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the  Rev.  John  La- 
throp, who  came  to  this  countrj^  from  England  in 
the  Mayflower  in  1634, 
setthng  first  in  Scituate, 
and  afterwards  in  Barn- 
stable, Mass.  The  spell- 
ing of  the  name  has  un- 
dergone various  changes, 
the  early  records  showing 
it  to  have  been  Low- 
throppe ,  again  L  o  u- 
throppe,  and  later,  La- 
throp, as  at  present,  John 
Louthroppe  of  England 
being  the  great-grand- 
father of  the  Rev.  John 
Lathrop,  above  men- 
tioned. Israel  Lathrop,  the  third  in  the  line  of  de- 
scent from  the  Rev.  John  Lathrop,  was  born  in 
1687,  in  what  was  then  called  Norwich  East  Farms; 
afterwards,  in  1786,  being  incorporated  as  the  town 
of  Franklin.  He  married  in  June,  1710,  and  about 
this  time  settled  on  the  eastern  declivity  of  Blue 
Hill,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the  town  of  Frank- 
lin. Just  how  much  land  Israel  possessed  is  not 
known,  but  there  are  about  one  hundred  acres  orig- 
inally owned  by  him  which  is  now  held  by  his  lin- 
eal descendants,  having  never  been  deeded,  but  in- 
herited from  generation  to  generation  to  the  pres- 
ent time,  and  a  part  of  which  is  now  owned  by  the 
subject  of  this  sketch.  Ezekiel,  the  son  of  Israel, 
and  the  grandfather  of  Mr.  Lathrop,  born  Sept.  5, 
1724,  fought  throughout  the  Revolutionary  war,  his 
death  occurring  at  his  home  in  1796,  from  the  ef- 
fects of  the  exposure  and  hardship  endured  therein, 
leaving  his  family  without  support,  no  aid  from  the 
government  in  the  way  of  pensions  in  those  days 
being  possible.  James,  the  son  of  Ezekiel,  and 
father  of  our  subject,  completes  the  lineage,  he  be- 
ing born  February  27,  17S9,  in  Franklin,  on  a  part 
of  the  old  ancestral  estate.  John  M.  N.  Lathrop 
received  his  education  in  the  district  schools  of  his 
native  town,  and  at  the  Phillips  academy,  Andover, 
Mass.  He  has  generally  been  engaged  in  the  busi- 
ness of  farming,  and  has  been  twice  married.  First 
to  Lydia  Eliza,  daughter  of  Samuel  A.  Gager  of 
Bozrah,  now  deceased,  and  by  whom  he  had  one 
son,  Charles  Edwin,  born  in  1S55,  now  living  in 
Ea.st  Orange.  N.  J.;  and  second  to  Lucretia,  daugh- 
ter of  Col.  J.  S.  Hough  of  Bozrah,  now  Hving,  and 
by  whom  he  has  had  two  children,  one  born  in  1882 
and  the  other  in  18S7.  Mr.  Lathrop  has  no  miHtary 
record,  the  family  being  represented  in  the  war  of 
the  rebellion  by  his  only  brother,  who  gave  up  his 
life  in  the  service,  leaving  the  surviving  son  no  al- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


225 


ternative  but  to  remain  at  home  to  care  for  the 
aged  parents  and  the  homestead.  Mr.  Lathrop  has 
held  about  all  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  the  town,  in- 
cluding those  of  first  selectman,  grand  juror,  asses- 
sor, and  collector,  retaining  them  all  at  the  present 
time,  with  the  exception  of  that  of  selectman.  He 
also  represents  his  town  in  the  legislature  at  the 
present  session,  being  a  republican  in  politics.  His 
life  has  been  spent  almost  entirely  at  home,  where 
by  his  energy,  and  integrity,  and  other  sterling 
qualities,  he  has  won  the  confidence  and  esteem  of 
all  his  fellow-townsmen.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Bozrah  Congregational  church.  New  Concord  Soci- 
ety, and  of  the  Farmers'  League. 


H.     H.     WILDMAN. 


HENDRICK  HUDSON  WILDMAN,  New  Fair- 
field: Farmer  and  Road  Contractor. 
H.  H.  Wildman  was  born  at  New  Fairfield, 
March  25,  1S30,  and  has  always  resided  on  the  old 
homestead  and  farm  where  he  was  born.  He  at- 
tended the  district  school 
until  twelve  3-ears  of  age, 
and  afterwards  until  six- 
teen was  a  pupil  at  Peck's 
academy  and  a  boarding- 
school  in  his  native  town, 
working  Saturdays  and 
on  all  spare  moments 
daily  while  at  the  acade- 
my, but  always  keeping 
up  with  his  classes.  From 
sixteen  until  he  became 
of  age  he  was  employed 
on  his  father's  farm.  The 
two    years    following   he 

worked  at  farming  and  jobbing,  and  in  1S53  com- 
menced farming  for  himself,  alternating  it  with 
teaching  district  school  winters  in  his  own  and  ad- 
joining towns.  He  taught  on  the  old  "boarding 
'round  "  plan  fur  upwards  of  twenty  winters,  which 
proved  a  great  aid  to  him  in  studying  human 
nature.  For  six  years,  from  1870  to  1S76,  he  was 
contractor  and  superintendent  of  all  the  town's 
poor  of  New  Fairfield.  In  addition  to  his  farm  and 
other  labors  since  1877,  he  has  been  contractor  for 
the  repair  of  the  town  highways,  and  he  is  generally 
considered  "  a  good  road-maker."  For  the  last 
twenty-five  years  he  has  had  considerable  practice 
as  counsel  in  the  justice  courts  of  his  own  and  ad- 
joining towns,  although  not  a  lawyer  by  profession. 
There  is  rarely  a  legal  trial  in  his  vicinity  in  which, 
if  not  sitting  as  judge,  he  is  not  employed  on  one 
side  or  the  other;  and  he  often, acts  as  assistant 
counsel  at  the  higher  courts.  He  is  acknowledged 
to  be  "a  good  associate"  by  all  the  professional 
lawyers  of  Fairfield  County.  Mr.  Wildman  has 
been  a  member  of  the  board  of  school  visitors  since 
1857,  most  of  the  time  acting  visitor  and  examiner, 
15 


and  now  chairman  of  the  board.  He  has  been 
justice  of  the  peace  since  1S61,  registrar  of  voters 
ever  since  the  office  was  created,  auditor  of  town 
accounts  for  sixteen  years;  has  held  the  offices  of 
constable  and  collector  of  taxes,  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  relief,  has  served  as  a  grand 
juror  in  the  Ignited  States  court,  and  quite  fre- 
quently in  the  superior  court  and  court  of  common 
pleas  in  his  own  county.  He  represented  New 
Fairfield  in  the  general  assembly  in  1863,  1879,  and 
1885,  taking  an  active  part  in  the  debates  of  these 
sessions,  in  which  he  was  characterized  as  "  a  per- 
fect sledge-hammer "  by  Hon.  Henry  B.  Graves. 
In  his  legislative  experience  he  has  rendered  effect- 
ive service  in  debate,  as  well  as  in  committee  work 
on  the  educational  and  state  prison  committees. 

Mr.  Wildman  is  a  member  and  trustee  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church;  a  member  of  Samari- 
tan Lodge,  No.  7,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of  Danbury,  having 
passed  or  holding  the  offices  of  conductor,  treasurer, 
secretary,  V.G.,  N.G.,  and  P.G.,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  the  state.  In  politics 
he  is  a  democrat,  generallj-  taking  an  active  part; 
has  been  a  member  of  the  town  committee  thirty 
years,  most  of  the  time  its  chairman;  also  has  been 
on  county  and  senatorial  committees  several  times. 
He  was  married  Oct.  17,  1852,  to  Miss  Eveline 
Pearce,  daughter  of  Matthew  L.  Pearce  of  New 
Fairfield,  who  died  in  1SS5.  He  has  not  again 
married.  He  has  two  sons  and  two  daughters  liv- 
ing—  one  daughter  and  both  sons  married.  The 
elder  son,  Hendrick  H.  Wildman,  Jr.,  is  now  con- 
stable of  the  town,  having  been  elected  the  first 
time  the  day  after  he  became  twentj'-one  years  of 
age,  and  continuously  re-elected  ever  since. 


STREET  WILLIAMS,  AVallingford:  Fanner. 
Mr.  Williams  was  born  in  Wallingford,  July  9, 
1S33,  and  was  educated  there  in  the  public  and 
private  schools,  and  at  the  State  Normal  School 
at  New  Britain.  He  has 
spent  his  life  in  agricul- 
tural pursuits  since  attain- 
ing his  majority,  and  has 
made  farming  a  success  in 
the  best  sense  of  the 
word.  He  was  married 
in  1864  to  Miss  Julia  A. 
Blackman  of  Huntington 
in  this  state,  an  estimable 
companion  and  helpmate, 
who  is  still  living,  and  to 
whose  advice  and  cooper- 
ation he  attributes  much 
of  his  happiness  and  suc- 
cess in  life.  He  has  filled  various  town  and  school- 
district  offices  for  many  3'ears,  and  is  now,  and  has 
been  for  five  years,  assessor  of  the  town.     He  has 


STREET    WILLIAMS. 


226 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


been  from  his  youth  a  member  of  the  Episcopal 
church  of  Wallingford;  has  served  for  a  long  term 
of  years  as  treasurer  and  vestryman  of  the  parish, 
and  superintendent  of  its  Sunday-school.  Politi- 
cally, he  is  an  ardent  republican. 


NELSON    ADAMS. 


NELSON  ADAMS,  New  Haven:    Merchant  and 
i\Ianufacturer. 

Mr.  Adams  is  a  direct  descendant  of  the  colonial 
Adamses  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  in  Hub- 
bardston,  Worcester  county,  July  6,  1831.  As  a 
scholar  in  the  public 
school  of  the  place,  he  had 
few  equals.  At  seventeen 
years  of  age  the  chair 
factories  of  Gardner, 
Mass.,  were  the  iirst  at- 
traction, but  more  purely 
mercantile  pursuits  were 
his  desire;  and,  with  no 
introduction  or  assistance, 
he  found  employment 
tirst  in  the  Bacon  works, 
near  Boston,  and  next 
held  a  responsible  place 
in  the  stock  yards  of 
Brighton,  which  led  to  the  business  of  dress- 
ing and  curing  Provisions  for  the  markets  of 
Fitchburg  and  vicinity.  Then  going  to  New  Haven 
in  1856,  and  adding  Bone  and  Fertilizer  business, 
followed  that  line  of  trade  and  manufacture  to  the 
present  time,  having  been  thirty-eight  consecutive 
years  in  business,  depending  only  upon  his  own  re- 
sources. During  that  time  he  has  been  honor- 
ably connected  in  his  line  of  the  manufacturing 
business  in  several  cities,  including  New  York, 
Hartford,  Bridgeport,  and  Springfield. 

An  active,  busy  life  must  of  necessity  attend  these 
various  interests,  requiring  a  fair  degree  of  judg- 
ment to  keep  the  several  mercantile  trusts  entirely 
solvent  during  so  long  a  period.  Mr.  Adams  might 
be  classed  as  an  expert  in  his  lines  of  trade  and 
manufacture,  no  one  in  the  state  —  probably  few  in 
New  England  —  having  been  for  longer  time  or  in 
a  more  familiar  way  connected  with  that  industry. 
That  he  has  been  a  busy  man  may  be  inferred  from 
the  fact  that  never  since  he  \vas  twenty-two  years 
old  has  he  been  a  day  wathout  business  of  some 
kind.  When  he  was  twenty-four  he  built  and 
owned  a  house  free  and  clear,  without  financial 
assistance  from  anybody.  He  has  always  relied 
upon  himself  financially,  and  has  never  had  a  just 
debt  that  he  was  not  ready  to  pay  when  asked  to, 
or  before. 

In  character  Mr.  Adams  is  of  a  pronounced  type, 
as  were  his  ancestors;  and  in  habits,  more  natural 
than  acqtiired,   has   an  inherent  disfavor  for   nar- 


cotics and  their  like.  He  has  owned  and  driven 
horses  from  youth,  and  has  a  good  word  for  them, 
and  for  their  more  considerate  treatment;  also  a 
kind  act  and  word  for  the  helpless  among  all  crea- 
tures. He  takes  an  interest  in  the  work  of  the 
Humane  Society,  having  been  a  member  of  the 
Connecticut  society  since  it  was  chartered. 

In  1868  he  married  Jennie  E.,  daughter  of 
Thomas  P.  Dickerman  of  New  Haven.  They 
have  had  three  children,  one  son  and  two  daugh- 
ters, but  one  of  whom,  a  daughter,  is  living.  Mr. 
Adams  is  one  of  the  directors  of  the  New  Haven 
Co-operative  Savings  Bank  and  Loan  Association, 
and  one  of  its  incorporators,  it  being  the  pioneer 
association  of  its  kind  in  the  state.  He  has  always 
held  republican  principles,  and  voted  that  ticket, 
but  has  never  favored  receiving  political  or  local 
office,  yet  taking  a  lively  interest  in  the  affairs  of 
the  country  and  in  local  enterprises.  He  has  had  con- 
siderable coast-wise  traffic  by  water,  and  his  library 
contains  quite  a  large  volume  of  canceled  bills  of 
lading.  In  all  Mr.  Adams'  transactions  it  has  never 
been  said  the  dollar  was  the  all-absorbing  thought 
of  life,  and  it  may  be  added  that  he  is  more  than 
willing  to  refer  all  inquiry  as  to  his  past  or  pres- 
ent dealings  to  his  partners  in  business  in  each  of 
the  above-named  cities  who  may  be  living  at  the 
present  time. 

JOHN    ADDISON    PORTER,    Pomfret:    Jour- 
nalist, Editor  "  The  Hartford  Post." 
John  Addison  Porter,  eldest  son  of  Professor  John 
Addison  Porter,  first  Dean  of  the  Sheffield  Scien- 
tific School  of  New  Haven,  and  of  Josephine  Earl 
Sheffield,    a   daughter   of 
the  founder  of  the  school, 
was  born  in  New  Haven, 
April  17,   1S56;  was  edu- 
cated    at     the     Hopkins 
Grammar  School  of  that 
city,  and  at  Yale  Univer- 
sity, from  which  he  was 
graduated  in  the  class  of 
1S78.     After  leaving  col- 
lege, Mr.  Porter  studied 
law  in   Cleveland,  Ohio, 
but    afterwards     entered 
journalism.     He  has  been 
connected    in    various 
capacities  with  the  New  Haven  Palladium,  Hart- 
ford Cotiranf,  xXeiv  York  Obseri'er,  Neiu    York 
Tribune,  and  other  newspapers,  and  has  written 
many  articles  for  the  principal  magazines,  including 
the  New  En  inlander  and   Century.     He  has  also 
been  a  contributor  to  "  Appleton's  new  Cyclopedia 
of  American  History,"  and  is  the  author  of  several 
monographs  and  books. 

In  1884  JNIr.   Porter  removed  his  residence  from 


J.    a.    rOKTEK. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


227 


New  York  city  to  Washington,  D.  C,  and  for  two 
years  there  conducted  a  bo<)k-publishing  business. 
During  a  session  of  congress  he  served,  by  appoint- 
ment of  Senator  Piatt,  as  clerk  of  one  of  the  sen- 
ate's special  committees.  During  the  past  five 
years  ilr.  Porter  has  resided  with  his  family  at 
Pomfret,  Conn.,  excepting  when  occupied  with 
business  in  Hartford.  In  18S8  he  purchased  an  in- 
terest in  The  Hartford  Evening  Post,  and  became 
its  managing  editor,  and  in  1SS9,  having  bought  a 
majority  of  the  stock  of  the  Evening  Post  Associa- 
tion, he  became  the  editor-in-chief.  The  Hartford 
Post  continues  to  be  a  vigorous  and  progressive 
exponent  of  sterling  Connecticut  and  national  re- 
publicanism. Mr.  Porter  was  elected  first  repre- 
sentative from  the  town  of  Pomfret  in  the  autumn 
of  1S90,  and  during  the  following  session  of  i8gi 
was  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  party,  serving  as  a 
member  of  the  house  committee  on  canvass  of  votes 
for  state  officers,  and  as  house  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  education. 

Mr.  Porter  was  married,  December  20,  1SS3,  to 
Miss  Amy  Ellen  Betts,  daughter  of  George  F.  Betts, 
a  prominent  lawyer  of  New  York  city.  They  have 
had  two  children;  the  first,  Constance  Elaine,  a 
very  promising  child  of  four  years,  died  in  June, 
iSSg;  the  second,  also  a  daughter,  was  born  March 
7th  of  the  present  year. 

CHARLES  H.  SMITH,  Union  City  (Naugatuck)  : 

Postmaster. 

Mr.  Smith  was  born  in  Milford,  December  16, 
1844,  and  received  a  public  school  education,  pre- 
paring him  for  a  successful  business  career.  He 
remained  on  the  farm  un- 
till  he  reached  the  age  of 
eighteen,  when  he  be- 
came a  clerk  in  a  Water- 
bury  dry-goods  establish- 
ment, remaining  in  that 
place  for  three  years.  He 
then  accepted  a  position 
with  the  dry -goods  firm 
of  Wilcox,  Hall  &  Co.  of 
New  Haven,  where  he 
continued  in  business  un- 
til 1 87 1.  During  that  year 
he  estabhshed,  in  compa- 
ny with  F.  L.  Andrew  of 

Naugatuck,  a  general  store  at  Union  City,  the  firm 
being  Andrew  &  Smith.  In  1877  Mr.  Smith  pur- 
chased the  interest  of  Mr.  Andrew,  and  has  since 
managed  the  business  himself,  meeting  with  suc- 
cess and  accumulating  considerable  property.  He 
has  been  the  postmaster  at  Union  City  since  1879. 
He  has  also  been  actively  associated  with  the  Nau- 
gatuck board  of  selectmen.  He  is  a  member  of 
Shepherd's  Lodge,  No.  78,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Nauga- 


C.    H.    SMITH. 


W.    LOUNSBURY. 


tuck,  and  also  belongs  to  the  Ancient  Order  of 
United  Workmen.  Mr.  Smith  has  a  wife  and  one 
son.  The  former  was  Miss  Ella  A.  Andrew  prior  to 
to  her  marriage.  In  politics  Mr.  Smith  is  a  republican. 

CHARLES    W.    LOUNSBURY,    Darien:     Mer- 
chant. 

Mr.  Lounsbury  was  born  at  Eddyville,  Ulster 
county,  in  the  state  of  New  York,  in  1S42,  and  the 
same  year  moved  to  Norwalk,  Conn.,  with  his 
parents.  The  first  twenty 
years  of  his  life  were  spent 
in  Norwalk,  Wilton,  and 
New  Canaan.  At  the  lat- 
ter place  he  learned  the 
tin  and  stove  business. 
He  was  educated  at  the 
public  schools  in  the  two 
places  first  named,  and  in 
the  twenty-first  year  of 
his  age  enlisted  in  Com- 
pany A,  Seventeenth 
regiment,  Connecticut 
Volunteers,  as  a  private, 
for  three  years,  or  during 

the  war,  at  Norwalk,  August  11,  1862.  In  June, 
1S64,  on  account  of  disability  for  active  service,  he 
was  by  general  order  of  the  war  department  de- 
tailed to  serve  in  the  medical  purveyor's  depart- 
ment at  Baltimore,  ]Md.,  where  he  remained  two 
months  after  he  was  mustered  out,  which  was  at 
Baltimore,  August  28,  1865.  In  the  following  year 
he  took  up  his  residence  at  Darien,  where  he  opened 
a  tin  and  stove  store,  later  on  adding  other  goods, 
in  which  business  he  is  still  engaged.  In  1868  he 
was  married  to  Miss  Torrington  of  the  city  of  Bal- 
timore, Md.,  and  they  have  three  children,  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  Mr.  Lounsbury  has  been 
a  resident  of  Darien  for  twenty-five  years,  and  for 
more  than  twenty  years  has  held  various  public 
offices  in  that  town.  He  was  first  elected  con- 
stable, then  school  committee  and  treasurer  of  his 
district,  and  has  served  on  the  town  school  board. 
He  has  acted  as  administrator  and  executor  of 
various  estates;  has  twice  been  appointed  commis- 
sioner by  the  probate  court,  and  once  as  a  superior 
court  committee,  covering  a  period  of  six  months' 
service.  He  has  been  for  twenty  years  the  princi- 
pal trial  justice  of  his  town;  has  twice  been  the 
republican  nominee  for  the  legislature,  and  is  now 
a  notary  public.  He  is  a  member  of  the  South 
Norwalk  Baptist  church;  also  of  the  Odd  Fellows 
and  the  Masonic  fraternity.  He  enjoys  a  reputa- 
tion among  his  townsmen  for  strict  honor  and  in- 
tegrity in  all  his  dealings,  and  in  his  official  capac- 
ity his  duties  are  always  performed  with  absolute 
conscientiousness  and  a  determination  to  treat 
every  man  and  every  cause  with  impartial  justice. 


228 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


PLINY  JEWELL,  Hartford:    President   Jewell 
Belting  Companj-. 

The  name  of  Jewell  is  a  distinguished  one  among 
the  honorable  names  of  the  sons  of  Connecticut, 
both  living  and  dead;  and  its  mention  revives 
always  the  recollection  of 
our  late  lamented  Gover- 
nor Marshall  Jewell,  than 
whom  no  citizen  of  the 
state  was  in  life  more 
"  honored   and  beloved,  or 

in   death   more   sincerely 
^   _    lamented.     Plinj-  Jewell, 
>,-  "^    the  subject  of  the  present 
"^   sketch,     and     an      elder 
brother  of  the  late  (tov- 
ernor  Jewell,  is  a  descend- 
ant in  the  eighth  genera- 
tion from  Thomas  Jewell, 
his  first  American  ances- 


I'LINV    JEWELL. 


tor.  who  was  a  native  of  England,  and  emigrated 
to  America  about  1639,  settling  in  Boston.  Pliny 
Jewell,  the  second  son  of  Plinj'  and  Emil}-  (Alex- 
ander) Jewell,  was  born  at  Winchester,  N.  H., 
September  i,  1S23,  which  ancient  town  appears  to 
have  been  the  birthplace  and  residence  of  the  Jewell 
family  for  several  generations.  Pliny  Jewell, 
senior,  carried  on  business  as  a  tanner  in  New 
Hampshire  for  many  3-ears.  He  was  an  active 
member  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  was 
politically  identified  with  the  old  whig  part}',  by 
which  he  was  elected  several  times  to  the  state 
legislature.  In  1S45  he  removed  to  Hartford, 
Conn.,  continuing  the  tanner's  trade,  to  which  he 
added  the  manufacture  of  leather  belting.  He  was 
associated  in  this  business  with  two  of  his  sons,  in- 
cluding the  subject  of  this  biography,  from  1S4S 
onward  until  his  death  in  1869,  under  the  style  of 
P.  Jewell  &  Sons.  The  present  Pliny  Jewell  is  now 
the  sole  survivor  of  the  original  firm.  He  was  at 
dift'crent  dates  joined  by  his  two  brothers,  Lyman 
B.  and  Charles  A.,  the  firm  continuing  under  the 
old  style  until  its  organization  as  a  joint  stock  cor- 
poration, April  16,  1883.  The  old  factory  on  Trum- 
bull street  is  still  occupied,  but  it  has  been  greatly 
enlarged  and  new  structures  added,  until  the  plant 
is  now  one  of  the  largest  of  its  kind  in  the  country, 
leading  nearly  every  other  similar  establishment 
in  the  extent  and  volume  of  its  business.  There 
have  been  developed  from  this  industry  the  Jewell 
Belt  Hook  Company,  the  Jewell  Pad  Company,  and 
the  Jewell  Pin  Company,  Pliny  Jewell  being  a 
stockholder  in  and  president  of  all  the.se  corpora- 
tions. He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Hartford  Na- 
tional Bank,  and  the  Travelers  Insurance  Company, 
and  a  trustee  in  the  Hartford  Trust  Company.  His 
whole  active  life  has  been  spent  in  the  leather 
business,  with  all  the  details  of  which  he  is  intelli- 


gently familiar,  and  in  which  he  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful. Mr.  Jewell  is  a  republican  of  the  stalwart 
kind,  having  been  one  of  the  original  organizers  of 
that  party  in  this  state,  and  since  prominently  iden- 
tified therewith.  His  religious  connections  are  with 
the  Pearl  Street  Congregational  church  and  society. 
He  is  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of  the  Hartford 
board  of  trade,  and  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Club. 
Mr.  Jewell  was  married,  September  5,  1S45,  to 
Miss  Caroline  Bradbury,  and  they  have  two  child- 
ren: Edward  Jewell,  born  January  26,  1847,  now 
residing  in  Boston;  and  Emily  Maria  Jewell,  now 
Mrs.  Walter  Sanford  of  this  city. 


JEWELL. 


LYMAN  B.  JEWELL,  Hartford:  Vice-President 
Jewell  Belting  Companj'. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Winches- 
ter, N.  H.,  August  29,  1S27.  Following  the  univer- 
sal New  England  custom,  his  parents  kept  him  in 
the  district  school  summer 
and  winter  until  fifteen 
years  of  age,  where  he 
acquired  a  solid  prepara- 
tion for  the  active  duties 
of  life.  After  leaving 
school  he  was  variously 
employed  during  the  re- 
maining 3'ears  of  his 
minority,  and  ultimately 
engaged  in  the  drj'-goods 
commission  business, 
which  he  followed  in  New 
York  and  Boston  for  six- 
teen j-ears,  from  1856  to 
1872.  During  this  period,  in  January,  1858,  he 
married  Miss  Charlotte  Williams  of  Boston.  In 
1S73  he  removed  to  Hartford,  and  became  associated 
with  his  brothers  in  the  firm  of  P.  Jewell  &  Sons, 
now  the  Jewell  Belting  Companj',  of  which  he  is 
at  present  a  director  and  the  vice-president.  Since 
his  residence  in  Hartford  he  has  become  connected, 
officially  and  otherwise,  with  various  industrial  and 
financial  corporations.  He  holds  the  vice-presi- 
dency of  the  four  incorporated  industries  which 
have  developed  from  the  parent  house  of  P.  Jewell 
8z  Sons,  namely,  the  Leather  Belting  Company,  the 
Pin  Company,  the  Belt  Hook  Company,  and  the 
Pad  Company;  and  is  treasurer  of  the  Detroit 
Leather  Company,  which  is  practically  an  offshoot 
of  the  Hartford  establishment.  He  is  also  a  director 
in  the  Phoenix  Insurance  Company,  the  American 
National  Bank,  and  the  Southern  New  England 
Telephone  Company,  and  a  member  of  the  Hart- 
ford Club.  His  political  connections  are  with  the 
republican  party,  and  in  church  aff'airs  he  favors 
the  Episcopalians. 

Mr.  Jewell  inherits   in  a  marked  degree  some  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


>29 


C.    A.    JEWELL. 


the  notable  characteristics  of  his  ancestors.  He  is 
thoroughly  independent  and  outspoken,  sometimes 
to  the  verge  of  abruptness,  and  in  his  intercourse 
with  others  expects  that  a  spade  will  always  be 
called  a  spade,  and  by  no  other  name.  He  "  stands 
four-square  to  all  the  winds  that  blow." 


CHARLES  A.  JEWELL,  Hartford;    Treasurer 

Jewell  Belting  Company. 

Charles  A.  Jewell  is  the  youngest  son  of  Pliny 
and  Emily  Jewell,  one  of  a  family  of  ten  children, 
of  whom  the  late  Governor  Marshall  Jewell  was  the 
third,  —  the  family  being 
of  English  descent,  and 
strictly  a  New  England 
family  since  1639,  when 
Thomas  Jewell,  the  first 
American  ancestor,  set- 
tled in  Boston.  Charles 
A.  Jewell  was  born  m 
Winchester,  N.  H.,  March 
29,  1841,  and  four  years 
later  removed  with  his 
parents  to  Hartford, which 
city  has  since  been  his 
continuous  abode  to  the 
present  time.  He  was 
educated  at  the  district  and  Hartford  Public  High 
schools,  graduating  from  the  latter  to  enter  the 
leather  belting  manufactory  of  P.  Jewell  & 
Sons,  first  as  a  clerk  and  apprentice,  and  subse- 
quently as  a  partner.  He  entered  military  service 
during  the  first  year  of  the  war  as  adjutant  of  the 
Twenty-second  Connecticut  regiment,  serving  until 
honorably  discharged  at  the  close  of  his  term  of 
enlistment.  When  the  Jewell  Belting  Company 
was  organized  under  its  charter  as  a  joint  stock 
corporation,  in  April,  18S3,  he  became  its  treasurer, 
and  has  since  held  that  office.  He  is  also  treasurer 
of  the  Jewell  Pin  Company,  and  sustains  official 
relations  with  the  other  corporations  to  which  are 
attached  the  family  name,  and  whose  operations 
are  conducted  in  one  or  another  of  the  cluster  of 
factories  which  constitute  the  plant  of  the  Jewell 
Belting  Company,  the  parent  establishment.  He 
is  a  director  in  the  City  Bank,  and  in  the  Hartford 
Chemical  Company,  vice-president  of  the  Hosmer 
Hall  Choral  L^nion,  and  a  member  of  the  pruden- 
tial committee  of  the  Hartford  Theological  Semi- 
nary. Mr.  Jewell  is  a  member  of  the  First  (Center 
Congregational)  church  of  Hartford,  one  of  its 
society's  committee,  and  superintendent  of  its  Sun- 
day-school. He  is  active  in  all  religious  work,  and 
a  useful  and  valued  member  of  this  ancient  Chris- 
tian institution.  As  vice-president  of  the  Hartford 
Young  Alen's  Christian  Association,  and  for  ten 
years  its  'president,  he  has  been  one  of  the  chief 


promoters  of  its  religious  activities,  as  well  as  one 
of  its  most  liberal  benefactors.  The  association  is 
largely  indebted  to  his  prudent  councils  and  wise 
direction,  as  well  as  his  personal  influence,  for  its 
high  standing  before  the  pubhc,  and  the  compara- 
tively prosperous  condition  of  its  finances.  Mr. 
Jewell  was  married  in  1866  to  Miss  JuhaW.  Brown, 
daughter  of  Roswell  Brown,  Esq.,  of  Hartford. 
There  are  no  children  in  the  family.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  add  that  the  subject  of  this  sketch  is 
a  republican;  no  member  of  the  family  in  the  pres- 
ent generation,  at  least,  has  been  suspected  of 
other  political  affiliations.  He  is  also  a  member  of 
the  Loyal  Legion. 


NOAH    PORTER 


NOAH  PORTER,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  New  H.wen. 

The  venerable  ex-president  of  Yale  LTniversity 
was  born  in  the  ancient  town  of  Farmington, 
December  14,  181 1.  His  father,  whose  name  is 
borne  by  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  was  for  sixty 
years  pastor  of  the  only 
church  in  Farmington,  of 
which  one  of  his  ancestors 
was  among  the  first  set- 
tlers in  1640.  It  was  in 
his  study  that  the  Amer- 
ican Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Mis- 
sions was  organized, 
and  held  its  first  meeting 
September  5,  18 10.  The 
boy  early  manifested  so 
great  an  interest  in  books, 

and  his  progress  in  the  English  branches  of  educa- 
tion was  so  rapid,  that  at  eight  years  of  age  he  was 
permitted  to  begin  the  study  of  Latin.  In  his  six- 
teenth year  he  left  home  to  enter  college  as  a  fresh- 
man, immediately  took  a  high  rank  as  a  scholar, 
and  graduated  in  183 1.  He  became  the  rector  of 
the  old  Hopkins  Grammar  School  shortly  after  his 
graduation,  was  elected  tutor  in  Yale  College  in 
1S33,  serving  in  that  capacity  for  two  years.  In 
1S36  he  became  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  in  New  Milford,  and  about  the  same  time 
was  married  to  the  daughter  of  Dr.  Taylor,  his  in- 
structor in  theology  in  the  Yale  Divinity  School. 
;Mr.  Porter's  pastorate  in  New  ^Slilford  lasted  seven 
years,  and  at  its  close  he  entered  into  the  same 
relation  with  the  South  Congregational  church  in 
Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  remained  for  four 
years,  when  he  was  chosen,  in  1S46,  Clark  profes- 
sor of  mental  and  moral  philosophy  in  Yale  College. 
After  occupying  this  chair  for  twenty-five  years, 
on  the  resignation  of  President  Woolsey,  in  1871, 
he  was  elected  president.  During  his  administra- 
tion  the   college   was  very   prosperous.       Several 


230 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


costly  buildings  were  erected,  the  corps  of  instruct- 
ors was  much  enlarged,  and  the  different  depart- 
ments of  the  institution  came  to  be  officially  recog- 
nized b}'  the  corporation  as  having  "attained  to 
the  form  of  a  university.''  His  incumbency  of  the 
presidential  office  continued  until  i8S6,  when  physi- 
cal infirmity  compelled  his  resignation. 

Dr.  Porter  has,  during  all  his  life,  been  a  volum- 
inous writer.  His  published  works  are  too  numer- 
ous to  even  be  mentioned  here  by  their  titles.  He 
has  been  a  constant  contributor  to  the  press,  and 
the  editor  of  all  the  later  editions  of  Webster's  U^n- 
abridged  Dictionary.  He  will  rank  in  history 
as  among  the  foremost  of  American  authors  and 
scholars. 

JOHN  N.  STICKNEY,  Rockville  :  A  Retired 
Manufacturer  and  Journalist. 
John  Newton  Stickney  was  born  in  Vassal- 
boro',  Me.,  January  17,  iSiS,  and  was  educated  at 
the  Hallowell  Academy.  In  1S37,  after  having 
spent  a  few  years  in  the 
store  of  Dole  &  Stickney 
in  Hallowell,  he  removed 
to  New  York  cit)-,  and  in 
]May,  1839,  was  married 
to  Miss  Mary  S.  Hale, 
daughter  of  the  founder 
of  The  Neiv  York  Jour- 
nal of  Commerce.  The 
young  couple  removed  to 
Union  City,  Branch  coun- 
ty, Mich.,  where  they  re- 
sided between  three  and 
four  years.  Two  children 
were  born  to  them,  while 
living  in  Union  City,  one  son  and  a  daughter.  The 
first  born  died  there,  but  the  daughter.  Miss  Caro- 
line Alathea  Stickney,  attained  womanhood,  and  is 
now  Mrs.  J.  K.  Creevey  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.  From 
Union  City  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stickney  removed  to  Mar- 
shall, Calhoun  county,  Mich.,  where  the  second 
daughter,  Laura  Hale,  now  Mrs.  H.  L.  Hall,  was 
born.  In  1846  the  family  removed  to  Rockville,  in 
Tolland  county,  and  have  since  been  residents  of 
this  state.  Frank  Hale  Stickney,  now  residing  in 
Longmont,  Colorado,  and  Mrs.  Jeannie  Rose  Car- 
son of  Pelham  Manor,  Westchester  county,  N.  Y., 
are  the  children  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stickney  who  were 
liorn  in  Rockville.  Mrs.  Stickney,  who  was  a  lady 
of  the  most  attractive  and  loveable  character,  died 
April  23,  1885.  For  over  forty  years  Mr.  Stick- 
ney has  been  a  prominent  and  influential  citizen  of 
Rockville,  and  has  been  actively  identified  with  its 
progress  and  prosperity.  He  has  been  treasurer  of 
the  Rockville  Gas  Light  Company  since  1S63. 
He  is  one  of  the  foremost  laymen  in  the  Congrega- 
tional Church  of  this  state,  occupying  at  present  a 


V  'I--,-      •- 


J.    N.    STICKNEY. 


responsible  position  in  the  general  conference  of 
Congregational  Churches,  and  being  a  leading 
member  of  the  Congregational  Club  of  Connecticut. 
He  has  been  a  director  in  the  Missionary  Society 
of  Connecticut,  and  a  trustee  of  the  Fund  for 
Ministers,  since  1863  ;  to  which  offices  he  has  been 
annually  re-elected  by  the  General  Conference  of 
Connecticut.  He  has  also  been  a  trustee  of  the 
Hale  Donation  Fund  since  1877.  He  was  the 
senior  deacon  in  the  First  Congregational  church 
in  Rockville  at  the  time  the  Union  church  was 
organized,  and  retains  the  office  in  the  new  church. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch,  while  not  having  been 
a  public  office-holder  in  the  general  sense  of  that 
term,  has  been  one  of  the  most  reliable  and 
trusted  representatives  of  town  affairs  in  Rockville 
in  the  town  of  Vernon.  He  has  possessed  abun- 
dant means  through  life,  and  has  used  his  wealth 
for  the  advancement  and  benefit  of  the  community 
in  which  he  has  been  for  so  long  a  time  an  honored 
resident  and  business  manager. 


PATRICK   McGOVERN,    Hartford:  Alderman 
Third  Ward. 

Alderman  McGovern  was  born  October  23,  1849, 
and  received  a  university  education.  The  whole  of 
his  public  life  has  been  spent  in  this  city.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the 
court  of  common  council 
for  fourteen  years,  all  but 
two  of  the  number  hav- 
ing been  passed  in  the 
upper  board.  For  the 
past  three  years  he  has 
been  the  acting  president 
of  the  aldermanic  organ- 
ization, making  him  the 
chief  executive  of  the  city 
during  the  mayor's  ab- 
sence. He  has  had  the 
unanimous  vote  of  his 
republican  associates  in 
the  board  for  the  place,  occupying  the  position 
through  three  consecutive  terms.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  fire  department  committee  for  a  number 
of  years,  and  has  held  the  most  important  special 
committeeships  during  the  whole  period  in  which 
he  has  been  connected  with  the  municipal  govern- 
ment. His  work  has  been  invaluable  on  these  com- 
mittees. The  details  belong  to  the  history  of  the 
city's  administra:tion  during  the  past  dozen  years, 
but  the  mention  of  the  work  belongs  properly  to  a 
personal  history  of  the  alderman.  He  has  held  po- 
sitions of  great  responsibility  in  the  town  and  city 
apart  from  his  connection  with  the  court  of  common 
council.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  republican 
town  committee  for  years,  occupying  the  chairman- 


PATRICK    MCGOVERN. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


231 


ship  since  1887.  He  has  been  a  member  of  staff 
under  every  republican  marshal  in  this  city  since 
1876.  He  is  the  republican  town  auditor,  and  his 
work  in  that  capacity  has  been  performed  with  the 
utmost  accuracy  and  fidelity.  During  the  last  pres- 
idential campaign  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the 
Henry  C.  Robinson  troop,  and  is  actively  interested 
in  the  later  history  and  work  of  the  organization. 
On  various  important  occasions  he  has  represented 
the  republicans  in  conventions  and  public  assem- 
blages. Mr.  McGovem  is  a  member  of  the  Ancient 
Order  of  Hibernians,  and  of  the  order  of  Elks  in 
this  city.  He  belongs  to  St.  Peter's  church,  and  is 
one  of  the  staunchest  friends  of  the  working  classes 
in  the  citj'.  He  occupies  a  position  of  great  trust 
and  responsibility  in  the  .^tna  Life  Insurance 
Company,  and  is  a  gentleman  of  the  strictest  busi- 
ness habits  and  training.  Mr.  McGovern  is  mar- 
ried, his  wife  being  Miss  Vitaline  Dumont  prior  to 
marriage. 

THOMAS  J.  THURBER,  Putnam   Heights:  Ar- 
tist. 

Thomas  Jones  Thurber  was  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly  in  1882,  representing  the  town  of 
Putnam.  His  legislative  career  was  one  of  credit 
and  success.  The  felicit- 
ous qualities  of  heart  and 
head  of  which  he  is  the 
possessor  won  for  him  a 
cordial  place  among  his 
associates,  and  he  is  re- 
membered as  one  of  the 
pleasantest  gentlemen  in 
eastern  Connecticut.  He 
is  a  republican  in  politics. 
He  is  at  present  a  justice 
of  the  peace  and  an  agent 
of  the  Connecticut  Hu- 
mane Society.  He  is  also 
the  collector  and  treasur- 
er of  the  First  Congregational  church  society  at 
Putnam.  Mr.  Thurber  is  interested  in  scientific  re- 
search, and  has  devoted  considerable  time  and  at- 
tention to  independent  investigation.  He  has  also 
executed  meritorious  work  as  an  artist,  his  oil  paint- 
ings meeting  with  decided  favor  and  acceptance. 
His  time  and  money  have  been  cheerfully  expended 
in  behalf  of  temperance  interests,  and  his  life  in  va- 
rious ways  has  been  a  benefaction  to  the  world. 
Mr.  Thurber  was  born  in  Providence,  R.  I.,  May 
29,  1831,  and  was  educated  in  the  Providence  high 
school.  In  1852  he  accepted  a  position  with  the  New 
England  agency  of  the  Delaware  &  Hudson  Canal 
Company,  retaining  it  for  four  j'ears.  Subsequently 
he  represented  Edward  Harris,  the  Woonsocket 
woolen  manufacturer,  in  New  York  city  for  thirteen 
years,  being   allowed  an  interest  in   the  business 


T.   J.   THURBER. 


during  the  last  three  years  of  his  term.  He  then 
established  a  connection  for  four  years  with  Gard- 
ner, Brewer  &  Co.'s  New  York  house,  and  after- 
wards with  A.  T.  Stewart  &  Co. ,  having  charge  of 
the  domestic  woolen  mills  owned  by  the  firm.  He 
retired  from  business  in  1S75,  and  has  since  resided 
at  Putnam  Heights.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Thurber, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Esther  A.  Carey  of 
Providence.  There  is  one  son,  Charles  H.  Thur- 
ber, who  is  engaged  in  business  at  Newark,  N.  J. 


J.    K.     DOHERTY, 


COL.  JOHN   B.   DOHERTY,  Waterhurv:  Post- 
master. 

Colonel  Doherty  was  born  in  Westmoreland 
county,  New  Brunswick,  Sept.  10,  1S53,  and  was 
educated  in  a  private  academy  at  St.  John,  New 
Brunswick,  and  in  the 
public  schools  of  Water- 
bur}'.  He  is  an  account- 
ant by  profession.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Quin- 
nipiac  and  Republican 
League  of  New  Haven, 
Continental  Lodge,  F.  and 
A.  M.,  and  Clark  Com- 
mandry,  Knights  Temp- 
lar, of  Waterbury.  He 
also  belongs  to  the  Odd 
Fellows,  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  the  Red  Men, 
and  the  Waterbury  Club. 
He  has  taken  an  active  part  in  politics  and  occupied 
the  position  of  first  selectman  in  Waterbury  for  two 
years,  the  term  of  service  beginning  October,  1886. 
He  was  appointed  postmaster  under  President  Har- 
rison. Colonel  Dohert}-  has  also  been  considered 
as  a  candidate  for  position  on  the  state  ticket.  But 
as  colonel  of  the  Second  Regiment  he  has  been 
brought  into  deserved  prominence  during  the  past 
eighteen  months.  In  the  first  place  his  way  was 
made  from  the  ranks  to  the  highest  position  in  the 
command.  In  addition  to  this  his  management  of 
the  Second  during  two  encampments  at  Niantic 
proved  his  promotion  to  be  a  meritorious  one.  He 
enlisted  as  a  private  in  Company  A  of  the  Second, 
Januarj^  22,  1872,  and  became  second  lieutenant 
May  20,  18S0.  He  was  commissioned  first  lieuten- 
ant, June  2,  1882,  captain,  August  i,  1883,  and 
major,  Febi-uary  16,  1SS5.  Januarj'  24,  1SS7,  he 
received  his  commission  as  lieutenant-colonel,  and 
was  promoted  to  the  command  of  the  regiment, 
July  I,  iS8g.  Colonel  Doherty  is  one  of  the  best 
officers  in  the  National  Guard.  Under  his  leader- 
ship the  Second  has  lost  none  of  its  prestige.  The 
wife  of  Colonel  Doherty  died  Nov.  29,  1882.  There 
are  no  children.  He  is  connected  with  the  Second 
Congregational  society  in  Waterbury. 


232 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


EDWARD     W.     THOMPSON,     New    Britain: 
Druggist. 

Edward  Willet  Thompson  is  engaged  in  the  drug 
business  in  New  Britain,  where  he  has  a  large  and 
lucrative  patronage.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New 
Britain  club,  and  is  con- 
nected with  the  First  Con- 
gregational church.  In 
politics  'Mv.  Thompson  is 
a  republican.  He  was 
born  at  Broadalbin,  N.Y., 
November  i,  1850,  and 
received  a  common  school 
education.  He  removed 
to  New  Britain  a  number 
of  years  ago,  and  suc- 
ceeded to  one  of  the  best 
drug  establishments  in 
the  city,  reorganizing  the 
business  under  the  firm 
name  of  E.  W.  Thompson  &  Co.  Mr.  Thompson 
has  a  wife  and  two  sons,  the  former  being  Miss 
Ella  M.  Andrews  of  New  Britain.  ]\Ir.  Thompson 
resided  in  New  York  city  prior  to  his  removal  to 
Connecticut. 


THOMPSON. 


C.  E.  JACKSON,  Middletown:  Banker,  Vice- 
President  Middlesex  Banking  Company. 
Charles  Eben  Jackson  was  born  in  Middletown, 
January  25,  1S49.  He  was  educated  at  St.  Paul's 
School,  Concord,  N.  H.,  receiving  a  thorough 
preparation  for  the  busi- 
ness activities  of  life.  Af- 
ter leaving  school  he  en- 
gaged as  a  clerk  in  a  mer- 
cantile establishment,  and 
later  in  a  banking  office 
in  New  York  citv.  In 
1S72  he  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  Miss  Eve- 
lyn Quintard,  daughter  of 
E.  A.  Quintard  of  New 
York  city,  whom  he  mar- 
ried in  1S73,  and  by 
whom  he  has  had  eight 
children,  seven  of  them 
Jackson  has  for  a  number 
of  years  been  at  the  head  of  the  Middletown 
banking  house  of  C.  E.  Jackson  &  Co.,  well 
known  among  the  reputable  financial  institutions 
of  the  state.  He  is  also  vice-president  of  the  Mid- 
dlesex Banking  Company,  treasurer  of  the  Berkeley 
Divinity  School,  and  of  the  Russell  Library  Com- 
pany, and  has  minor  official  connection  with  other 
institutions  of  Middletown.  He  is  by  religious 
faith  and  profession  an  Episcopalian,  being  a  mem- 
ber  and   senior    warden   of    Holy  Trinity  parish. 


C.    E.    JACKSON. 

now    living.       Mr. 


He  has  been  connected  with  the  republican  party, 
but  latterly  his  political  inclinations  are  decidedly 
"  mugwumpian." 

It  may  be  said  without  impropriety  that  Mr. 
Jackson  has  a  well-founded  reputation  in  business 
circles  as  an  able  and  honorable  financier,  whose 
business  methods  and  management  entitle  his  firm 
to  the  utmost  confidence  of  the'  communitv. 


public  schools  of  Boston. 


S.    E.    CHAMBERLAIN. 


GENERAL  SAMUEL  E.  CHAMBERLAIN, 
Wethersfield:  Warden  Connecticut  State  Prison. 
S.  E.  Chamberlain  was  born  Nov.  28,  1829,  at 
Center  Harbor,  N.  H.,  and  was  educated  in  the 
He  served  as  an  enlisted 
man  in  the  First  LTnited 
States  Dragoons,  during 
the  war  with  Mexico,  and 
took  part  in  the  storming 
of  Monterey,  Sept.  21,  22, 
and  23,  1846,  and  the  bat- 
tle of  Buena  Vista,  Feb. 
22  and  23,  1S47.  He  af- 
terwards served  with 
Rangers  in  Sonora  and 
Arizona,  in  suppressing 
Apaches'  outrages,  em- 
ployed by  the  governor 
of  Durango.  In  the  fall 
of  1853  he  was  a  inember 
of  Walker's  expedition  to  ' '  extend  the  area  of  free- 
dom "  in  Lower  California, "and  participated  in  the 
affairs  at  La  Paz,  San  Thomas,  and  La  Encinada. 
On  the  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  he  was,  on 
April  17,  1S61,  commissioned  first  Heutenant  Com- 
pany C,  Third  Regiment,  Massachusetts  Volunteer 
Militia,  at  Cambridge,  Mass.  On  his  return  from 
the  three-months  campaign  he  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  the  First  Massachusetts  Cavalry,  was  commis- 
sioned captain  Nov.  25,  1861;  major,  Oct.  30,  1862; 
lieutenant-colonel,  March  5,  1864;  colonel,  Sept.  30, 
1864;  and  breveted  brigadier-general  for  gallant 
and  meritorious  service  in  covering  the  retreat  of 
Gregg's  Division  of  Cavalry,  at  the  disastrous  bat- 
tle of  St.  Mary's  Church,  Va.,  June  25,  1S64.  He 
was  wounded  seven  times,  was  engaged  in  thirty- 
five  battles,  besides  numerous  cavalry  affairs. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  was  stationed  in 
Texas,  and  was  finally  mustered  out  October,  1S65. 
He  served  on  the  staffs  of  Governors  Bullock  and 
Claflin  of  Massachusetts,  as  assistant  quarter- 
master-general, with  the  rank  of  colonel.  He  was 
appointed  warden  of  the  Massachusetts  State  Prison 
in  1871,  resigned  in  18S1,  and  was  appointed  warden 
of  the  Connecticut  State  Prison  March  17,  1SS5, 
which  office  he  still  holds. 

General  Chamberlain  married  ]\Iiss  ^Nlary  Keith, 
and  they  have  three  children.     Among  the  military 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


233 


and  other  associations  with  which  he  is  connected 
may  be  mentioned  the  military  order  of  the  Loyal 
Legion  of  the  United  States,  the  Grand  Army  of 
the  Republic,  and  the  Masonic  fraternity.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  identified  with  the  republican  party. 
His  military  life  and  habits,  his  wide  famiharity 
with  all  phases  of  humanity,  and  his  quick  percep- 
tive instincts,  admirably  qualify  him  for  the  proper 
discharge  of  the  important  and  peculiar  duties  of 
his  present  position  at  the  head  of  the  chief  penal 
and  reformatory  institution  of  the  commonwealth. 


.VDOLrH    KORTEK. 


ADOLPH    KORPER,    WillIx\gton  :    Paymaster 

with  Gardiner  Hall,  Jr.,  &  Co. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  native  of  Bohemia, 
Austria,  where  he  was  born  in  February,  1846.  He 
was  educated  in  the  public  schools,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one  emigrated 
to  America,  taking  up  his 
residence  in  Willington,  in 
which  town  he  has  ever 
since  resided,  engaged  as 
bookkeeper  and  paymas- 
ter for  the  firm  of  Gardi- 
ner Hall,  Jr.,  &  Co.  of 
South  Willington  since 
1869.  He  married  Miss 
Mary  I.  Brigham  of  Tol- 
land, and  four  children 
have  been  born  to  them  — 
a  daughter  and  three  sons. 
When   the    project    of    a 

post-office  at  South  Willington  was  carried  out  and 
an  office  established,  Mr.  Korper  was  appointed 
postmaster,  but  subsequently  resigned,  owing  to 
the  pressure  of  other  duties,  and  his  wife  was 
appointed  as  his  successor.  He  is  in  ardent  sympa- 
thy with  New  England  ideas,  though  not  a  native, 
and  interests  himself  actively  in  all  schemes  for 
public  improvement.  He  has  held  various  elective 
offices  in  his  town,  being  chosen  thereto  by  the  re- 
publicans, of  which  party  he  has  been  a  member 
since  becoming  an  elector.  He  was  grand  juror, 
constable,  registrar  of  electors,  and  auditor  several 
years,  and  represented  Willington  in  the  state 
legislature  in  1879;  was  appointed  notary  public 
that  year  and  re-appointed  each  year  since;  is  now 
first  selectman,  town  agent,  and  agent  of  the  town 
deposit  fund,  having  held  these  offices  continuously 
since  1SS6.  It  is  but  just  to  say  that  in  whatever 
position  Mr.  Korper  has  been  called  to  serve  the 
public,  he  has  rendered  conscientious  service,  and 
has  given  complete  satisfaction  to  his  constituents. 
He  is  a  director  of  the  Stafford  Springs  Agricultural 
Society,  a  member  of  the  Staft'ord  Springs  Business 
Men's  Association,  and  a  member  also  of  L^riel 
Lodge,  No.  24,. Free  and  Accepted  Masons. 


DWI(;HT  W.  TUTTLE,  east  H.^ven-  Attorney- 

at-Law. 

Representative  Dwight  W.  Tuttle  was  born  in 
Hamden,  and  is  forty-four  years  of  age.  He  was 
educated  in  the  common  schools  and  in  the  law 
school  connected  with 
Yale  LTniversity.  He  has 
held  the  offices  of  town 
clerk,  justice  of  the  peace 
for  twenty-two  years, 
prosecuting  agent  for  nine 
years,  grand  juror,  and 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief.  He  was  originally 
elected  to  the  legislature 
in  18S1,  and  in  1S89  was 
returned  by  the  republi- 
cans of  East  Haven.  Last 
fall  he  was  elected  for  the 
third  term  and  was  placed 

on  the  judiciary  committee,  his  standing  as  a 
repubHcan  lawyer  entitling  him  to  that  position. 
He  is  at  present  school  visitor  in  East  Haven, 
chairman  of  the  republican  town  committee,  and 
justice  of  the  peace.  He  is  the  senior  warden  of 
Christ  Church  in  East  Haven,  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  order,  the  Grange,  and  of  the  Sons  of 
Temperance.  The  wife  of  Representative  Tuttle, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Bertha  Lancey  prior  to 
her  marriage.  There  are  no  children.  In  addition 
to  his  law  practice  Mr.  Tuttle  is  interested  in  farm- 
ing in  East  Haven  and  in  Florida. 

:\I.  A.  HART,  Riverton:  Merchant. 

]\Iyron  A.  Hart,  at  present  representative  in  the 
general  assembly  from  Barkhamsted,  was  born  in 
that  town,  January  17,   1S49,  and  was  educated  at 
Wilbraham        Academy, 
graduating  from  that  in- 
stitution in  1869.     He  en- 
gaged in  mercantile  busi- 
ness at  Riverton  and  was 
for  years  at  the  head  of 
the  firm  of  :\I.  A.  &  L.  C. 
Hart.     He  was  assistant 
postmaster      from      1869 
until  1SS3,  and  postmaster 
from  the  latter  year  until 
1890.     He   has  also   held 
the  position  of  first  select- 
man and  town  agent,  jus-  HATT 
tice    of    the   peace,    town 

auditor,  member  of  the  school  board,  and  board  of 
relief,  discharging  the  duties  of  each  office  with 
promptness  and  efficiency.  Mr.  Hart  is  a  demo- 
crat in  politics.  He  is  associated  with  the  Congre- 
gational society  at  Riverton.  In  Ma5^  1S90,  he 
disposed  of  his  mercantile  business,  and  resigned  as 


234 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Tunxis  Creamery 
Association.  He  is  at  present  connected  with  a 
manufacturing  company  at  Chicago,  111.,  engaged 
in  the  manufacture  of  machinery  for  mining.  The 
wife  of  Representative  Hart,  who  was  Miss  Carrie 
A.  Ransom  prior  to  marriage,  died  January  12, 
1890,  leaving  to  him   the  care  of  four  daughters. 


J- 


JAMES  NEWTON  LOOMIS,  Gr.\nhy:  Merchant. 
Mr.  Loomis  is  senior  member  of  the  prosperous 
firm  of  Loomis  Brothers,  who  are  proprietors  of  the 
principal  store  in  the  town  of  Granby.  He  is  a 
native  of  South  wick , 
Mass.,  where  he  was  born 
September  16,  1832.  His 
attendance  at  the  district 
school  and  at  the  academy 
in  Southwick  was  nearly 
continuous  up  to  the  time 
when  he  reached  the  age 
of  fourteen,  when  he  was 
put  out  to  live  with  an 
uncle  on  a  farm  for  si.x 
months, —  which  experi- 
ence he  yet  retains  a 
lively  recollection  of  on 
account  of  the  severe  and 
laborious  tasks  which  were  imposed  upon  him.  At 
the  end  of  this  term  of  farm  service  he  went  to 
Granby  and  engaged  as  a  clerk  for  G.  H.  Dibble, 
and  has  retained  his  residence  in  that  town  up  to 
the  present  time.  He  formed  a  business  connec- 
tion, later,  with  J.  J.  Phelps,  which  continued  until 
1856,  when  he  joined  his  brother,  C.  P.  Loomis, 
and,  under  the  style  of  Loomis  Brothers,  the  busi- 
ness has  since  been  successfully  conducted  for 
thirty-five  years.  During  the  war  of  the  rebellion 
both  himself  and  his  brother  were  drafted,  but  both 
furnished  substitutes.  Since  1S56  the  office  of  post- 
master of  Granby  has  been  held  continuously  by 
one  or  the  other  of  the  brothers  —  J.  N.  holding  the 
commission  until  1868,  and  resigning  in  favor  of 
C.  P.  in  order  to  accept  the  office  of  representative 
in  the  state  legislature  to  which  he  was  elected  by 
the  republicans  the  fall  previous;  and  the  latter 
similarly  resigning  when  he  was  elected  to  the  same 
office  in  1879.  Mr.  J.  N.  Loomis  was  selectman  of 
Granby  for  several  years,  and  has  filled  other  minor 
town  offices.  He  is  a  member  f)f  the  South  Con- 
gregational church;  also  of  the  Masonic  fraternity, 
including  St.  Mark's  Lodge,  No.  91,  and  La  Fayette 
Chapter.  He  has  twice  married;  first  Catherine 
Pratt  of  Middleboro,  Mass.,  who  died  in  1885  ;  and 
subsequently  Estelle  M.  Deming  of  Granby.  He 
has  three  children  —  two  by  first  and  one  by  his 
last  marriage.  Dr.  Frank  N.  Loomis  of  Birming- 
ham is  his  eldest  son. 

The  firm  of  Loomis  Brothers  has  met  with  some 


hard  luck  in  business,  having  suffered  by  a  disas- 
trous conflagration  in  1S77,  but  by  perseverance 
and  plenty  of  hard  work  they  have  conquered 
obstacles  and  achieved  a  splendid  success.  They 
have  recently  completed  a  new  edifice  for  their 
business,  which  will  give  them  one  of  the  finest 
country  stores  in  the  state. 

CHESTER  P.  LOOMIS,  Granby:  Merchant. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Southwick, 
Mass.,  November  20,  1834,  the  younger  of  two 
brothers,  whose  relations,  both  business  and  social, 
have  been  most  intimate 
from  childhood  until  the 
present  time.  He  received 
a  good  rudimentary 
education  at  the  district 
school,  finishing  at  Dick- 
inson Academy,  an  excel- 


C.    p.    I.OOMIS. 

his  taste  and  ambition, 
years  of  age  to  become 


lent  institution  of  that 
town.  Here  he  laid  a 
foundation  for  the  success 
which  he  achieved  in  later 
life,  in  mercantile  pur- 
suits, to  which  he  seemed 
to  be  adapted  and  which 
was  clearly  in  the  line  of 
He  left  home  at  eighteen 
a  clerk  in  Lee,  Mass.,  in 
which  position  he  worked  faithfully  until  he  became 
of  age,  when  he  removed  to  Granby,  Conn.,  and 
shortly  afterward  entered  into  partnership  with 
J.  N.  Loomis,  his  elder  brother,  in  the  establish- 
ment of  a  general  country  store  in  the  village  of 
Granby,  the  firm  being  Loomis  Brothers.  This 
connection  has  continued  uninterruptedly  from  that 
time  until  the  present,  and  the  establishment  has 
become  one  of  the  best  known  and  most  prosperous 
and  extensive  in  that  part  of  the  state.  During  the 
war  Mr.  Loomis  was  engaged  in  business  in  New- 
berne.  North  Carolina,  for  upwards  of  four  years, 
maintaining  the  while  his  connection  with  the 
Granby  firm.  In  addition  to  his  personal  and  part- 
nership affairs,  he  has  found  time  to  serve  his 
fellow-citizens  in  various  capacities.  He  has  been 
town  clerk  since  1872,  and  still  holds  that  office. 
He  represented  Granby  in  the  general  assembly  in 
1880,  and  previous  to  that  date  was  postmaster  for 
nearly  or  quite  ten  years.  He  has  been  republican 
town  committee,  and  otherwise  active  in  promoting 
the  interests  of  that  party,  by  whom  he  was  elected 
to  his  seat  in  the  legislature.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  South  Congregational  church,  also  of  St.  Mark's 
Lodge,  No.  91,  F.  and  A.  M.  Mr.  Loomis  is 
married  and  has  two  children.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Eliza  L.  Harger,  daughter  of  the  late  Deacon  John 
W.  Harger  of  Canton.  A  younger  brother,  George 
L.,  lives  in  Northampton,  Mass. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


235 


A.    S.    COOK. 


ASA   SINCLAIR    COOK,  Hartford:    Manufac- 
turing Machinist. 

Asa  S.  Cook,  eldest  son  of  John  and  Sarah  (Sin- 
clair) Cook,  was  born  at  Sandwich,  N.  H.,  Jan.  10, 
1S23.  His  father,  a  sturdy  and  respected  farmer, 
recognized  the  importance  _ 

of  mental  as  well  as  phys- 
ical culture  for  his  child- 
ren, and  thus  the  slender 
advantages  of  the  district 
school  were  supplemented 
in    his    case    by   several 
terms  at  the  high  school 
then  taught  by  Daniel  G. 
Beede,    an   instructor   of 
ability   and    considerable 
local  distinction.      At  the 
age  of  eighteen  he  started 
out  to   seek   his   fortune, 
his  chief  and  almost  sole 
equipment  being  a  fair  education,  robust   health, 
and  a  resolute  will.     Having  determined  to  learn 
the  trade  of  a  machinist,  he  served  a  regular  ap- 
prenticeship, and  spent  his  first  five  years  as  a  jour- 
neyman at  Gloucester  Point,  N.  J.,  during  which 
time  he  was  sent  by  his  employers  to  Tuscaloosa, 
Ala. ,  to  assist  in  setting  up  the  machinery  of  one 
of  the  pioneer  cotton  mills  of  the  south.     In  1S50  he 
moved  to  Hartford,  Conn.,  and  entered  the  employ 
of  the  Colt's  Patent  Fire  Arms  Company,  where  as 
workman,    foreman,   or  contractor,   he    remained 
during  the  next  fifteen  years,  with  the  exception  of 
a  few  months  given  to  the  cause   of   freedom   in 
Ka"sas,    during    the   border-ruffian    imbroglio    of 
1S58.     In  1S65  the  petroleum  excitement  drew  him 
to  the  Canadian  oil  regions,  where  he   spent  three 
years  somewhat  fruitlessly.     Returning   to   Hart- 
ford .he  at  once  entered  into  an  engagement  with 
the  National  Screw  Company  to  make,  from  their 
patterns  and  drawings,  machinery  for  the  produc- 
tion of  wood  screws.     When  a  few  years  later  this 
company   was  absorbed  by  its   powerful   rival  in 
Providence,  R.  I.,  he  began  to  manufacture  wood- 
screw  machinery  for  the  trade,  from  designs  of  his 
own,  introducing  several  important  improvements 
for  which  he  secured  letters  patent.     Since  then  he 
has  equipped  many  screw  factories  in  America  and 
Europe.     In   1S72  Mr.  Cook  began  to  manufacture 
Stephens'  patent  parallel  vise,  of  which  he  has  since 
turned  out  over  thirty  thousand.     He  has  also  made 
special  machinery  to  order,  employing  from  fifty  to 
a  hundred  men  at  his  establishment  in  Colt's  ar- 
mory  building,    and   disbursing   from    $50,000   to 
§175,000  a  year  in  wages.      He  has  had  a  business 
career  of  remarkable  prosperit}',  and  has  accumu- 
lated a  handsome  property,  the  result  of  patient  in- 
dustry,wisely  directed  efforts,  and  honorable  dealing. 
In  pohtics  Mr.  Cook  is  a  republican,  and  has  been 


a  recognized  leader  in  the  councils  of  his  party  in 
all  affairs  of  municipal  government.  He  served 
two  years  in  the  common  council  of  Hartford,  and 
four  years  as  alderman,  representing  the  Fourth 
Ward.  When  the  Hartford  board  of  trade  was 
organized  in  1888,  he  was  selected  for  one  of  the 
directors.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  American 
Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers ;  and  has  been  for 
some  years  a  director  of  the  Pratt  &  Whitney 
Company.  He  has  traveled  extensively  south  and 
west,  and  has  made  at  least  one  trip  abroad,  com- 
bining in  these  journey's  the  interests  of  his  business 
and  his  personal  gratification. 

Mr.  Cook  married,  Oct.  31,  1850,  Mary  J.,  daugh- 
ter of  John  and  Harriet  (Coburn)  Cole,  of  Lowell, 
Mass.,  to  whose  wise  counsels  and  hearty  coopera- 
tion Mr.  Cook  attributes  very  much  of  the  happi- 
ness and  prosperity  that  have  fallen  to  his  lot. 
They  have  had  five  children,  all  but  one  of  whom 
are  now  living.  Two  of  the  children  are  married, 
namely,  John  F.,  to  Josephine  E.  Garrison,  and 
Harriet  E.,  to  Philemon  W.  Robbins,  both  fami- 
lies residing  in  Hartford.  The  sons,  Albert  S.,  and 
Millard  F.,  are  both  unmarried.  The  latter,  with 
his  brother,  John  F.,  both  practical  rriechanics, 
assist  their  father  in  carrying  on  the  business;  thus 
giving  assurance  that  the  estabhshment  and  its 
success  will  be  perpetuated  through  succeeding 
generations. 

Mr.  Cook's  pleasant  home  in  Hartford  is  on  Char- 
ter Oak  Place,  overlooking  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut, with  its  delightful  landscapes;  and,  for  a 
summer  residence,  he  has  recently  erected  a  cottage 
on  an  island  in  Squam  Lake,  in  Moultonborough, 
N.  H.,  near  the  home  of  his  boyhood. 


JOSEPH  F.  GILPIN,  Ansonia:  Master-mechanic. 
Joseph  Frederick  Gilpin,  superintendent  of  the 
copper  mill,  wire  mill,  and  wire  covering  depart- 
ment of  the  Ansonia  Brass  and  Copper  Company, 
began  life  as  a  millwright 
and  machinist.  By  ability 
and  industry  he  has  at- 
tained the  position  of 
master-mechanic  with  the 
company,  and  is  held  in 
high  esteem  in  the  com- 
munity where  he  resides. 
He  is  a  member  of  the 
board  of  burgesses  of  An- 
sonia, and  was  elected 
fire  marshal  in  1890.  He 
was  born  in  England, 
July  18, 1837,  and  received 
a  thorough  school  educa- 
tion. He  learned  the  ti'ade  of  an  engineer  and 
wheelwright.  He  arrived  in  New  York  in  April, 
1864,  and  in  January,    1S66,   removed  to  Ansonia, 


J.    F.     GILI'IN. 


2T,6 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


where  he  has  since  resided.  He  first  engaged  in 
work  with  the  Farrell  Foundry  &  Machine  Com- 
pany. October  15,  iS66,he  became  connected  with 
the  Brass  and  Copper  Company,  and  has  remained 
in  its  employ  since  then.  He  belongs  to  the 
Masonic  and  Odd  Fellow  fraternities,  and  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Ansonia  Club.  He  is  a  republican  in 
politics,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Sarah  Simp- 
son before  marriage.  The  family  consists  of  three 
children,  two  daughters,  and  one  son.  Mr.  Gilpin 
is  a  popular  citizen  of  Ansonia. 


s.   J. 


SAMUEL  J.  P.  LADD,  Canterbury:  Postmaster. 
The  subject  of  this  biography  is  of  New  London 
county  origin,  having  been  born  in  the  town  of 
Franklin.  The  date  of  his  birth  is  recorded  as 
September  9,  1822.  He 
was  brought  up  on  a  farm, 
and  educated  at  the  dis- 
trict and  select  schools  of 
Franklin.  His  father  died 
when  he  was  a  lad  of 
thirteen,  and  after  that 
the  responsibilities  of  the 
farm  were  largely  on  him. 
Naturally  robust,  his 
habits  of  life  tended  to 
his  best  physical  develop- 
ment, and  he  reached  his 
maturity  with  a  constitu- 
tion and  power  of  endur- 
ance worth  more  to  him  than  any  pecuniary  outfit 
could  be  as  a  preparation  for  the  stern  duties  of  life 
then  before  him.  At  the  age  of  twenty-two  he 
went  to  Ashtabula  county,  Ohio,  bought  a  drove  of 
three  hundred  and  fifty-five  head  of  cattle,  and 
drove  them  to  his  farm  in  Franklin,  being  forty- 
eight  days  on  the  road.  He  has  from  that  time 
onward  dealt  more  or  less  in  cattle  and  horses,  and 
very  largely  in  real  estate.  In  1846  he  contracted 
to  draw  from  Norwich  to  Coventrj^  all  the  granite 
of  which  the  Hale  monument  was  constructed, 
which  he  did  with  an  ox-team,  personally  driving 
the  team  on  the  several  trips  necessary,  back  and 
forth,  twenty-two  miles  each  way. 

In  1845  he  married  Miss  Philena  B.  Hazen, 
daughter  of  Colonel  Henry  Hazen  of  Franklin,  and 
a  graduate  of  Wilbraham  academy.  She  died  in 
i860.  He  married,  second,  in  September,  1861, 
Catherine  G.  Kenyon  of  Plainfield,  a  cousin  of  the 
late  Hon.  David  Gallup.  By  his  first  marriage  Mr. 
Ladd  had  three  children:  Philena  Josephine  Ladd, 
now  ^Irs.  Lovell  K.  Smith  of  Willimantic;  Samuel 
Pierrepont  Ladd,  now  the  leading  physician  and 
surgeon  of  Moosup;  and  Arthur  C.  Ladd,  now 
postmaster  at  Jewett  City. 


In  1856,  and  for  some  years  afterward,  Mr.  Ladd 
\\-as  temporarily  a  resident  of  Hartford.  During 
this  time  he  became  a  member  of  the  old  Fourth 
church.  He  was  actively  instrumental  in  assisting 
to  organize  the  republican  party  in  that  year,  and 
became  prominent  among  the  politicians  of  Con- 
necticut in  the  first  Lincoln  campaign.  In  1861  he 
represented  the  town  of  Franklin  in  the  state  legis- 
lature. It  was  during  this  j-ear  that  the  new  town 
of  Sprague  was  created  from  adjoining  portions  of 
the  old  towns  of  Franklin  and  Lisbon.  Mr.  Ladd 
went  to  the  legislature  a  citizen  of  Franklin ;  he  re- 
turned to  his  home  at  the  close  of  the  session  a  citi- 
zen of  Sprague.  Previous  to  this  time,  when  Gov- 
ernor Sprague  (senior)  of  Providence  first  contem- 
plated the  purchase  of  water  powers  and  erection 
of  a  manufacturing  plant  on  the  Shetucket  River, 
where  the  village  of  Baltic  now  stands,  he  employed 
Mr.  Ladd  to  accomplish  the  difficult  feat  of  buying 
all  the  real  estate  contemplated  in  the  proposed  pur- 
chase, at  a  given  price,  from  the  twenty-seven 
owners  who  then  held  it.  This  Mr.  Ladd  succeeded 
in  doing,  obtained  the  twenty-seven  deeds,  and  was 
directl}^  instrumental  in  the  creation  of  the  village 
of  Baltic.  Some  years  after  the  Baltic  privilege 
was  taken  up,  he  was  employed  by  the  younger 
Spragues  to  secure  all  the  water  rights  between 
Baltic  and  Willimantic,  being  fifty-five  feet  fall, — 
equal  to  two  such  privileges  as  Baltic, —  which 
would  have  been  occupied  if  the  Spragues  had  not 
met  with  financial  reverses. 

In  ]  868  he  sold  the  old  homestead  and  removed 
to  Windsor  Locks,  purchasing  a  farm  there,  on 
which  he  resided  five  years.  During  this  period, 
as  before,  he  was  employed  as  purchasing  agent 
and  as  adjuster  of  claims  against  the  Hartford, 
Providence  &  Fishkill  Railroad  (now  the  New  York 
&  New  England),  serving  in  this  and  similar  capaci- 
ties for  some  twelve  or  fifteen  years.  He  was  also 
engaged  in  various  outside  work  and  speculations 
for  firms  and  corporations,  involving  good  judgment 
and  experimental  knowledge  of  men  and  things. 
Lawyers  in  the  employ  of  companies  and  corpora- 
tions which  emploj'ed  him  valued  his  services  in 
carrying  on  suits  at  law,  in  preparing  the  cases 
brought  to  trial,  for  which  he  received  many 
compliments  from  them.  Some  years  ago  he 
removed  to  the  town  of  Canterbury,  having 
bought  the  house  on  ' '  Canterbury  Green " 
which  occupies  the  site  of  the  old  Judge  Judson 
residence,  long  ago  demolished.  On  his  premises 
is  "Cobble  Hill,"  the  eminence  from  which  the 
cannon  was  fired  nearly  a  century  ago,  when 
the  valiant  citizens  of  Canterbury  succeeded  in 
driving  Prudence  Crandall  out  of  the  town  for  the 
offense  of  teaching  colored  children  in  her  school. 
^Ir.  Ladd  has  held  various  town  offices  here  and 
elsewhere,   and  is  now  the  postmaster  of  Canter- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


237 


bury.  His  religious  connections  are  now  witji  the 
Congregational  church  of  Plainfield. 

^Ir.  Ladd  is  of  choice  Puritan  stock,  being  the 
ninth  in  direct  descent  from  Elder  Brewster,  the 
famous  leader  of  the  pilgrim  band  who  landed  on 
Plymouth  Rock  from  the  May/IoiiU-r  in  1620.  The 
record  of  his  lifework  abounds  with  practical 
achievements  for  the  public  welfare  in  the  various 
localities  in  which  his  lot  has  been  cast,  and  he  has 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  I'esults  which  abundantly 
demonstrate  that  he  has  worthily  served  his  dav 
and  generation. 

SIDNEY    W.    CROFUT,    Damelsoxvili.e:    Fire 

Insurance  Agent. 

Mr.  Crofut  was  born  Oct.  17,  1S47,  in  the  town 
of  Ossining,  Westchester  county,  X.  Y.  He  was 
educated  at  a  military  academy,  and  afterwards 
made  his  home  in  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.  He  began 
his  business  career  as  a 
clerk  in  the  office  of  an 
insurance  company  in 
New  York,  and  later  on 
occupied  official  positions 
for  several  j^ears.  He 
served  in  the  National 
Guard  of  that  state  for 
the  full  term  of  seven 
years.  He  removed  to 
Danielsonville  in  iSS4,and 
bought  an  interest  in  a 
fire     insurance    and   real 

■estate  agency.  In  1SS6  he  acquired  the  entire  in- 
surance interest.  He  has  continued  the  business 
with  success,  conducting  a  large  agency,  and  rep- 
resenting several  of  the  best  and  leading  companies. 
He  has  been  president  of  the  People's  Library 
Association,  has  served  the  borough  in  the  capacity 
of  a  burgess,  and  in  188S  was  elected  warden  of 
the  borough.  Re-elected  in  1SS9,  and  again  in 
i8go,  he  is  now  holding  the  office  his  third  term. 
During  his  administration  the  most*  notable  things 
accomplished  have  been  the  entering  into  of  con- 
tracts for  a  system  of  fire  hydrants  throughout  the 
borough,  and  lighting  its  streets  bj-  electricity, 
both  of  which  are  now  in  operation.  It  has  been 
written  of  him:  "The  intelligence  and  executive 
ability  exhibited  by  him  in  that  office  (warden)  have 
proven  him  thoroughly  competent  to  fill  offices  of 
greater  importance."  Mr.  Crofut  is  also  vice-pres- 
ident of  the  Windham  County  Savings  Bank,  chair- 
man of  the  school  district  committee,  and  treasurer 
of  the  Baptist  society.  In  politics  he  is  a  republi- 
can, and  was  the  acting  chairman  of  the  executive 
committee  of  the  local  campaign  club  in  1S8S.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Baptist  church;  is  married,  and 
has  one  child,  a  daughter. 


S.    W.    CROFUT. 


CH.-\RLi:S  .\RNC)I.D. 


CHARLES    ARNOLD,    Thomi'so.n:     Cashier   of 

the  Thompson  National  Bank. 

Mr.  Arnold  was  born  in  Coventry,  R.  I.,  vSeptem- 
ber  12,  1S43,  and  was  educated  at  the  common 
schools,  and  at  the  Westerly,  R.  I.,  high  school. 
He  followed  the  business 
of  a  carpenter  in  early 
life,  but  for  the  most  part 
has  been  a  bookkeeper, 
and  latterly  a  banker. 
He  was  bookkeeper  ff)r 
the  Grosvernordale  Com- 
pany at  North  Grosver- 
nordale, for  twelve  years, 
a  n  d  has  been  c  o  n- 
nected  with  the  Thomp- 
son Bank  for  five  years. 
At  present  he  is  cashier  of 
the  Thompson  National 
Bank,  and  treasurer  of 
the  Dime  Savings  Bank  of  that  place.  He  is  a 
republican,  but  has  never  held  public  office. 
He  is  a  deacon  of  the  Baptist  church  in  Thomp- 
son, and  is  connected  with  the  Putnam  Council, 
Royal  Arcanum.  His  wife  was  Annie  A.  Sweet, 
and  they  have  one  son  and  two  daughters.  Mr. 
Arnold  is  as  well  known  as  any  man  in  the 
northeastern  section  of  the  state,  is  recognized 
as  a  financier  of  more  than  average  ability,  and 
has  the  respect  of  business  men  everywhere. 


A.   W.  SPAULDING.  H.^rtford;  Merchant. 

Alva  W.  Spaulding,  who  has  held  the  office  of 
sherift'  in  Hartford  count}-  for  ten  j-ears,  was  boni 
in  Morristown,  Vt.,  March  i,  1S25,  and  received  a 
common  school  education. 
In  1865  he  removed  to 
New  Britain,  and  in  1S70 
represented  that  cit}-  in 
the  legislature,  his  col- 
league being  T.  W.  Stan- 
ley. Sheriff  Spaulding 
held  the  office  of  deput}- 
sheriff  for  nine  j-ears,  re- 
ceiving the  appointment 
originally  from  Westell 
Russell  of  Hartford.  He 
was  chief  of  police  at  New 
Britain  for  ten  years  prior 
to  his  election  as  county 

sheriff.  He  had  also  held  the  offices  of  constable 
and  bailiff.  He  was  first  elected  sheriff  in  1880, 
and  served  consecutively  through  three  terms, 
the  latter  being  for  four  years.  His  official  career 
has  been  thoroughly  satisfactory  to  the  public.  In 
retiring  from  the  position  which  he  occupied 
with   so  much    of    honor  and   success    he   carried 


W.    SF.MTLIiING. 


238 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


with  him  the  sincerest  respect  and  esteem  of  the 
community.  Mr.  Spaulding  is  widely  known 
throughout  the  county  and  state.  He  is  now 
connected  with  the  furniture  business,  owning  a 
half  interest  in  the  firm  of  C.  C.  Fuller  &  Co. 
Sheriff  Spaulding  has  a  wife  and  adopted  son, 
CHnton  E.  Spaulding.  His  wife  was  Miss  Josephine 
A.  Beckley  of  New  Britain,  but  formerly  of  Berlin. 
Sheriff  Spaulding  and  wife  were  members  of  the 
Center  church  in  New  Britain  before  removing  to 
Hartford.  After  settling  in  this  city  they  trans- 
ferred their  membership  to  the  Windsor  Avenue 
Congregational  church.  The  sheriff  was  formerly 
an  Odd  Fellow  in  New  Britain,  but  has  not  been 
afifiliated  with  any  society  organization  for  a  number 
of  years. 

HENRY  A.  WHITMAN,  Hartkord:  President 
Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  the  town 
(jf  Farmington,  being  a  son  of  the  late  Judge 
Lemuel  Whitman,  a  prominent  lawyer  of  ability 
and  reputation  through- 
out the  county,  occupying 
important  civil  and  judi- 
cial positions  in  the  state, 
and  representing  the  com- 
monwealth four  years  in 
the  national  congress. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  grad- 
uated at  the  then  famous 
' '  Hart  Preparatory 
School "  in  his  native 
town,  and  early  in  life  en- 
tered upon  what  has 
proved  to  be  a  successful 
business  career.  In  1851 
he  removed  to  Hartford,  and  entered  the  employ  of 
one  of  the  largest  wholesale  commission  houses  of 
the  state.  Five  years  later  he  was  admitted  a  part- 
ner in  the  dry-goods  commission  house  of  Day, 
Griswold  &  Co.;  and  in  1863,  when  this  firm  was 
dissolved,  he,  together  with  Messrs.  Wareham  Gris- 
wold and  Daniel  F.  Seymour,  continued  the  btisi- 
ness  in  Hartford  and  New  York.  This  firm  was 
succeeded  by  Griswold,  Whitman  &  Welch,  after- 
wards Whitman  &  Welch,  and  still  later  Whitman 
&  Co. —  all  successful  and  well-known  houses. 

Mr.  Whitman  is  now  president  of  the  Hartford 
Life  and  Annuity  Insurance  Company,  one  of  the 
prosperous  institutions  of  the  state,  with  which  he 
has  been  connected  for  over  a  quarter  of  a  century 
as  director,  holding  the  office  of  vice-president  for 
more  than  a  decade  previous  to  his  election  to  the 
presidency.  He  is  also  a  director  in  other  well- 
known  financial  institutions,  such  as  the  National 
Fire  Insurance  Company  and   the  First  National 


\\  HITMAN 


Bank,  both  of  Hartford.  In  1863  Mr.  Whitman 
married  Miss  Emma  C.  Griswold,  daughter  of  his 
then  senior  partner,  an  amiable  and  accomplished 
lady,  well  known  in  Hartford  society,  her  name 
being  prominently  connected  with  many  worthy 
charitable  and  benevolent  undertakings. 

]\Ir.  Whitman  has  never  sought  political  prefer- 
ment, often  declining  such  honors,  preferring  to 
confine  himself  closely  to  those  walks  of  business 
life  which  were  his  early  choice,  and  in  which  he 
has  reaped  the  harvest  of  a  generous  competency. 


W.   A.   COUNTRYMAN. 


WILLIE     ARTHUR    COUNTRYMAN,    Hart- 
ford:   Journalist. 

Willie  Arthur  Countryman  was  born  in  New 
Haven,  July  4,  1852.  His  christian  name  was  Wil- 
lie, after  Willie  P.  Mangum,  a  North  Carolina 
statesman,  but  wrong- 
fully believing  it  to  be  in- 
variably a  diminutive, 
at  manhood  he  changed 
it  to  William,  having  for 
a  while  called  himself 
Willis,  out  of  his  mother's 
regard  for  Nathaniel 
Parker  Willis,  poet  and 
journalist.  The  Arthur 
was  conferred  oiit  of  a 
similar  esteem  for  Tim- 
othy Shay  Arthur,  the 
author.  He  is  the  second 
of  the  children  in  this  list, 
all  born  at  New  Haven:  Franklin,  Willie  Arthur, 
Charles  Lewis,  Edwin,  Louisa,  Robert  Eugene, 
and  Stella  Elsie  (who  died  in  infancy).  His  parents 
are  Nicholas  Countryman,  born  in  the  town  of 
Stark,  near  the  village  of  Starkville,  Herkimer 
county.  New  York,  October,  1825,  and  Louisa 
(Talmage)  Hine,  born  in  Prospect,  New  Haven 
county,  Connecticut,  1825.  On  his  father's  side  he 
descends  from  John.  Fred  Conterman  —  afterward 
corrupted  to  Countryman  —  who  settled  near  Cats- 
kill,  N.  Y.,  in  1709,  coming  with  many  others  from 
the  German  Palatinate,  which  had  been  devastated 
by  Louis  XIV.  The  family  afterward  removed  to 
the  Mohawk  Valley,  where  they  remained  through 
the  French-Indian  war  and  the  butcheries  of  Butler 
and  Brant  during  the  revolution.  The  maternal 
grandfather  of  Nicholas  —  Jacob  Eckler  —  was 
taken  captive  by  the  Indians  to  Canada  during  one 
of  the  border  raids,  and  held  seven  years.  His  pa- 
ternal great-grandfather,  Jacob  Countryman,  was 
in  the  militia  of  Tryon  county  in  the  revolution, 
under  Herkimer,  and  was  probably  with  his  com- 
pany' at  Oriskany.  On  his  mother's  side  William 
Arthur  is  of  English  ancestry  —  the  Talmages  and 
Hines  coming  to  this  country  from  England  in  1640 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


239 


or  thereabouts,   and   living   for  the   most   part   in 
New  Haven  county,  Connecticut. 

After  schooling  at  John  E.  Lovell's  later  school, 
comer  State  and  Court  streets,  opened  about  1S60, 
at  Sydney  A.  Thomas's  on  St.  John  street,  and  at 
the  Business  College,  managed  by  Thomas  A. 
Stevens,  under  Music  Hall,  Crown  street.  New 
Haven,  Mr.  Countryman  became  bookkeeper  at 
his  father's  sash,  door,  and  blind  factory  on  Water 
street,  and  was  taught  the  trade  of  a  sash  and 
blind  maker.  He  had  also  a  short  apprenticeship 
at  carpentering.  In  the  spring  of  1871,  as  his  aims 
had  been  Hterary  and  newspaporial,  Major  Minott 
A.  Osborn,  editor  and  proprietor  of  the  New 
Haven  E7>ening  Register  employed  him  as  city 
editor.  When  the  New  Haven  Daily  Union  was 
established  by  Alexander  Troup  some  two  years 
and  a  half  later  Mr.  Countryman  transferred  his 
duties  to  that  journal.  A  few  months  afterward  he 
was  invited  to  become  the  assistant  of  Frank  D. 
Root,  in  the  city  department  of  the  New  Haven 
Palladium,  whose  editor  was  Edward  Butler. 
After  five  years'  service  there  he  was  re-called  to 
the  Register,  where  he  remained  until  July,  1S83. 
During  this  time  he  was  also  editor  of  the  Edu- 
cator, a  small  monthly  publication  devoted  to  lit- 
erary and  educational  themes.  Then  he  removed 
to  Hartford  to  become  a  general  writer,  with 
special  attention  to  literary  and  legislative  matters. 
on  the  Hartford  Evening  Post.  His  newspaper 
experience  was  characterized  by  severe  application , 
astonishingly  rapid  work,  and  a  persistent  and 
generally  successful  inquiry  after  facts.  Upon  the 
Post  he  became  the  gatherer  of  its  "  Old  Days  in 
Hartford"  papers,  and  was  generally  its  authority 
on  economic  subjects.  During  the  secret  ballot 
agitation  he  advocated  the  Australian  system  with 
pen  and  voice,  in  the  newspaper  and  before  the 
legislature.  He  was  otherwise  identified  with  the 
interests  of  the  working  people.  In  August,  1SS9, 
by  appointment  of  Commissioner  Hotchkiss,  he  be- 
came chief  clerk  of  the  State  Bureau  of  Labor  Sta- 
tistics. In  1890  he  was  chosen  first  president  of 
the  Hartford  Press  Club,  and  has  been  secretary  of 
the  Connecticut  Press  Association.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Connecticut  Sons  of  the  Society  of  the 
American  Revolution  and  of  the  Grand  Council  of 
the  Royal  Arcanum,  which  is  a  cooperative  insur- 
ance society,  and  has  Masonic  (Adelphi  lodge  No. 
63,  Fair  Haven,)  and  Odd  Fellowship  (Harmony 
l(jdge  No.  5,  New  Haven)  affiliations. 

December  23,  1874,  he  married  Mary  Adella 
Perry,  born  January  16,  1850,  fourth  child  of  Sam- 
uel Perry  (born  Montville,  Connecticut,  October  19, 
181 1 ;  died  in  Fair  Haven,  September  26,  1886;  and 
Emeline  Chapin,  born  in  Chicopee  Falls,  Mass., 
February,  1819).  Her  ancestry  thus  goes  back  to 
the  early  days  of  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and 


Connecticut;  to  the  ancestry  of  the  Perry  of  naval 
fame  and  the  Chapins  of  Springfield,  Mass.  Her 
brothers  and  sisters  are:  Harriet  Elizabeth,  born 
Springfield,  1844,  married  John  P.  Augur,  whole- 
sale spice  dealer.  New  Haven;  George  Elbert,  born 
Fair  Haven,  1846,  now  of  Providence,  R.  I.;  Gene- 
vieve Isabella,  born  Fair  Haven,  1848,  married  El- 
bridge  F.  Barnes,  proprietor  Barnes  Tool  Co. ; 
Emma  Sarah,  born  Fair  Haven,  1852,  died  July  2, 
1872;  B.  Frank,  born  Fair  Haven,  1S54,  died  1859; 
Frederic  Chapin,  born  Fair  Haven,  i860. 

He  has  two  children,  Emeline  Perry,  born  New 
Haven,  August  28,  1882,  and  Willis  Arthur,  born 
Hartford,  November  16,  1884. 


M.    H.    SANGER. 


MARVIN  H.  SANGER,  C.\nterkl-kv  :    Judge  of 

Probate. 

Marvin  Hutchins  Sanger  was  born  in  Brooklyn, 
in  Windham  county,  April  12,  1827.  In  his  infancy 
his  parents  removed  to  Canterbury,  where  he  was 
educated  in  the  public 
schools,  and  at  Bacon 
Academy  in  Colchester, 
and  was  kept  at  home 
assisting  his  father  upon 
the  farm  until  he  reached 
the  age  of  eighteen .  Then 
followed  two  years  of  ex- 
perience in  a  country  store 
as  clerk,  which  served  a.s 
a  preparation  for  the  busi- 
ness of  general  merchan- 
dizing which  he  followed 
in  Canterbury  for  twenty 
years,'  from  1849  to  1869, 

since  which  latter  date  he  has  not  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  any  business.  November  14,  1S55,  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Mary  J.  Bacon,  daughter  of  the 
late  Benjamin  Bacon  of  Plainfield.  They  have  had 
two  children,  both  daughters.  Mr.  Sanger  has 
been  a  lifelong  democrat,  and  for  many  j'ears  an 
active  and  influential  member  of  his  party,  per- 
forming much  service  in  its  behalf  and  receiving 
many  honors  through  its  agency.  He  has  long 
been  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  has  thus  been  much 
occupied  in  the  trial  of  criminal  cases.  He  was 
elected  town  clerk  and  treasurer  in  1S52,  and  has 
been  re-elected  ever  since  with  the  exception  of  two 
years.  He  has  been  judge  of  probate  for  about 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  was  postmaster  at 
Canterbury  for  fifteen  years  under  various  presi- 
dential administrations.  He  has  been  on  the  board 
of  directors  of  the  Brooklyn  Savings  Bank, 
and  now  for  several  years  has  been  its  pres- 
ident. He  represented  Canterbury  in  the  state 
legislature  in  1857,  1S60,  1SS2,  1887,  and  1889; 
was   secretary  of   state   for  four  successive  years, 


240 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


from  1873  to  1S77  ;  and  was  democratic  can- 
didate for  state  treasurer  in  the  autumn  of  1S90,  re- 
ceiving an  apparent  majoritj-  of  all  the  votes  cast, 
but  failing  to  receive  official  recognition  from  the 
house  of  representatives  at  its  session  the  following 
January,  owing  to  a  disagreement  between  the  two 
branches  of  the  legislature  as  to  the  accuracy  or 
validity  of  the  returns, —  as  was  the  case  with  all 
the  candidates  on  the  democratic  state  ticket,  with 
the  exception  of  the  comptroller. 

Mr.  Sanger  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
ecclesiastical  society  of  Canterbury,  and  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity,  his  local  connection  being  with 
Mount  ^loriah  lodge  of  Danielsonville.  He  is  one 
of  the  most  prominent  members  of  his  party  in 
Windham  county,  and  among  the  foremost  citizens 
of  his  town. 


H.    SL'CHER. 


THEODORE  H.  SUCHER,  New  Haven  :    Mer- 
chant. 

Captain  Theodore  H.  vSucher  was  born  in  New 
Haven  Februarj-  26,  1S59,  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools.  He  has  pursued  the  avocation  of  a 
brass  worker  but  is  now 
a  dealer  in  hats  and 
gentlemen's  furnishing 
goods.  He  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  International 
Brotherhood  of  Brass- 
workers,  noble  chief  of 
the  Knights  of  the  Golden 
Eagle,  and  a  member  of 
the  Knights  of  Labor. 
Captain  Sucher  is  the 
senior  line  officer  in  the 
Second  Regiment,  Con- 
necticut National  Guard. 
His  commission  as  the 
commanding  officer  of  Company  E,  of  the  Second, 
dates  from  December  15,  1S84.  He  has  been  in  the 
National  Guard  service  fourteen  years.  Captain 
Sucher  has  risen  from  the  ranks.  He  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  Company  E,  May  7,  1S77,  and  was  made 
corporal  May  i,  1S79.  He  was  discharged  May  6, 
1S82,  and  re-enhsted  the  next  day,  retaining  his 
rank  as  corporal.  He  was  commissioned  second 
lieutenant  March  5,  1883,  and  first  Heutenant  March 
4,  1884,  retaining  that  position  until  December, 
when  he  received  his  captain's  commission.  His 
company  ranks  among  the  first  in  the  National 
Guard  of  the  state.  Captain  Sucher  is  a  member 
of  the  Lutheran  church  in  New  Haven  and  is  a  re- 
publican in  politics.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the 
court  of  common  council  in  his  native  city  and  is  a 
popular  leader.  He  has  a  wife  and  two  children. 
The  former  was  Miss  Hertha  Hax  before  her 
marriage. 


€Ji 


A.    R.    GOODRICH. 


DR.  ALFRED  R.  GOODRICH,  Vernon:  Pres- 
ident Mutual  Benefit  Life  Company  of  Hartford. 
Dr.  Goodrich  is  a  direct  descendant  of  Ensign 
"William  Goodrich,  who,  with  his  brother,  John 
Goodrich,  settled  in  AVethersfield  about  the  year 
1636.  His  grandfather, 
George  Goodrich,  served 
in  the  revolutionary  war, 
and  after  its  close  re- 
moved to  the  town  of 
Gill,  Mass.,  where  he 
died  at  the  advanced  age 
of  92  years.  A  large 
family  of  children  sur- 
vived him,  but  his  wife, 
Lucinda  Wells,  died  in 
1 8 14.  Alfred  Goodrich, 
the  father  of  Alfred  R. 
Goodrich,  was  born  in 
Gill  in  1787,  and  occupied 
the  old  homestead,  where  he  also  reared  a  large 
family  of  children.  He  died  in  1S66.  at  the  age  of 
seventy-nine.  His  wife  was  Abigail  Howland, 
daughter  of  Solomon  Howland,  of  Greenfield, 
Mass.  She  died  in  1821,  leaving  three  sons,  of 
whom  the  subject  of  the  present  sketch  was  the 
youngest.  He  was  born  at  Gill  in  1818,  and  was 
educated  at  the  Deerfield  Academy.  Subsequently 
he  became  an  associate  teacher  and  principal  in  the 
institution.  In  1843  he  commenced  the  studj'  of 
medicine  under  the  instruction  of  the  late  Alden 
Skinner,  M.D.,  and  graduated  in  1846  with  distinc- 
tion from  the  Berkshire  Medical  College.  He  prac- 
ticed for  some  time  in  New  York  city,  and  remained 
there  during  the  terrible  epidemic  of  ship  fever. 
Dr.  Goodrich  was  himself  prostrated  by  the  disor- 
der, but  finally  recovered  from  the  attack.  After 
his  restoration  to  health  he  went  to  Vernon,  and 
has  since  been  engaged  in  his  profession  there,  en- 
tering also  into  mercantile  and  manufacturing 
interests.  In  1870  Dr.  Goodrich  was  elected  as  the 
first  democratic  representative  from  his  town,  re- 
ceiving, as  he  has  invariably  done  when  a  candidate 
for  public  office,  a  very  flattering  vote  from  his 
political  opponents.  In  1871  he  was  the  democratic 
nominee  for  congress  in  the  First  District,  and 
came  very  near  securing  his  election.  Dr.  Good- 
rich was  elected  state  comptroller  in  1873,  and  w^as 
re-elected  for  the  three  succeeding  terms,  discharg- 
ing the  duties  of  the  office  with  fidelity  and  honor. 
He  was  successful  in  largely  reducing  the  expenses 
of  the  state.  Since  1S74  he  has  been  president  of 
the  Mutual  Benefit  Life  Companj^  of  Hartford, 
w^hich  was  chartered  by  the  legislature  in  1869. 
Previous  to  1874  he  w^as  vice-president  of  the  com- 
pany. In  1879  he  was  elected  president  of  the 
Connecticut  State  Medical  Society,  but  declined 
a  re-election.     He  is  also  a  member  of  the   State 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


241 


board  of  agriculture,  a  director  in  the  Rockville 
vSavings  Bank,  a  member  of  the  Tolland  County 
and  State  Medical  societies,  chairman  of  the  town 
board  of  education,  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  on 
the  building  committee  which  has  charge  of  the 
proposed  new  high  school  building  in  Rockville, 
in  the  town  of  Vernon.  Dr.  Goodrich  was  treas- 
urer of  the  state  of  Connecticut  in  1883-S4,  having 
been  elected  to  that  office  by  the  democratic  party 
on  the  state  ticket  headed  by  Governor  Waller. 
He  has  been  almost  constantly  in  office  in  the  town 
of  Vernon,  rendering  important  service  wherever 
placed.  He  was  on  the  building  committee  which 
erected  the  fine  memorial  hall  in  Rockville,  and 
served  in  a  similar  capacity  on  the  committee  which 
had  in  charge  the  recent  expensive  enlargement  of 
the  town  almshouse. 

Dr.  Goodrich  married  Charlotte  Dobson,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Hon.  Peter  Dobson,  the  founder  of 
cotton  manufacturing  interests  in  Vernon.  He  has 
one  son,  George  Dobson  Goodrich,  who  is  treas- 
urer of  the  life  company  in  Hartford  of  which  his 
father  is  president. 


AVILLIAM  WALLACE  LEE,  Mekiden:  Machin- 
ist. 

WilUam  Wallace  Lee  was  born  in  Barkhamsted, 
Jtily  20,  1 828,  and  received  a  common  school  educa- 
tion. He  learned  the  machinist  trade  with  Taylor 
&  Whiting  of  Winsted, 
and  has  worked  at  his 
trade  in  the  city  of  Meri- 
den,  where  he  has  resided 
since  1862.  Prior  to  that 
jjeriod  he  worked  in  Guil- 
ford, Colt's  Manufactory 
in  Hartford,  Ansonia, 
Bridgeport, Westville,  and 
Birmingham.  He  repre- 
sented Meriden  in  the 
general  assembly  in  1S85 
and  1886,  and  was  as- 
signed to  important  com- 
mittees each  year.  Mr. 
Lee  has  served  four  years  on  the  board  of  alder- 
men of  Meriden,  and  is  prominently  identified 
with  political  interests  in  that  city.  He  was 
a  delegate  to  the  first  republican  convention  held  in 
Connecticut  in  1856,  and  was  a  free  soiler  in  1848. 
He  voted  for  President  Lincoln  in  i860,  and  in  1872 
cast  a  vote  for  Horace  Greeley,  considering  these 
votes  as  the  proudest  acts  in  his  political  life. 
]\Ir.  Lee  has  never  knowingly  missed  an  opportunity 
for  recording  his  vote  in  favor  of  equal  rights,  tem- 
perance, and  good  morals.  It  has  been  his  aim  to 
give,  so  far  as  his  vote  can  effect  that  result,  an 
equal  chance  for  every  man  to  make  the  most  of 
himself.      He  is   one   of  the   most   widely   known 


W.     W.    LEE. 


secret  society  representatives  in  the  state.     He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  Sons  of  Temperance  since  he 
was  eighteen  years  of  age,  and   has   held  all  the 
offices  of  importance  in  the  order  in  this  state,  and 
was  for  thirty-five  years  connected  with  the  national 
organization.     He  was  grand  master  of  the  Con- 
necticut Grand  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows  in  1877  and 
1S78.     His  masonic  career  was  begun  in  1852.     In 
1S75  he  was  knighted  in  St.  Elmo  Commandery  of 
Meriden,  and  was  grand  master  of  the  grand  lodge 
in   1S74  and  1S75.     Prior  to  that  he  had  held  the 
office  of  grand  high  priest  in  the  grand  chapter  of 
this  state,  occupying  the  position  in  1S72  and  1S73. 
For  the  past  twelve  years  he  has  been  the  president 
of    the  Masonic  Veteran   Association  of  the  state 
of  Connecticut.     He  is  a  member  of  the  order  of 
Red  Men.     In  the  various  orders  with  which  he  is 
connected  he  possesses  the  fullest  confidence  of  his 
associates,  and  is  a  man  of  decided  personal  popu- 
larity.    Four  brothers  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
served  in  the  army  during  the  war,  two  of  them 
dying  on  the  field.     The  grand  army  post  at  New 
Hartford  is  named  in  honor  of  one  of  Mr.  Lee's 
brothers,  and  the  principal  address  on  the  occasion 
of  its  flag  presentation  was  delivered    by  the  ex- 
representative.     Mr.  Lee  also  deUvered  an  interest- 
ing address  at  the  Barkhamsted  Centennial  a  few 
years  ago.     The  only  surviving  brother,  Major  R 
D.  Lee  of  the  Second  Heavy  Artillery,  is  a  member 
of  the  bar  at  St.  Louis,  Mo.     Mr.  Lee  is  the  secre- 
tary and  treasm-er  of  the  Lee  Association,  which 
was  organized  in  this  city  in  18S4  by  the  descend- 
ants of  John  Lee,  who  came  to  Hartford  in  1635. 
from  England,  and  in  1641  removed  to  Farmington, 
becoming  one  of  the  original   proprietors   of   the 
town.     The  gentleman  whose  hfe  is  the  subject  of 
this  sketch  is  a  grandson  of  David  Lee  of  Farming- 
ton  and  of  Joseph  Somers  of  Milford,  and  a  great- 
grandson   of   Andrew    Hays   of  Simsbury  and   of 
Elihu   Crane  of    Killingworth,  all   four    (jf   whom 
were  private  soldiers  in  the  army  of  the  revolution. 
In  view  of  this  fact  it  is  but  natural  that  he  should 
feel  a  genuine  interest  in  the  Sons  of  the  American 
Revolution.     He  is  a  charter  member  of  the  Con- 
necticut society  and  was  a  delegate  to  the  national 
body,  which  met  in  Hartford  April  30.     Although 
holding  so   many  positions,  he   has  never  sought 
office  or  even  asked  anybody  to  support  or  vote  for 
him.     The  two  brothers  of  Representative  Lee  who 
were  killed  in  action  during  the  war  for  the  Union 
were  Captain  Edwin  R.  Lee  of  the  Eleventh  Con- 
necticut,   and   Lieutenant   Henry   B.    Lee    of    the 
Seventh.     Representative  Lee  enlisted  himself  in 
the  service,  but  was  rejected  on  account  of  physical 
disability.     He   was   formerly  a   Ueutenant  in  the 
state   militia.       The   wife    of   Mr.    Lee   was   Miss 
]\Iary  Jane  Carrington  of  New  Haven.     She  is  still 
living.     There  is  one  daughter  in  the  family. 


242 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


LOVELL  HALL. 


LOVELL    HALL,   A.M.,    LL.B.,    Middletown  : 
Attorn  ey-at- Law . 

Lovell  Hall  is  a  practicing  law\'er  at  Middle- 
t')\vn.  He  was  born  May  12,  1S44,  at  East 
Hampton  (town  of  Chatham),  Conn. ,  which  is  within 
the  ancient  limits  of  Mid- 
dletown ;  and  in  these  two 
places  the  family  have 
lived  for  nin^;  generations. 
His  first  American  ances- 
tor, John  Hall,  helped 
settle  Cambridge,  Mass., 
in  1633;  Hartford  in  1635, 
and  Middletown  in  1650. 
His  great-grandson,  Giles 
Hall,  Esq.,  married  a  sis- 
ter of  Supreme  Court 
Judge  Jabez  Hamlin,  and 
their  son,  John  Hamlin 
Hall,  settled  in  the  east 
part  of  his  native  Middletown,  now  East  Hamp- 
ton. Other  branches  of  the  family  removed  to  Ver- 
mont, from  whom  sprung  Hiland  Hall,  congress- 
man, governor, and  supreme  court  judge  of  Vermont, 
and  L^.  S.  commissioner  to  settle  land  titles  in  the 
(then)  territory  of  California;  and  to  New  York  state, 
whence  General  Amos  Hall  of  that  state.  The 
whole  family  have  always  lived  on  the  land,  and 
been  interested  and  informed  on  public  questions, 
and  often  public  men,  when  the  surrounding  popu- 
lation happened  to  hold  views  according  with  their 
own;  which  are  public-spirited  and  thoroughly  in- 
dependent, based  on  experience,  reflection,  and 
reading,  and  not  on  appetite  and  clamor,  and  al- 
wa^'S  heading  the  same  way,  no  matter  how  the 
tide  runs.  It  would  be  hard,  perhaps,  to  find  a 
family  more  uniform  in  many  states  and  through 
nine  generations,  —  books  on  the  shelves  and  some- 
thing on  the  table  from  the  family  orchard  and  gar- 
den. Mr.  Hall's  grandfather  was  a  Baptist,  that 
is,  for  religious  toleration,  —  his  father  an  abolition- 
ist, Hiland  Hall  a  free-soiler,  long  before  the  world 
wheeled  into  line,  and  would  have  continued  had  it 
not  wheeled  into  line  at  all;  and,  had  fruits  not  im- 
proved, it  is  probable  that  apples  would  be  growing 
on  the  family  propert}'  to-day,  the  descendants  of 
cions  brought  by  John  Hall  from  England  in  1633. 
Mr.  Hall's  mother  is  from  a  Massachusetts  family 
equally  old;  latterly,  to  a  considerable  extent, clergy- 
men; the}-  were,  earlier,  sea  captains  on  Cape  Cod, 
descended  from  Robert  Lovell,  who  settled  in 
Weymouth,  Mass.,  in  1635  ;  and  this  bent,  to 
some  extent,  re-appears  in  L.  N.  Lovell,  New  York 
manager  of  the  "  Fall  River  Line  "  (steamers). 

Lovell  Hall  was  fitted  for  college  in  the  Fall 
River  high  .school,  ranking  first  in  his  class,  having 
spent  his  youth  in  East  Hampton  in  the  district 
school  and  at  his  father's  farm  and  factory,  where, 


and  later,  his  hands  have  become  familiar  with  ev- 
ery farm  operation,  and  many  of  those  of  manufac- 
turing, from  using  a  pair  of  pliers  to  an  engine  or 
52-inch  Hoe  saw.  He  has  carried  his  dinner-pail  to 
the  brass  shop  and  lumber  woods,  as  well  as  eaten 
New  England  society  dinners  at  Delmonico's.  In 
1862  he  stood  first  for  one  term  in  the  class  of  1S66 
at  Wesleyan  University,  ]\Iiddletown,  and  then  en- 
tered the  same  class  at  Yale;  with  which  he  gradu- 
ated. Here,  as  later  in  New  York  city,  he  culti- 
vated his  tastes  in  every  direction,  and  is  at  least 
passable  company  for  a  great  many  different  kinds 
of  men.  He  was  organist  at  the  First  Baptist 
church.  New  Haven,  president  of  Linonia,  a  high 
oration  man  in  scholarship,  Townsend  literar}- prize 
man,  and  divided  the  Yale  literary  prize  medal; 
and  contributed  to  the  intellectual  life  of  his  class 
with  such  men  as  Geo.  C.  Holt  of  Pomfret,  Prof. 
Hincks  of  Andover,  Chas.  H.  Adams  of  the  Hart- 
foi'd  Coitrant,  Judge  John  M.  Hall,  and  others  of 
his  class.  He  also  wrote  the  class  song,  and  was 
active  in  founding  the  Vale  Couranf.  After  grad- 
uation he  was  tendered  and  declined  a  nomination 
to  the  assistant-professorship  of  ethics  at  the  An- 
napolis naval  school.  His  love  and  tastes  drawing 
him  rather  to  the  old  homestead  and  an  open,  coun- 
try life,  in  1S66  he  was  acting  postmaster  and  town 
clerk  at  East  Hampton;  in  1867  taught  the  princi- 
pal's studies  in  a  ladies'  school  at  Canandaigua,  N. 
Y.;  in  1868  entered  Columbia  College  law  .school. 
New  York  city,  graduating  in  1870,  meanwhile  be- 
ing admitted  to  the  bar  there  on  examination  in 
1869,  and  singing  in  St.  Bartholomew's  church.  The 
years  from  1870  to  1875  he  spent  at  East  Hampton, 
developing  the  family  real  estate  under  the  new 
conditions  of  the  Boston  &  New  York  Air  Line 
Railroad,  now  the  Air  Line  Division  of  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  losing 
heavily  and  financially  crippled  by  delays  in  it,^ 
building,  etc.,  but  being  the  main  instrument 
in  locating  its  station  to  the  convenience  of  the 
public  and  the  family  property,  and  confirming 
his  health  by  air,  labor,  and  horseback  riding. 
Since  1875  he  has  been  engaged  in  law  practice  at 
Middletown,  keeping  up  oversight  of  the  familj- 
farms  at  East  Hampton  —  sometimes  spending  ev- 
ery night  there.  Here  he  is  quietly  developing  a 
countrj'  home,  such  as  old-time  Connecticut  profes- 
sional and  public  men  enjoyed.  Choice  poultry, 
registered  Jersey  stock  that  well  know  their  mas- 
ter's hand,  smooth  gardens  and  fruit  trees  for  which 
he  has  cut  the  cions  with  his  own  hands  from  the 
tallest  trees,  and  long  distances  away;  wild  berries 
with  their  flavor,  forest  flowers,  nuts,  brooks,  and 
forest  trees  trimmed  and  culled  to  avoid  crowding 
and  monotony,  are  here.  And  the  old  brick  oven, 
crane,  and  five-foot  fireplace,  are  safe  at  least  in  his 
dav.  Here,  one-half  mile  from  the  station  on  amain 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


243 


New  York  and  Boston  traffic  artery,  behind  ancestral 
shade  trees,  with  scores  of  neighbors  in  a  stone's 
throw,  a  hundred  men  might  stand  a  siege  of  a  hun- 
dred years  against  famine,  pestilence,  and  a  thou- 
sand human  folhes,  and  want  not  shelter,  food,  fuel, 
clothing,  nor  the  outward  ministrations  to  thought, 
nor  the  inner  ones  to  beauty,  while  the  waves  of 
the  world,  its  follies,  fashions,  prejudices,  contro- 
versies, broke  outside  and  sent  within  hardly  a  rip- 
ple. A  visit  is  like  what  the  CathoHc  clergy  call  a 
"  retreat,"  and  gives  what  Emerson  sought  when 
he  wrote  ; 

"Good-bye,  proud  world,  I'm  going  home." 

And  frequenting  it  for  years,  and  may  be  genera- 
tions, breeds  those  staying  powers  by  which  Mr. 
Hall  has  been  able  to  work  forty-two  hours  on  a 
stretch,  or  walk  twenty-five  miles  in  a  day. 

Mr.  Hall  won  his  first  case  for  the  most  unpopu- 
lar man  in  Middlesex  county  against  its  two  fore- 
most lawyers,  and  has  always  taken  a  just  case,  no 
matter  what  the  standing  of  either  party. 

In  1879  he  was  appointed  prosecuting  agent  of 
Middlesex  county,  and  so  continued  most  of  the 
time,  and  latterly  sole  officer  until  July,  18S7,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  a  more  active  party  man.  He 
carried  out  of  office  the  hearty  written  endorsement 
of  nearly  every  prominent  and  conservative  man 
interested  in  that  matter  in  every  town  of  his 
county,  save  one,  where  there  had  been  no  call  for 
his  functions.  At  the  close  of  his  course  he  gained 
seventeen  successive  cases, — and  lawyers  know 
if  that  be  easy,  —  and  many  sections  of  the  statutes 
are  in  the  very  language  prepared  by  him. 

In  1883  Mr.  Hall  was  appointed  county  coroner 
under  the  new  law,  and  held  that  office  two  terms 
till  18S9,  the  state's  attorney  meanwhile  going  out 
of  office,  and  judge  dying  who  had  caused  his  nom- 
ination and  confirmation.  In  this  office,  under  a 
new  law  which  first  gave  that  power  and  duty  to  a 
single  man,  he  held  Arthur  Jackson  for  the  suspected 
murder  of  Seymour  A.  Tibbals.  In  this  case,  Mr. 
Hall  was  petitioned  against,  caricatured,  and  the 
jailer  finally  served  with  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  to 
be  heard  by  Chief  Judge  Park.  The  labor  of  defend- 
ing this  Mr.  Hall  escaped  by  working  forty-two  hours 
on  a  stretch,  finishing  his  investigation,  finding  prob- 
able cause  against  Jackson  (and  others),  and  thus 
devolving  the  responsibility  on  other  officers  who  re- 
leased Jackson  before  the  hour  of  hearing  the  habeas 
corpi's.  But  Jackson,  later,  cut  his  wife's  throat, 
and  it  was  generally  conceded  that  he  killed  Tibbals. 

Finding,  at  the  end  of  his  term,  that  others,  more 
active  politicians,  were  seeking  the  place,  Mr.  Hall 
made  no  contest  for  a  further  appointment,  believ- 
ing that  the  record  of  his  painstaking  cases  and  the 
fact  that  the  medical  examiners  whom  he  had  se- 
lected and  for  six  years  trained  into  the  new  law, 


were  to  a  man  re-appointed,  was  a  sufficient  en- 
dorsement, partisanship  aside,  of  his  career.  He 
was  succeeded  as  coroner  by  Stephen  B.  Davis,  of 
Davis  Bros.,  coal  dealers,  Middletown. 

As  a  public  officer,  Mr.  Hall  considered  each  man 
as  an  individual  to  whom  justice,  restraint,  or 
mercy,  was  due,  and  not  the  class,  chque,  or  society 
to  which  he  belonged.  If  he  thought  it  his  duty  to 
strike,  he  struck,  no  matter  how  large  a  hornet's 
nest  might  be  behind  the  offender.  Though  know- 
ing well  that  the  "popular"  officer  appears  busy 
and  dutiful  by  whacking  the  poor  and  isolated  only, 
when  a  sense  of  duty  had  made  him  take  hold,  a 
sense  of  fear  never  made  him  let  go. 

His  scholarship  made  him  a  member  of  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  Society,  and  he  is  a  warm-hearted 
Psi  Upsilon,  but  never  carried  his  feelings  towards 
those  inside  to  the  extent  of  injtiry  to  those  outside. 
He  was  raised  in  the  Baptist  church,  but  attends  in 
Middletown  the  old  mother  church  (Congregational) 
founded  by  his  ancestors.  He  has  friends  in  all 
classes  and  churches,  giving  full  appreciation, 
though  by  no  means  adhesion,  to  the  Catholic 
church,  the  old  mother  of  all,  and  values  the  table 
which  she  spreads  for  her  sons,  though  himself 
choosing  more  modern  housekeeping.  Mr.  Hall 
never  looks  down  upon  any  class  of  men,  though 
keeping  out  of  the  way  of  the  filthy,  drunken,  and 
profane;  and  admires  any  man  who  has  mastered 
his  calling  (if  useful),  no  matter  what  it  is.  He  has 
never  aimed  solely  to  attain  "  success,"  or  to  follow 
the  various  openings  which  might  lead  to  it;  but  first 
to  Hve  the  soUd  life  of  his  fathers  (having  no  brother 
with  whom  to  divide  it),  and  to  do  whatever  else 
duty  and  opportunity  may  present  beside. 


JAMES  M.  THOMSON,  Hartford:  Dry  Goods. 
James  M.  Thomson  was  born  in  Perthshire,  Scot- 
land, November  28,  1838,  and  spent  several  5-ears 
in  the  common  schools.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he 
left  school,  going  to  Glas- 
gow in  1853,  to  learn  the 
dry-goods  business.  He 
served  an  apprenticeship 
of  four  years  with  Arthur 
&  Frazier,  remaining  with 
them  until  i860.  In  Au- 
gust of  that  year  he  landed 
in  Boston,  having  accept- 
ed a  situation  from  Hogg, 
Brown  &  Taylor.  He 
continued  with  them  until 
1866,  when,  in  company 
with  Frank  S.  Brown  and 
Wm.  McWhirter,  the  dry- 
goods  firm  of  Brown,  Thomson  &  Co.  was  organized 
in  Hartford,  and  has  continued  unchanged  in  name 
ever    since,    although    its     personality    has    been 


J.    M.    THOMSON. 


244 


AX    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


changed  by  the  retiracy  of  Mr.  McWhirter  in  1S7S 
and  of  ^Ir.  Frank  S.  Brown  in  1891.  On  the  first 
of  January,  1891,  a  new  partnership  was  formed  by 
Mr.  Thomson  admitting  to  the  company  George  A. 
Gay,  Wm.  Campbell,  Harry  B.  Strong,  and  George 
M.  Brown,  still  under  the  same  firm  name  of 
Brown,  Thomson  &  Co.  This  firm  is  known  all 
o\-er  the  state  for  its  straightforward  business  prin- 
ciples. It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  they  have  the 
largest  store  and  carrj'  the  largest  stock  of  dry  and 
fancy  goods  in  the  state.  Mr.  Thomson  is  still  in 
the  prime  of  life,  is  active  in  business,  and  has  every 
reason  to  anticipate  a  long  and  prosperous  future. 
For  the  last  seventeen  years  he  has  made  West 
Hartford  his  home,  having  one  of  the  most  attrac- 
tive suburban  residences  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Hartford.  Politically  he  is  a  republican,  and  in 
church  matters  a  Congregationalist.  He  married 
Miss  Cornelia  Catharine  Hotchkiss,  and  their  family 
includes  three  children. 


WILLIAM  L.  BIDWELL,  Windsor:  Paper  Man- 
ufacturer. 

The  subject  of  this  biography  was  born  in  the 
village  of  North  Manchester,  in  June,  1838,  being 
now  in  the  fifty-third  year  of  his  age.  He  received 
a  common  school,  acade- 
mical, and  business  train- 
ing in  his  youth,  and  has 
since  maturity  been 
actively  engaged  in  the 
manufacture  of  paper. 
Since    1864   he   has    held 


the  important  position  of 
treasurer  and  manager  of 
the  Springfield  Paper 
Company  of  Rainbow, 
Conn.  For  the  last  thirty- 
four  or  five  years  he  has 

w.   I..   HinwELL.  r^^^^^*^^^   "^  Windsor,  and 

in  politics  has  always 
acted  with  the  republican  party.  His  personal 
popularity  was  attested  in  the  fall  of  1876,  when  he 
was  elected  to  the  state  legislature  on  the  republican 
ticket,  the  town  being  at  that  time  nominally  demo- 
cratic by  a  hundred  majority.  Mr.  Bidwell  has, 
during  his  residence  in  Windsor,  been  interested 
in  all  matters  relating  to  the  public  schools  and 
church.  He  has  three  times  made  extensive  trips 
through  the  south  and  west  for  rest  and  recreation, 
the  first  being  in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1876, 
at  which  time  he  visited  the  Bahama  Islands;  next 
in  the  winter  and  spring  of  1888  he  traveled  south 
to  Florida,  and  west  to  California  and  the  Pacific 
coast ;  and  again  during  the  recent  winter  and 
spring  of  1891  he  made  quite  a  protracted  and 
agreeable  sojourn  in  the  extreme  southern  states. 


B.    WHITING. 


CHARLES  B.  WHITING,  Hartford:  President 
Orient  Insurance  Company. 

Charles  B.  Whiting,  a  son  of  Jonas  Whiting  of 
New  Hampshire,  was  born  in  Greenbush,  Rens- 
selaer County,  New  York,  Sept.  3,  1828.  He  is  a 
descendant  from  Rev. 
Samuel  Whiting,  first 
minister  of  Lynn,  Mass., 
who  came  to  America 
from  England  in  1636. 
The  wife  of  Rev.  Samuel 
Whiting  was  Miss  Eliza- 
beth St.  John  prior  to  her 
marriage,  a  sister  of  Sir 
Oliver  St.  John,  lord  chief 
justice  of  England  under 
Cromwell.  She  was  an 
o  w  n  cousin  of  Oliver 
Cromwell.  The  father  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  a  merchant,  and  the  youthful  career  of  the 
lad  was  partly  in  the  store  and  partly  at  school,  his 
educational  experience  being  first  at  the  public 
schools,  and  finally  at  a  boarding  school  in  Wil- 
liamstown,  Mass.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he 
left  home  and  entered  the  employ  of  the  Boston  & 
Albany  Railroad  Company  at  East  Albany,  remain- 
ing three  years,  after  which  he  had  two  years'  ex- 
perience in  steamboating  with  the  "  People's  Line" 
of  Hudson  River  steamers.  In  1S55  he  went  west 
and  settled  in  the  town  of  DeSoto,  Wisconsin,  on 
the  Mississippi  River,  where  for  nine  years  he  was 
variously  engaged  as  railroad  and  steamboat  agent, 
postmaster,  and  local  agent  for  the  ^^tna  Insurance 
Company  of  Hartford,  Conn.  In  1S66  he  went  to 
New  York  and  formed  a  connection  with  the  Acci- 
dental Insurance  Company  of  that  city.  In  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year  he  was  engaged  by  the  exec- 
utive committee  of  the  national  board  of  fire  un- 
derwriters, and  became  its  secretary,  remaining 
such  until  May,  1870.  At  that  time  the  Home  In- 
surance Company  offered  Mr.  Whiting  the  position 
of  state  agent  of  that  companj'  for  New  York,  and 
he  thought  best  to  accept  it.  He  served  the  com- 
panj^  faithfully  for  ten  years,  when  he  was  forced 
to  resign  on  account  of  the  condition  of  his  health. 
A  few  months  of  i-est  followed,  when  he  again  went 
into  active  service,  for  the  Springfield  (Mass.)  Fire 
and  Marine  Insurance  Compau}-;  but  in  October 
following,  having  been  unanimouslj'  elected  secre- 
tary of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance  Company,  he 
removed  his  residence  to  this  city.  He  remained 
with  the  Hartford  until  called  to  the  presidency  of 
the  Orient  in  May,  1S86,  in  the  duties  of  which  lat- 
ter position  he  is  at  present  engaged.  His  success- 
ful management  of  the  Orient,  in  connection  with 
his  associates,  is  well  known. 

vSince  his  advent  into  the  business  in   1866,  Mr. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


245 


Whiting  has  been  quite  a  prolific  writer  on  insur- 
ance matters;  lie  has  also  delivered  several  ad- 
dresses upon  this  theme,  one  before  the  New  York 
State  Association  of  Supervising  and  Adjusting 
Agents  at  Niagara  Falls,  and  others  before  the 
Connecticut  State  Firemen's  Association  in  18SS; 
also  one  of  •  special  note  before  the  Northwestern 
Association.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  national 
board  of  fire  underwriters  in  1890  he  contributed  a 
paper  which  attracted  much  attention. 

Mr.  Whiting  has  held  various  positions  of  public 
trust.  He  was  supervisor  of  the  town  of  Wheat- 
land, W%consin,  in  1863;  in  1865  was  a  member  of 
the  Wisconsin  state  convention  which  nominated 
Hon.  Jeremiah  M.  Rusk  to  the  first  state  office  he 
ever  held.  Here  in  Hartford  he  is  vice-president 
and  a  director  in  the  City  Bank,  director  in  the 
National  Life  Insurance  Company  and  the  Perkins 
Electric  Lamp  Company,  chairman  of  the  finance 
committee  of  the  Hartford  Board  of  Trade,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Historical  Society  and  of  the  Sons  of  the 
Revolution.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Asylum  Hill 
Congregational  society,  and  in  politics  an  inde- 
pendent republican.  He  married  in  1856  Miss 
Sarah  E.  Fairchild,  daughter  of  Frederick  Fair- 
child  of  Greenbush,  N.  Y.  They  have  had  two 
children;  both  died  in  infancj'. 


HON.     HOMER     TWITCHELL,     N.vrG.vrucK  : 

]\Ianufacturer. 

Senator  Homer  Twitchell  is  an  active  and  in- 
fluential democratic  leader  in  his  section  of  the 
state.  In  1SS4  he  was  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives,  and  was  _   , 

in  the  senate  during  the 
session  of  1889,  represent- 
ing the  Fifth  senatorial 
district.  He  was  returned 
to  the  senate  of  189 1.  In 
1 8 84  he  was  a  delegate  to 
the  national  democratic 
convention  in  Chicago 
which  nominated  Presi- 
dent Cleveland.  The  sen- 
ator has  held  numerous 
local  offices,  including 
that  of  first  selectman, 
justice  of  the  peace,  mem- 
ber of  the  boards  of  assessors  and  relief  in  his 
town.  He  has  also  been  prominently  connected 
with  business  interests,  having  been  president  of 
the  Naugatuck  Savings  Bank,  president  of  the 
Naugatuck  Water  Company,  and  being  now  direc- 
tor in  the  Naugatuck  National  Bank,  trustee  of  the 
Naugatuck  Savings  Bank,  and  manager  of  the  ex- 
tensive manufacturing  firm  of  H.  Twitchell  &  Son. 
Since  1870  he  has  been  engaged  in  the  manufacture 


x-^ 


HDMER    TWITCHELL. 


of  umbrella  trimmings  and  shield  pins.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  a  past 
master  of  Shepherd  Lodge,  No.  78,  F.  and  A.  ]M., 
of  Naugatuck.  The  wife  of  Senator  T\\-itchell, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Lavinia  Mason  of 
Coventr\-.  He  has  one  son,  who  is  engaged  with 
him  in  business.  The  senator  was  born  in  Oxford, 
August  19,  1826,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  He  lived  on  a  farm  until  he  was 
eighteen  years  of  age,  when  he  began  work  in  a 
pocket  cutlery  establishment.  His  success  in  life 
has  been  due  to  his  personal  exertion  and  manage- 
ment. 

HON.    HENRY    E.    SHOVE,  WakrkxX:    Farmer 

and  Salesman. 

Mr.  Shove  is  a  descendant  in  the  fourth  genera- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Seth  Shove,  who  came  to  this 
country  from  England  about  1700,  and  was  the  first 
settled  minister  in  Dan- 
bury,  Conn.  He  was  born 
January  22,  1831,  at  War- 
ren, Conn.,  where  he  has 
spent  the  greater  part  of 
his  life  as  farmer  and 
salesman.  He  was  for  a 
number  of  years  previous 
to  1885  associated  with  the 
firm  of  Richards  &  Shove, 
at  Brewsters,  N.Y., where 
his  son,  L.  A.  Shove,  still 
carries  on  business.  Mr. 
Shove  has  held  the  office 
of  selectman  for  a  number 

of  years,  assessor  for  six  years,  collector,  grand 
juror,  and  justice  of  the  peace  for  thirteen  years, 
which  office  he  still  holds;  also  a  member  of  the 
school  board  —  all  of  which  he  has  filled  with  credit 
to  himself  and  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  con- 
stituents and  fellow- townsmen.  In  the  numerous 
suits  that  have  come  before  him  as  justice  he  has 
always  been  guided  by  the  strict  principles  of  equity 
in  rendering  his  decisions,  which  have  been  to  the 
general  satisfaction  of  all  parties  concerned.  He 
is  always  ready  to  help  those  who  are  willing  to 
help  themselves,  liberal  in  his  donations  and  in  his 
views.  He  has  been  associated  with  the  Methodist 
church  fort}^  years,  and  has  always  been  very  active 
in  all  temperance  movements.  In  1851  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Fannie  Lain  of  Kent,  Conn.  The 
fruit  of  their  union  is  five,  sons  and  one  daughter, 
all  of  whom  are  living  and  filling  honorable  posi- 
tions in  four  different  states.  In  1879  Mr.  Shove 
received  a  nomination  as  representative  for  the 
town  of  Warren  to  the  general  assembly  by  the 
democratic  part}-,  and  was  elected  by  the  largest 
majority  ever  given  to  any  candidate  in  that  town. 
He  filled  the  office  with  credit,  and  to  the  great 


H.    E.    SHOVE. 


246 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


satisfaction  of  his  constituents.  He  has  been  fre- 
quently called  upon  to  officiate  at  special  religious 
gatherings,  for  which  service  he  seems  specially 
qualified.  He  is  a  man  of  great  kindness  of  heart, 
urbanity  of  deportment,  and  of  the  strictest  integ- 
rity. As  such  he  commands  the  respect  and  confi- 
dence of  all  with  whom  he  becomes  associated  in 
the  active  duties  of  life. 


J- 


HURLBURT. 


JOHN    HENRY    HURLBURT,  Bridgeport,  In- 
surance and  Real  Estate. 

J.  H.  Hurlburt  was  born  in  Wilton,  Fairfield 
County,  Jan.  21,  1S40.  He  was  educated  at  Wilton 
academy,  and  spent  two  years  in  Trinity  College, 
Hartford,  from  which  ill- 
health  compelled  him  to 
retire.  In  i860  he  became 
assistant  to  Mr.  CM.  Sel- 
leck  in  his  famous  school 
at  Norwalk,  from  which 
he  resigned  to  take  charge 
of  "Rocky  Dell  Insti- 
tute," a  private  school 
founded  by  Hon.  William 
H.  Barnum  at  Lime  Rock, 
in  1864,  which  position  he 
retained  until  January, 
1887,  at  which  latter  date 
he  was  appointed  internal 
revenue  agent  under  President  Cleveland.  He 
resigned  the  agency  July  1,  1889,  at  the  request  of 
the  Harrison  administration,  under  the  frank 
avowal  that  the  place,  being  one  paying  a  good 
salary,  was  much  sought  after  and  desired  for  some 
friend  of  the  new  administration.  For  fifteen  years 
he  served  as  secretary  of  the  school  board  of  Salis- 
bury, bringing  the  public  schools  of  that  town  to  a 
high  degree  of  efficiency.  During  his  long  connec- 
tion with  educational  institutions  and  affairs  he 
accomplished  great  results  in  the  enlightenment  and 
discipline  of  youth,  and  acquired  a  wide  and  honor- 
able reputation,  not  only  as  an  instructor,  but  also 
for  his  able  management  of  the  public  schools.  In 
the  fall  of  1 88 1  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  legis- 
lature from  Salisbury,  and  served  on  the  committee 
on  education.  After  resigning  from  the  government 
service  he  was  obliged  on  account  of  the  loss  of  an  " 
eye  to  relinquish  the  charge  of  the  school  he  had 
held  through  assistants  up  to  that  time.  At  present 
he  is  residing  at  Bridgeport,  and  acting  as  special 
agent  of  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of 
New  York. 

Mr.  Hurlburt  has  been  twice  married;  first  to 
Miss  Rebecca  Maria,  daughter  of  B.  O.  Banks,  of 
Norwalk,  by  whom  he  had  two  children;  and  sec- 
ond to  Roxana  Sophia,  daughter  of  C.  H.  Glens 
of  Salisburv,  bv  whom  he  has  five  children. 


J.     H.    CHAl'IX. 


REV.  J.  H.  CHAPIN,  Ph.D.,  Meriden  :  Univer- 
salist  Clergyman,  and  Professor  of  Geology  and 
Mineralogy  in  St.  Lawrence  University,  New- 
York. 

Dr.  J.  H.  Chapin  is  a  descendant  of  the  eighth 
generation  of  Samuel  Chapin,  who  came  from 
Wales  to  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  1636,  and  finally 
settled  at  Springfield  in 
1642,  where  some  of  his 
descendants  still  reside. 
He  was  bom  Dec.  31, 
1S32,  at  Leavenworth, 
Ind.,  but  spent  his  youth 
in  Illinois,  whither  his 
father  removed  in  1839. 
He  graduated  at  Lom- 
bard LTniversity,  Gales- 
burg,  111.,  in  1857,  and 
was  for  several  years  an 
instructor  in  mathematics 
and  natural  science  in 
that  institution.  In  1859 
he  was  ordained  to  the  ministry  in  the  Univer- 
salist  church,  and  was  settled  at  Pekin,  and 
afterwards  at  Springfield  in  that  state.  Dur- 
ing the  war  of  the  rebellion  he  was  in  the  ser- 
vice of  the  United  States  Sanitary  Commission, 
and  crossing  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  spring 
of  1864,  canvassed  the  greater  part  of  the 
Pacific  coast  from  Mexico  to  British  Columbia  for 
funds  for  the  commission,  supplementing  the  work 
that  had  been  so  well  begun  by  Rev.  T.  Starr  King 
just  before  his  death.  In  the  autumn  of  1S65  he 
went  to  Boston  as  secretary  of  the  New  England 
Freedmen's  Aid  Society,  of  which  Governor  John 
A.  Andrew  was  president,  and  while  holding  that, 
position  made  several  totu's  of  inspection  of  the 
schools  in  the  Southern  States.  In  1868  he  became 
financial  secretary  of  the  Universalist  convention, 
with  headquarters  in  Boston,  and  during  the  cen- 
tennial period  of  that  church  was  instrumental  in 
raising  the  larger  part  of  the  "  Murray  centenary 
fund,"  now  held  for  missionary  purposes.  In  1871 
he  became  professor  of  geology  and  mineralogy  in 
St.  Lawrence  University  in  New  York,  which  posi- 
tion he  still  holds.  In  1875  he  was  elected  presi- 
dent of  his  alma  mater  at  Galesburg,  111.,  but  after 
due  consideration  declined  to  go.  In  1S73  he  re- 
sumed regular  pulpit  ministrations,  and  became 
pastor  of  the  Universalist  church  at  Meriden, 
Conn.,  and  continued  in  that  relation  till  1885, 
when,  finding  himself  overloaded  with  professional 
duties,  he  resigned.  He  is  a  member  of  the  school 
board  in  Meriden,  and  from  1880  to  1887  was  acting 
school  visitor  ;  and  it  was  during  this  period  that 
the  high  school  was  established,  and  the  present 
capacious  building  erected.  He  is  an  active  Fellow 
of  the  American  association  for  the  advancement 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


247 


of  science,  and  one  of  the  founders  of  the  associa- 
tion of  American  geologists.  He  has  been  presi- 
dent of  the  Connecticut  convention  of  Universalists 
for  a  dozen  years,  and  was  for  a  long  period,  pre- 
ceding his  recent  absence  from  the  country,  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  missions  in  the  national 
convention  of  that  church.  He  belongs  to  the  free 
masons  and  odd  fellows,  and  among  the  former 
holds  the  rank  of  knight  templar.  He  has  been 
twice  married  —  first  in  1S57  to  Helen  M.  Weaver 
of  Alstead,  N.  H.,  and  again  in  1S7S  to  Kate 
A.  Lewis  of  Meriden,  Conn.,  and  has  one  daugh- 
ter, Mary  A.,  born  in  1863.  Dr.  Chapin  has 
made  several  tours  in  foreign  lands,  and  not  long 
since  returned  from  a  tour  around  the  world.  He 
IS  the  author  of  several  volumes,  among  them  "  The 
Creation,  and  the  Early  Development  of  Society," 
which  had  a  large  sale  for  a  scientific  woi'k  ;  and 
one  recently  from  the  press  entitled  "  From  Japan 
to  Granada,"  is  well  received  both  by  the  press 
and  pubhc.  He  has  been  identified  with  the  re- 
publicans since  the  organization  of  the  party,  but 
never  held  a  political  otifice  till  elected  to  the  house 
of  representatives  in  1S88. 


HON.   HEZEKIAH  SIDNEY  HAYDEN,  Wind- 
sor: Judge  of  Probate. 

H.  Sidney  Hayden  —  a  descendant  in  the  seventh 
generation  from  William  Hayden,  the  American 
ancestor  —  was  born  at  Haydens,  in  the  town 
of  Windsor,  January  29, 
1 8 16.  In  boyhood  he  de- 
veloped no  very  marked 
traits  to  distinguish  him 
from  his  brothers,  except 
possibly  that  into  the  dull 
routine  of  farm  and  school 
life  he  infused  more  en- 
thusiasm, and  managed 
to  find  a  quicker  market 
and  drive  a  little  sharper 
bargain  than  his  associ- 
ates when  trying  to  dis- 
pose of  the  wild  game 
which  they  captured  each 

autumn,  and  on  which  they  were  largely  dependent 
for  pocket  money.  At  the  age  of  about  sixteen  he  left 
the  farm  and  entered  a  country  store,  from  which 
he  graduated  two  or  three  years  later,  and  joined 
his  brother  in  Charleston,  S.  C.  Here,  with  untir- 
ing enery,  he  appHed  himself,  under  the  leadership 
of  his  elder  brother,  and  on  the  retirement  of  that 
brother  in  1843  took  the  lead  of  the  business  him- 
self. After  successfully  conducting  the  business  in 
Charleston  about  fifteen  years,  he  returned  to 
Windsor  in  1858,  where  he  has  since  resided.  He 
has   served   in  both   branches  of   the  Connecticut 


II.    S.    HAYDEN. 


legislature  —  in  the  senate  in  1S66,  where  he  served 
as  chairman  of  the  joint  special  committee  for  the 
care  and  education  of  the  orphans  of  soldiers;  and 
in  the  house  in  1868  and  1872,  where  he  was  on  the 
joint  standing  committee  on  the  school  fund.  He 
was  judge  of  probate  for  the  district  of  Windsor 
for  twenty-seven  years,  or  until  disqualified  by  the 
seventy-years  Umit  set  by  law  for  all  judicial  offi- 
cers. He  was  appointed  one  of  the  trustees  to 
select  a  site  and  erect  buildings  for  a  hospital  for 
the  insane;  has  been  chairman  of  the  trustees  and 
of  their  building  committee,  and  has  had  super- 
vision over  the  erection  of  nearly  all  the  buildings 
now  cQmposing  the  Connecticut  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  at  Middletown,  which  have  cost  the  state  a 
million  dollars.  His  services  have  been  gratuitous 
(as  have  been  the  services  of  the  other  trustees), 
and  he  has  devoted  much  time  to  the  interests  of 
the  institution.  In  July,  1889,  Mr.  Hayden  volun- 
tarily retired  from  the  board  of  hospital  trustees, 
which  action  called  forth  the  following  expression 
from  his  associates  a  few  months  later: 

RESOLUTION   IN    REGARD  TO  H.    SIDNEY   HAYDEN. 

THE  Conn.  Hospital  for  the  Ins.vne,  , 
Middletown,  Conn.     \ 

We,  the  trustees,  desire  to  have  entered  upon  our  records 
an  expression  of  our  regard  at  the  voluntary  retirement  of 
Mr.  Hayden  from  our  board,  and  our  appreciation  of  his 
long  and  valuable  services.  To  no  citizen  of  our  state  is  a 
greater  debt  of  gratitude  due  for  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  its  insane  than  to  Mr.  Hayden.  From  the  very 
inception  of  the  plan  for  the  founding  of  our  insane  hospi- 
tal before  1865  to  last  July,  when  he  retired,  he  has  been  un- 
tiring in  his  devotion  to,  and  work  for,  the  afflicted  in  mind 
of  the  state.  The  present  condition  of  this  hospital,  of 
which  we  are  justly  proud,  is  in  a  great  measure  due  to  his 
unflagging  zeal.  No  weather  was  so  inclement,  or  call  so 
inconvenient,  that  he  could  not  attend  to  his  charitable 
duties  here;  in  the  early  days,  when  the  income  was  not 
always  sufficient  to  meet  the  expenses,  loaning  his  personal 
credit,  and  aiding  all  by  his  advice  and  mature  judgment. 
His  absence  will  long  be  felt  at  our  meetings,  and  his  mem- 
ory ever  be  held  in  affection  and  esteem. 

Resolved,  That  the  above  resolution  be  entered  upon  our 
records,  and  that  the  secretary  transmit  an  engrossed  copy 
of  the  same  to  Mr.  Hayden. 

Attest:  J-   W-   ALSOP, 

Secretary  Board  of  Trustees. 

Middletown,  Conn.,  .Xov.  4,  iSSq. 

Soon  after  ]\Ir.  Hayden's  return  from  Charleston 
to  Windsor  he  prepared  and  furnished  suitable 
buildings  for  a  young  ladies'  seminary,  an  insti- 
tution which  has  been  well  sustained,  and  is  still 
in  the  full  tide  of  strccess,  with  Miss  JuHa  S. 
Williams  as  principal.  He  is  one  of  the  trus- 
tees and  the  treasurer  of  the  Loomis  Institute,  an 
educational  institution  ultimately  to  be  estabUshed 
with  its  large  fund  at  the  old  Loomis  homestead  in 
Windsor.  His  enterprise  and  investments  have 
added  much  to  the  growth  and  attractiveness  of  the 
historic  old  town  of  Windsor,  in  which  he  takes  a 


248 


AX    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


commendable  pi'ide  as  the  home  of  his  ancestors 
from  its  early  beginnings.  He  has  been  a  large 
contributor  to  Grace  (Episcopal)  church  in  Wind- 
sor, of  which  he  is  a  devoted  member  and  senior 
warden. 

Mr.  Hayden  married,  October  9,  1S4S,  Miss  Abby 
S.  Loomis,  daughter  of  Colonel  James  Loomis  of 
Windsor,  and  a  descendant  of  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  town.  They  have  one  (adopted) 
daughter,  Sarah  Elizabeth  Hayden,  who  married 
H.  T.  Haskell  of  Chicago,  111. 


F.    F.    STREET. 


F.    F.     STREET,    East     Hartford:     Insurance 
Agent. 

Frederick  Ferdinand  Street  was  born  in  Cheshire, 
Conn.,  January  26,  1S30.  The  family  ancestry  on 
both  sides  is  traced  back  to  English  origin  —  on  his 
•mother's  side  to  the  Hon. 
Henry  Wolcott,  who  came 
from  Tolland,  England, 
and  settled  in  Windsor, 
Conn.,  and  whose  grand- 
son was  Governor  Roger 
Wolcottof  the  Connecticut 
colony;  also  to  the  Rev. 
John  Davenport,  one  of 
the  original  settlers  of 
New  Haven.  In  the  pa- 
ternal line  Mr.  Street  is 
( if  the  sixth  generation 
from  the  Rev.  Nicholas 
Street,  who  came  from 
Taunton,  England,  in  1630,  or  thereabouts,  settling 
in  what  is  now  the  city  of  Taunton,  ]\Iass.,  naming 
the  place  after  his  native  town.  The  Rev.  Samuel 
Street,  son  of  the  emigrant,  came  to  this  country 
with  his  father,  was  educated  at  Cambridge,  Mass., 
and  settled  in  Wallingford,  this  state,  being  the 
first  minister  in  the  town,  and  one  of  the  original 
settlers  there.  In  his  early  life  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  for  eight  years  engaged  in  exten- 
sive farming,  and  the  West  India  trade  in  New 
Haven,  especially  during  the  winters;  alternating 
this  occupation  with  the  manufacture  of  brick  dur- 
ing the  summers.  For  the  following  seven  years  he 
was  in  the  India  rubber  business  in  Naugatuck, being 
one  of  the  superintendents  of  what  is  now  the  Good- 
year Metallic  Rubber  Shoe  Company,  where  he 
still  retains  an  interest.  He  afterwards  went  on  to 
the  road  as  commercial  traveler  for  a  Philadelphia 
house,  journeying  through  the  northern  and  south- 
ern states  for  several  years.  After  this  Mr.  Street 
settled  in  Harrisburg,  Pa.,  in  the  building  and 
brick  business,  under  the  firm  name  of  F.  F.  Street 
&  Co.,  where  he  continued  until  186S,  when  he  came 
to  Hartford  and  established  himself  in  the  fire  in- 
surance  business,  where  he   has   since   remained. 


During  his  business  life  in  Hartford  Mr.  Street  has 
been  often  engaged  in  promoting  or  establishing 
business  enterprises  and  manufacturing  concerns, 
among  them  being  the  Hartford  Machine  Screw 
Company,  previous  to  its  present  organization, 
and  others  on  the  west  side.  He  is  one  of 
the  auditors  of  the  Pratt  &  Whitney  Com- 
pany, a  director  of  the  Pratt  &  Cad}^  Com- 
pany, and  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the  Tucker 
Stop  Motion  Company.  ]\Ir.  Street's  early  edu- 
cation was  acquired  at  the  common  schools  and 
the  Cheshire  academy.  His  wife  previous  to  her 
marriage  was  Miss  Mar 5^  Abbott  Chapman,  daugh- 
ter of  the  late  Reuben  Chapman  of  East  Hartford, 
and  they  have  one  adopted  daughter.  Mr.  Street 
resides  with  his  family  in  East  Hartford,  where  he 
is  a  member  of  the  First  Congregational  church, 
and  a  director  in  the  Raymond  Library.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  republican,  but  has  always  refused  to 
accept  public  office.  He  is  also  a  member  of  Hart- 
ford Lodge  of  Masons. 


N.  A.  MOORE,  Kensington:  Landscape  Artist. 
Nelson  Augustus  Moore  was  born  in  Kensington 
in  1824,  in  the  paternal  homestead  owned  by  his 
grandfather,  probably  one  hundred  and  fifty  years 
ago,  and  still  standing, 
though  in  a  dilapidated 
condition.  He  is  a  lineal 
descendant  of  John 
Moore,  his  first  American 
ancestor,  who  emigrated 
from  England  to  Amer- 
ica in  1630,  and  settled  in 
Dorchester,  Mass.,  re- 
moving thence  to  Wind- 
sor, Conn.,  in  company 
with  Dr.  Wareham,  in 
1636.  Nearly  thirty  years 
ago  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  erected  his  present 
residence  in  the  vicinity  of  the  ancestral  mansion 
above  referred  to,  and  to  its  natural  beaut}^  of  sit- 
uation he  has  since,  by  the  aid  of  nature  and  art, 
added  such  adornments  as  to  entitle  it  now  to  con- 
siderable distinction  among  the  picturesque  resi- 
dences of  New  England.  Mr.  Moore's  father  was 
a  manufacturer,  of  the  firm  of  R.  Moore  &  Sons, 
who  were  the  first  to  make  and  successfully  intro- 
duce hydraulic  cement  as  an  article  of  commerce 
into  the  markets  of  this  countr3^  He  was  a  man 
of  some  means,  and  anxious  that  his  son  should 
take  a  collegiate  course  at  Yale;  but,  though  the 
latter  received  what  was  then  considered  a  liberal 
education,  he  neglected  to  avail  himself  of  the 
higher  advantages  contemplated  by  his  father, 
which  neglect  he  has  in  his  later  life  often  regret- 


A.    MOORE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT 


249 


ted.  From  the  age  of  eighteen  to  twenty-five  his 
occupations  were  thoroughly  varied.  Much  of  his 
time  was  spent  at  the  mills,  and  he  thus  acquired 
a  facility  for  turning  his  hand  to  almost  any 
mechanical  work.  One  of  these  years  was  spent 
in  railway  service,  in  1846,  when  railroading  in 
this  country  was  in  its  infanc}'.  His  position  was 
that  of  local  agent  at  the  Berlin  station  on  the  New 
Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad,  which  then  had  its 
termini  at  these  two  cities.  During  all  these  years 
he  found  more  or  less  time  to  gratify  his  taste  for 
drawing  and  painting;  and  when  at  the  Berlin 
station,  he  maintained  a  studio  in  the  attic  of  the 
little  depot  building,  where  he  painted  gratuitously 
a  few  portraits  for  his  friends.  Of  these  it  might 
be  said  there  was  a  resemblance  to  their  subjects  1 
Although  he  always  had  a  love  for  pictures,  his  first 
strong  impulse  to  paint  was  when  a  portrait  painter 
(the  father  of  the  present  state  labor  commissioner, 
S.  M.  Hotchkiss,)  invited  him  to  assist  in  painting 
by  candle-light  a  portrait  (or  a  study  for  one)  of  a 
little  girl  who  had  met  with  a  fatal  accident.  His 
"assistance"  was  that  of  holding  the  light  and 
watching  the  progress  of  the  study.  This  was 
when  he  was  eighteen  years  of  age.  After  that  he 
embraced  every  opportunity  to  practice  in  a  crude 
way  the  art  of  painting.  After  leaving  the  service 
of  the  railroad  company  he  decided  to  study  in 
New  York,  and  went  into  the  studio  of  Thomas  S. 
Cummings,  now  the  only  survivor  of  those  who 
first  organized  the  National  Academy,  of  which 
Mr.  Cummings  was  treasurer,  and  afterwards  vice- 
president.  Later,  Mr.  Moore  entered  the  studio  of 
D.  Huntington,  now  and  for  many  years  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Academy.  After  leaving  New  York  he 
continued  to  practice  his  art  at  his  home  in  Kensing- 
ton; and  soon  his  love  for  natural  scenery  drew 
him  from  the  practice  of  portrait  and  figure  paint- 
ing to  that  of  landsca]ies,  which  he  has  followed  all 
his  life  with  great  assiduity.  Few  artists  have 
spent  as  much  time  in  out-of-door  study,  in  j^ains- 
taking  fidelity  to  nature,  as  ]\Ir.  Moore.  His 
sketches  comprise  a  great  variety  of  subjects,  in- 
cluding all  seasons  of  the  year.  Much  of  his  sum- 
mer life  has  been  at  Lake  George.  Since  he  built 
his  house  in  Kensington  his  home  has  always  been 
there,  although  before  that  time  he  lived  several 
years  in  Hartford,  and  has  since  spent  four  years 
in  that  city  in  order  that  his  children  might  enjoy 
the  advantages  of  its  excellent  schools.  Much  of 
his  adult  life  has  also  been  spent  in  New  York,  his 
studio  at  one  time  being  in  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  build- 
ing in  that  city.  His  canvases  have  been  exhibited 
in  the  academy  more  or  less  for  the  past  twenty 
five  years.  He  has  painted  to  order  for  many 
leading  and  wealthy  men,  and  his  works  are  scat- 
tered from  his  own  state  even  to  Japan,  where 
several  are  now  owned  by  gentlemen  who  consider 


themselves  critics  as  well  as  connoisseurs  of  art. 
As  a  landscape  artist  he  has  an  established  reputa- 
tion, and  has  among  his  patrons  some  of  the  most 
noted  picture  buyers  of  the  country. 

Mr.  Moore  was  married  in  1S53  to  Miss  Ann 
^laria  Pickett,  of  Litchfield,  Conn. ,  who  with  their 
four  children,  is  now  living.  There  are  three  sons 
and  one  daughter;  the  oldest  son,  a  figure  and 
animal  painter,  has  reached  a  high  degree  of  suc- 
cess in  the  department  of  art  to  which  his  attention 
has  been  chiefly  devoted. 

RUSSELL    L.  HALL,  New    Canaan  ;  President 

First  National  Bank. 

Mr.  Hall  was  born  in  Warren,  Litchfield  county, 
Conn.,  August  iS,  1832,  being  now  in  his  fifty- 
ninth  year.  He  is  a  descendant  in  the  seventh 
generation  from  Francis 
Hall,  who  came  from  Mil- 
ford,  county  of  Surrey, 
England,  in  1639,  settling 
first  in  New  Haven,  after- 
wards in  Fairfield,  and 
finally  in  Stratford,  where 
he  was  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  until  the 
time  of  his  death,  which 
occurred  in  March,  i68(^ 
or  i6go.  The  subject  of 
this  sketch,  after  complet-  *      >  ' 

ing  his  edtication,  which  k.  l.  hall. 

was  acquired  partly  at  the 

public  and  partly  at  private  schools,  learned  the 
trade  of  cabinet-maker  in  Goshen,  Conn.,  remov- 
ing from  there  soon  afterwards  to  New  Canaan, 
where  he  -has  since  resided.  He  has  always  been 
active  in  public  affairs,  is  president  of  the  First 
National  Bank  of  New  Canaan,  which  position  he 
has  held  since  1S79,  is  also  treasurer  of  the  New 
Canaan  Savings  Bank,  and  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  R.  L.  Hall  &  Brothers,  dealers  in  furniture. 

The  family  of  Mr.  Hall  consists  of  his  wife,  who, 
before  her  marriage,  was  Miss  Betsey  A.  Jones  of 
New  Canaan,  and  two  children,  son  and  daughter, 
the  former  of  whom,  Lewis  C.  Hall,  is  a  meinber  of 
the  present  senior  class  at  Yale  University.  In 
politics  Mr.  Hall  is  a  republican,  and  he  has  held 
many  local  offices,  being  at  present  republican 
registrar  of  voters,  as  well  as  chairman  of  the  re- 
publican town  committee,  which  latter  position  he 
has  held  for  nearly  twenty  years.  He  has  been 
repeatedly  chosen  town  assessor,  has  been  deputy 
sheriff,  and  held  other  offices  of  minor  importance. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  church 
of  New  Canaan,  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows,  and 
the  Sons  of  Temperance,  a  man  of  wealth,  sterling 
qualities,  and  of  the  highest  standing,  socially  and 
intellectually. 


250 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


A.    H.    DAYTON. 


ARTHUR  H.  DAYTON,  Naugatuck:  Banker. 

Mr.  Daj^ton  was  born  at  Waterbury,  November 
24,  1S54.  He  finished  his  education  at  Wilbraham 
(Mass.)  academy,  and  at  the  age  of  sixteen  entered 
the  bank  at  East  Had- 
dam,  Conn.,  as  clerk. 
After  a  few  years  of 
clerical  service  he  was 
chosen  cashier  of  the  in- 
stitution, retaining  that 
connection  until  1SS3, 
when  he  was  appointed 
cashier  of  the  Naugatuck 
National  Bank,  which  po- 
sition he  still  occupies. 
In  1SS5  he  was  elected 
treasurer  of  the  Nauga- 
tuck Savings  Bank,  and 
holds  the  office  at  the 
present  time.  He  is  also  president  of  the  Nauga- 
tuck Electric  Light  Company,  and  assistant  treas- 
tirer  of  Goodyear's  Metallic  Rubber  Shoe  Company 
of  Naugatuck.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  church,  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  has 
membership  in  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Masonic  fra- 
ternities. Mr.  Dayton  is  married,  and  has  one  son. 
His  wife  was  Miss  Millie  C.  Bliss  of  Longmeadow, 
Mass. 

WILLARD    A.    COWLES,    Torrin(;ton:    Dairy 
Farmer. 

Willard  Albro  Cowles  of  Torrington  was  born  in 
that  town  Sept.  17,  1S58,  and  was  educated  in  the 
Torrington  high  school  and  at  the  Claverack  col- 
lege and  Hudson  River 
Institute.  With  the  ex- 
ception of  a  brief  period 
at  Waterbury  his  business 
life  has  been  spent  in 
Torrington,  where  he  is 
engaged  in  the  milk  trade 
as  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  Patterson  &  Cowles, 
wholesale  and  retail  deal- 
ers in  milk  and  cream. 
Mr.  Cowles  is  a  republi- 
can, and  has  been  an  as- 
sistant in  the  town  clerk's 
office  at  Torrington  and 
census  enumerator.  He  has  also  held  the  position 
of  tax-collector,  member  of  the  board  of  assessors, 
and  secretary  of  the  school  board,  of  which  he  has 
been  a  member  for  nine  years.  He  represented 
Torrington  in  the  legislature  in  '89-90,  and  sei'\'ed 
as  clerk  of  the  joint  select  committee  on  con- 
stitutional amendments.  He  is  at  present  a 
commissioner  of  the  superior  court.  His  religious 
associations  are  with  the  Congregational   church. 


A.  cowi.es. 


and  he  is  a  member  of  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry 
and  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Mary  E.  McKinstry  of  Chicopee,  Mass.,  prior  to 
her  marriage.  There  are  no  children  in  the  family, 
their  only  child  having  died  in  infanc)-. 


E.     J.     SMI'lH. 


E.  J.  SMITH,  Hartforu,  Merchant. 

Edwin  J.  Smith  was  born  in  Washington,  Litch- 
field county,  Jan.  19,  1S44,  and  was  educated  in  the 
Brown  School  of  Hartford,  and  in  the  Harris  Mili- 
tary Institute.  The  par- 
ents of  Mr.  Smith  moved 
from  Washington  when 
he  was  a  mere  lad,  resid- 
ing at  first  at  Cabotville, 
Mass.,  and  afterwards  in 
East  Hartford.  They 
also  lived  for  a  number  of 
years  in  this  city.  At  the 
outbreak  of  the  war  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
emploj-ed  in  the  clothing 
trade  with  William  F. 
Whittelsey.  Being  under 
age  at  the  time,  he  met 
with  considerable  difficulty  in  his  attempts  to  en- 
list. After  rejection  in  the  Sixteenth  on  account  of 
his  minority,  he  waited  until  the  organization  of 
the  Twentieth,  when  he  succeeded  in  his  desire, 
becoming  a  member  of  Company'  K  of  that  com- 
mand. The  Twentieth,  which  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Ross  of  the  regular  army,  was  a  participant 
in  the  great  battles  of  Chancellorsville  and  Gettys- 
burg, and  subsequently  took  part  in  Sherman's 
march  to  the  sea.  Mr.  Smith  was  made  a  sergeant 
in  his  company,  and  served  with  credit  through  the 
war.  Aftef  returning  home  he  accepted  of  a  busi- 
ness situation  with  Messrs.  Dunning,  Tooker  &  Co., 
New  York  city,  and  remained  one  year  with  that 
firm.  He  then  returned  to  Hartford,  and  was  as- 
sociated with  H.  W.  Conklin  as  clerk  or  business 
partner  until  the  organization  of  the  firm  of  Covey 
&  Smith,  of  which  firm  he  was  the  senior 
member.  After  a  few  years  Mr.  Smith  purchased 
the  interest  of  Mr.  Covej-  in  the  business  and 
since  been  at  the  head  of  the  company, 
has  visited  Europe  twice  in  the  interest  of 
house.  Mr.  vSmith  has  been  prominently 
identified  with  republican  politics  in  this  city, 
and  has  held  the  office  of  councilman  from 
the  seventh  ward,  member  of  the  board  of 
fire  commissioners  for  twelve  years,  occupying  the 
position  of  president  during  the  last  five;  member 
of  the  republican  town  committee  and  fire  marshal 
three  years.  In  the  fall  of  1890  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  board  of  selectmen,  and  assumed 
the  duties  of  the  office  in  January.     He  was   origi- 


has 
He 
the 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


251 


nally  appointed  fire  commissioner  by  Mayor  Sum- 
ner. He  was  reappointed  twice  by  Governor  Bulke- 
ley,  and  once  by  Mayor  Root.  As  president  of 
the  fire  board  he  proved  himself  an  invaluable 
official.  The  present  development  of  the  depart- 
ment has  been  largely  due  to  his  energy  and  intel- 
ligence. He  has  been  the  president  for  two  years  of 
the  Interstate  Polo  League,  and  is  the  president  of 
the  Hartford  Amusement  Association.  He  is  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Veteran  City  Guard,  Robert  O.Tyler  Post, 
G.  A.  R.,  and  of  the  Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Con- 
necticut. He  is  connected  with  the  highest  Masonic 
bodies  in  the  state,  having  taken  all  the  degrees  of 
York  and  Scottish  Rite  masonry.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Mystic  Shrine,  and  belongs  to  the 
Hartford  Club.  One  year  ago  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  North  School  District  building  com- 
mittee, and  has  taken  an  active  and  influential  part 
in  securing  the  new  school  structure  in  that  district. 
Commissioner  vSmith  has  a  family  of  five  children. 
His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Sarah  H.  Moses,  daughter 
of  Luther  M.  Moses,  died  May  9,  1890.  The  oldest 
son,  Harry  C.  Smith,  is  connected  with  the  Hart- 
ford Coiira?if,  and  the  daughter.  Miss  Gertrude  C. 
Smith,  is  a  student  at  the  Hartford  high  school. 
The  family  are  attendants  at  the  Park  Congrega- 
tional church. 

E.  O.  GOODWIN,  East  Hartford:  Leaf  Tobacco 

Dealer. 

Edward  O.  Goodwin  of  East  Hartford  was  born 
in  that  town  May  22,  1839,  and  received  a  public 
school  and  academic  education.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Connecticut  house 
of  representatives  from 
East  Hartford  during  the 
session  of  18S6,  serving  as 
clerk  of  the  railroad  com- 
mittee, and  has  held  most 
of  the  offices  within  the 
gift  of  the  town.  He 
has  been  a  trial  justice 
for  nearly  twenty  years, 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief,  treasurer  of  the  cen- 
ter school  district  eight 
years,  clerk  of  the  board 
of  health,   and   treasurer 

of  the  Street  Light  Association  since  its  organiza- 
tion in  October,  1881.  He  has  served  two  terms  on 
the  democratic  state  central  committee,  and  is  one 
the  most  prominent  democrats  in  his  town.  He  is 
engaged  in  the  tobacco  business,  being  the  agent 
since  1868  of  the  successful  New  York  firm  of  E. 
Rosenwald  &  Bro. ,  leaf  tobacco  dealers.  He  was 
acting  first  assistant  foreman  of  Charter  Oak,  No. 
I ,  when  the  volunteer  fire  department  in  this  city 
was  disbanded.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Veteran 


E.    O.   C.OODWIN. 


Firemen's  Association,  the  East  Hartford  Bicycle 
Club,  and  is  the  president  and  treasurer  of  the  East 
Hartford  Gun  Club.  He  is  one  of  the  past  masters 
of  Evergreen  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  past  grand  of 
Crescent  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  and  is  an  ex-member 
of  the  Putnam  Phalanx.  The  wife  of  ex-Repre- 
sentative Goodwin  was  Frances  L.  Sanford  of  Hart- 
ford, prior  to  her  marriage.  There  are  no  children 
in  the  family. 

REV.  DANIEL  M.  MOORE,  Colebrook:  Pastor 

of  the  Congregational  Church. 

Daniel  M.  Moore  was  born  in  Athol,  Mass.,  July 
31,  1848.  His  father  died  when  he  was  but  nine 
weeks  old.  His  mother,  a  thrifty,  energetic,  and 
capable  woman,  took  the 
entire  care  and  responsi- 
bility of  his  earh"  years. 
Most  of  the  time  up  to 
his  eleventh  year  was 
spent  in  his  native  village. 
About  this  time  his 
mother  married  again  and 
he  was  taken  to  live  with 
his  step-father  in  Win- 
chendon,  Mass.  Here 
and  at  Orange,  Mass., 
whither  his  parents  soon 
removed,  he  had  a  some- 
what severe  drill  in  farm- 
ing. At  about  the  age  of  sixteen,  not  succeeding 
in  getting  apprenticed  to  a  trade,  he  took  a  clerk- 
ship in  a  country  store.  He  continued  at  this  until 
the  proprietor  closed  out  his  business.  Soon  after 
this,  receiving  the  offer  of  a  somewhat  tempting 
job  in  a  furniture  manufactory,  he  engaged  in  this 
with  considerable  success  for  about  two  years.  In 
the  fall  of  1 868,  at  the  earnest  solicitation  of  a 
cousin,  he  entered  with  him  Kimball  Union  Acad- 
emy, Meriden,  N.  H.  He  expected  to  spend  only 
a  term  or  two  at  school  and  then  engage  in  busi- 
ness, but  it  had  been  his  mother's  earnest  desire 
for  several  years  that  he  should  get  a  thorough, 
and,  if  possible,  a  collegiate  education.  The  favor- 
able opportunity  seemed  to  have  com*.  He  con- 
tinued his  studies,  graduating  at  Kimball  Union 
Academy  in  the  class  of  187 1,  at  Amherst  College 
in  the  class  of  1875,  and  at  Yale  Divinity  School  in 
the  class  of  187S.  May  12,  1S78,  Mr.  Moore  was 
invited  to  preach  at  the  Congregational  churches 
in  Canaan  and  Falls  Village,  Conn.  This  led  to  an 
engagement  with  these  churches  which  continued 
until  Nov.  I,  1SS7.  In  the  winter  of  1886-7  Canaan 
was  visited  by  a  great  revival.  There  were  very 
few  families  that  did  not  feel  the  blessed  influences 
of  the  Spirit.  In  several  cases  whole  families  were 
led  to  publicly  confess  their  new  found  faith.  As 
the  fruit  of  this  work  large  additions  were  made  to 


D.    M.    MOORE. 


2  C2 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


the  membership  of  the  Methodist  and  both  the  Con- 
gregational churches. 

Alay  17,  iSSi,  Mr.  Moore  married  Mary  L  Hurl- 
butt,  youngest  daughter  of  Joseph  W.  Hurlbutt  of 
Stamford,  Conn.  Two  children,  a  son  and  a 
daughter,  have  been  added  to  the  family. 

Mr.  Moore  held  the  office  of  school  visitor  for 
several  years  in  Canaan  and  is  at  present  school 
visitor  far  the  town  of  Colebrook. 


JOHN  HENRY  HALL,  Hartford:  Vice-Presi- 
dent and  Treasurer  Colt's  Patent  Fire  Arms 
Manufacturing  Company. 

J.  H.  Hall  was  born  at  Portland,  in  this  state, 
March  24,  1S49.     He  is  a  son  of  Alfred  Hall,  and  is 
of    the   ninth    generation    of    the    family   in    the 
•  LTnited  States.  He  attend- 

ed the  public  school  at 
Portland,  and  afterward 
Chase's  school  at  Middle- 
town,  finishing  at  the 
Episcopal  academy  at 
Cheshire.  When  others 
of  his  class  entered  col- 
lege, he  turned  his  at- 
tention to  business,  enter- 
ing into  an  engagement 
with  vSturgis,  Bennet  & 
Co.,  125  and  127  Front 
street.  New  York,  at  that 
time  the  largest  importers 
of  tea  and  coffee  in  the  L^nited  States,  which  con- 
nection he  maintained  for  five  years.  After  a  brief 
and  not  ver\-  satisfactory  experience  in  business 
alone,  he  purchased  a  large  interest  in  the  "  Pick- 
ering Governor,"  at  Portland,  and  made  a  success 
of  what  had  previously  been  a  small  enterprise. 
Afterwards,  on  leaving  Portland,  the  same  busi- 
ness, formerly  carried  on  as  a  partnership  under 
the  name  of  T.  R.  Pickering  &  Co.,  was  organized 
as  a  corporation,  Mr.  Hall  retaining  his  proprietary 
interest  and  holding  the  position  of  treasurer.  In 
1884  he  was  elected  president  of  the  Shaler  &  Hall 
Quarry  Corrtpany  of  Portland,  of  which  he  was  a 
large  stockholder,  and  has  held  that  office  ever 
since.  He  went  to  Hartford  in  April,  18SS,  to  as- 
sume the  position  of  general  manager  of  Colt's 
Patent  Fire  Arms  Manufacturing  Company.  He 
has  since  been  elected  vice-president  and  treasurer, 
and  holds  these  offices  at  the  present  time.  He  is 
a  director  in  the  Phrenix  Insi:rance  Company  and 
Phoenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  Hart- 
ford, and  of  the  First  National  Bank  of  Portland, 
besides  sustaining  other  similar  official  relations 
with  various  institutions  of  Hartford  and  vicinity. 
He  was  appointed  on  the  Hartford  City  board  of 
water  commissioners  in  April,  1890,  for  the  term  of 


J.    H.     HALL. 


three  years.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Club 
of  that  city,  and  of  'the  ^Manhattan  Club,  the  New 
York  Athletic  Club,  and  Engineers'  Club  of  New- 
York  city. 

Mr.  Hall  married,  Feb.  S,  1S71,  Miss  Sarah  G. 
Loines  of  New  York ;  they  have  two  children  liv- 
ing, Clarence  Loines  Hall,  iS  years  of  age,  now  at 
Trinity  College,  and  Grace  Loines  Hall,  aged  12 
years.  He  has  always  been  a  member  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  and  is  now  connected  with  the 
parish  of  the  Good  Shepherd  in  Hartford.  Politi- 
cally he  is  with  the  democratic  party,  in  the  inter- 
ests of  which  he  has  been  often  unsuccessfull}' 
urged  to  accept  nominations  for  both  branches  of 
the  state  legislature.  He  has  taken  no  active  part 
in  politics,  being  too  deeply  absorbed  in  Ijusiness. 

REV.  FLORIMOND  DeBRUYCKER,  Willi- 
M antic:  Rector  of  St.  Joseph's  Roman  Catholic 
Church. 

The  Rev.  Fd.  DeBruj-cker  was  born  in  the  city 
of  Ghent,  Belgium,  October  6,  1S32.  He  was  or- 
dained to  the  priesthood  at  Ghent,  December  20, 
1856.  In  October,  1S60, 
he  began  a  coiu'se  of 
studies  in  the  American 
College, Louraine,  prepar- 
ing himself  and  others  for 
the  American  missions. 
On  August  I,  1S62,  he 
left  Antwerp  for  London 
and  Liverpool.  In  Liver- 
pool he  was  delayed  by 
missionary  work  during 
three  months.  On  No- 
vember 5th  he  sailed  for 
New  York  and  Provi- 
dence. After  attending, 
during  six  months,  to  the  spiritual  wants  of  the 
French  and  German  Catholic  population  of  Con- 
necticut and  Rhode  Island,  which  two  states  then 
formed  the  diocese  of  Hartford,  on  May  11, -1863, 
he  was  assigned  by  the  late  Right  Rev.  Bishop 
McFarland  to  the  Willimantic  parish  and  mission, 
where  he  has  ever  since  remained  as  rector.  The 
Willimantic  mission  contains  at  present  upwards  of 
3,500  Catholics;  of  which  number  one-third  at  least 
are  French  Canadians;  the  remainder,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  English  and  German,  are  of  Irish 
nationality  or  descent.  In  the  diocese  of  Hartford 
Reverend  Father  DeBruckyer  occupies  positions  of 
great  responsibility,  being  a  member  of  the  board 
of  consultors  to  Bishop  McMahon,  and  a  member 
of  the  board  of  examiners  of  clergy.  The  two  po- 
sitions indicate  the  high  esteem  in  which  he  is  held 
by  the  dignitaries  of  the  church.  The  members  of 
his  parish  at  Willimantic  regard  him  with  the  ut- 
most appreciation  and  affection. 


REV.   F.   DeHKUYCKER. 


BIOGRx\PHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


253 


OLIVER     S.    FRANCIS,    South     Canteriurv: 

Postmaster. 

Oliver   S.    Francis   is   a  native   of   the   town   of 
Griswold,   New  London  county.  Conn.,  where  he 
was  born  in  1829.     He  was  educated  in   the  public 
schools,     and    has    been 
variously  engaged  in  agri- 
cultural   and    mercantile 
pvirsuits  since  leaving  the 
home    of    his    childhood. 
His  life  has  chiefly  been 
spent   in    Plainfield    and 
Canterbury,  in  which  lat- 
ter town  he  now  resides. 
and    holds    the   office   of 
postmaster.     He  has  been     i 
selectman  and  constable, 
and  has  filled  other  town 
offices    with    ability   and  q.   s.   krancis. 

credit.      Mr.  Francis  is  a 

widower;  his  wife,  who  died  some  time  ago,  was 
Miss  Sallie  Ann  Brown  before  marriage;  and  he 
has  two  children  living.  He  is  a  democrat  in  poli- 
tics, of  which  party  he  has  always  been  a  member, 
and  by  whose  votes  he  has  been  elected  to  the  town 
offices  above  mentioned. 


GEORGE  ULRICH,  Hartford:  Banker. 

Mr.  Ulrich  came  to  this  country  at  an  early  age 
from  Germany,  where  he  was  born  August  13,  1S51. 
He  has  lived  the  greater  part  of  his  life  in  Hart- 
ford, where  he  was  educa- 
ted in  the  public  schools. 
For  upwards  of  20  years 
he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  banking  business, 
most  of  the  time  with  the 
State  Savings  Bank  of 
Hartford.  In  politics  Mr. 
Ulrich  is  a  democrat,  but 
not  of  the  ultra  kind.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  town 
committee,  also  an  alder- 
man from  the  fourth  ward, 
and  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee on  ways  and  means. 

That  he  is  popular  with  those  who  know  him  is 
evident  from  the  fact  that  he  was  elected  in  the  last 
city  election  from  a  strongly  republican  ward  by  a 
handsome  majority,  being  the  first  democrat  ever 
elected  from  that  ward.  As  a  member  of  the  city 
government  he  te  conservative,  always  found  to  fa- 
vor just  measures  of  economy  and  reform,  and  in- 
sists upon  a  strict  and  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws, 
and  proper  attention  to  business  by  all  city  officials. 
He  has  a  strong  antipathy  to  what  is  known  as 
"ring  rule."     In  private  life  he  rides  various  hob- 


GEORGE    ULRICH. 


bies:  Is  a  capable  art  critic;  writes  with  fluency 
and  keenness;  is  skilled  in  the  graphic  and  plastic 
arts,  and  has  held  the  title  of  state  chess  champion. 
He  is  an  active  member  of  the  South  Congrega- 
tional church  (Dr.  Parker's),  is  a  charter  member  of 
the  Wangunk  Tribe  of  Red  Men,  and  is  interested 
in  numerous  political  and  social  organizations. 


E.    I.    BELL. 


EDWIN  IRVING  BELL,  PuKTf.AND  :  Proprietor 
of  the  Connecticut  Steam  Brown  Stf)ne  Works. 
E.    I.    Bell   was    born    in    Portland,    Middlesex 

county,  Conn.,  September  17,  1848.  He  is  a  grad- 
uate of  the  district  school  of  that  town  and  of  East- 
man's  Business    College, 

Poughkeepsie,   N.   Y.,  in 

the  year  1866.     His  first 

occupation    was     in     the 

capacity  of  timekeeper  in 

the     Middlesex     quarry. 

At  the  age  of  nineteen  he 

entered   into   partnership 

with  his  brother, five  3'ears 

younger  than  himself,  in 

the  retail  grocery  trade,     r' 

using  the  firm  of  E.  Bell 

&  Sons,  being  too  3-oung 

to     responsibly     conduct 

business  under  their  own 

names.  After  continuing  this  relation  successfullj- 
for  eight  years,  he  sold  his  interest  in  the  store  to 
his  brother  in  1876,  and  started  the  wholesale  flour 
and  feed  business  under  the  name  of  ' '  The  Valley 
Mills. "  This  mill  was  burned  in  1884,  and  the  same 
year  he  established  the  "  Connecticut  Steam  Brown 
Stone  Works,"  and  built  mill  number  one  near  the 
ferry.  Business  increasing,  in  the  winter  of  1S86- 
87  he  built  mill  number  two  in  the  Middlesex 
quarry.  This  is  one  of  the  best  stone-cutting  plants 
in  the  United  States,  having  cost  about  $75,000. 
Among  the  many  fine  buildings  which  Mr.  Bell  has 
erected,  or  for  which  he  has  furnished  the  dressed 
stone,  is  the  United  States  custom  house  and  post- 
office  in  Bridgeport,  the  United  States  custom  house 
and  post-office  at  New  Bedford,  Mass.,  and  the 
Dunmore  school  at  Dunmore,  Pa. 

Mr.  Bell,  in  addition  to  his  business,  above  stated, 
is  president  and  two-thirds  owner  of  the  Washing- 
ton Steam  Stone  Company  of  Washington,  D.  C; 
president  and  two-thirds  owner  of  the  James  Mann 
Steam  Stone  Company  of  Philadelphia,  Penn. ; 
trustee  of  the  Freestone  Savings  Bank  of  Portland; 
director  in  the  Middlesex  county  National  Bank  of 
Middletown;  vice-president  of  the  Shaler  &  Hall 
Quarry  Company  of  Portland;  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  Portland  Wharf  Company;  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Portland  Building  Association.  He 
represented  the  town  of  Portland  in  the  legislature 


254 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


in  iS8g,  having  been  elected  by  the  largest  majority 
ever  given  in  that  town;  is  on  the  board  of  relief; 
is  a  member  and  president  of  the  Portland  club; 
is  and  has  been  for  thirteen  years  treasurer  of 
Warren  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Portland;  and  is 
a  member  of  the  Putnam  Phalanx  of  Hartford. 

Mr.  Bell  has  twice  m.arried.  His  first  wife  was 
Miss  Hettie  M.  Cooper,  by  whom  he  has  one  son 
living;  his  second  marriage  was  to  Miss  Elizabeth 
Ronald  of  Middletown,  and  they  have  one  daughter. 


THURLOW  B.  MERRILL,  Hartford;  vSuper- 
intendent  of  Agencies,  ^-Etna  Life  Insurance 
Company. 

Mr.  Merrill  is  a  native  of  Cassville,  Oneida 
county,  N.  Y.,  born  April  ii,  1S41.  He  received  a 
common  school  education ,  and  a  two-years  course 
at  the  Saquoit  academy. 
He  lived  with  his  parents 
on  the  farm  until  he 
reached  his  majority, 
when  he  engaged  for  a 
time  in  the  commission 
business,  afterwards  with 
the  publishing  house  of 
Henry  Bill  &  Co.  of  Nor- 
wich, Conn.  Having  de- 
veloped a  fitness  for  so- 
liciting, and  being  fond 
of  arithmetic,  he  entered 
the  service  of  the  Charter 
Oak  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany of  Hartford,  May  i,  1S65,  as  special  agent  for 
A.  M.  Ward,  the  company's  general  agent  for  New 
York  state.  After  one  year's  service  in  that  state 
he  accepted  the  general  agency  of  the  Charter  Oak 
fo'r  the  state  of  Iowa,  removing,  with  his  family, 
to  Davenport.  After  establishing  a  most  success- 
ful agency  in  Iowa,  he  disposed  of  his  interest  in 
the  business,  and  in  July,  1S70,  accepted  the  posi- 
tion of  home  office  agent  for  that  company,  contin- 
iiing  for  one  year,  when  he  was  appointed  superin- 
tendent of  agencies  of  the  Charter  Oak,  to  succeed 
E.  O.  Goodwin.  After  another  3'ear's  service  he 
removed  with  his  family  to  Chicago,  and  purchased 
an  interest  in  the  Illinois  agency,  that  being  the 
largest  agency  of  the  company.  During  the  first 
year  the  business  increased  from  less  than  $500,000 
to  $2,500,000  insurance  written  and  delivered;  but, 
owing  to  the  depression  following  the  1873  panic, 
the  business  of  life  insurance  became  demoralized, 
and  at  the  urgent  request  of  the  company  he  sold 
out  his  interest  in  that  agency,  and  was  re-appointed 
superintendent  of  agencies,  which  position  he  held 
continuously  until  1884.  After  the  re-organization 
of  the  Charter  Oak  in  1S80  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Hartford,  and,  in  addition  to  his  other 


B.    MERRILL. 


duties,  looked  after  the  large  real  estate  interests 
of  the  Charter  Oak  in  the  western  states.  When 
the  company  ceased  writing  new  business  the 
agency  department  was  in  a  most  flourishing  con- 
dition, a  large  majority  of  the  general  agents  hav- 
ing been  selected  by  Mr.  Merrill,  who  received  a 
compHment  from  Governor  Jewell,  after  he  was 
elected  president  of  the  company,  as  having  the 
best  and  most  successful  corps  of  agents  he  ever 
met  connected  with  any  corporation. 

I\Ir.  Merrill  resigned  his  position  in  January, 
1 884,  to  accept  an  engagement  with  the  ^-Etna  Life 
Insurance  Company  as  manager  for  New  York 
state.  After  reorganizing  the  company's  business 
in  that  state,  and  making  it  one  of  their  most  suc- 
cessful agencies,  and  selecting  a  manager  to  suc- 
ceed him,  he  was  appointed  in  January,  1S88, 
superintendent  of  agencies,  which  position  he  now 
holds.  Mr.  Merrill  is  thoroughly  familiar  with  all 
departments  of  practical  life  insurance,  and  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the  most  efficient  organizers  con- 
nected with  the  profession. 


HON.  NICHOLAS  STAUB,  New  Milford:  State 
Comptroller. 

Hon.  Nicholas  Staub  has  had  an  extensive  legis- 
lative experience,  having  been  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly  during  five  sessions,  serving  two 
terms  in  the  senate.  Dur- 
ing the  five  terms  he  was 
was  not  absent  an  hour 
consecutively  during  busi- 
ness. A  record  of  this 
kind  cannot  be  surpassed. 
He  was  a  member  of  the 
house  in  1876,  serving  on 
the  committee  on  banks, 
and  assisted  in  reporting 
an  important  savings  bank 
bill.  In  1884  he  also  sat 
for  New  Milford,  and  was 
placed  on  the  committee 
on  insurance.  He  was 
returned  again  in  1885,  when  he  was  given  the 
house  chairmanship  of  the  committee  on  new  coun- 
ties and  county  seats,  serving  also  on  the  commit- 
tee on  railroads.  He  was  elected  to  the  senate  in  1886 
for  the  first  time,  representing  the  Nineteenth  dis- 
trict. In  1887  he  was  returned  for  the  first  biennial 
term  of  the  legislature.  Comptroller  Staub  was 
nominated  by  the  democrats  at  their  state  conven- 
tion in  this  city,  September  16,  1890,  and  was  elected 
by  one  of  the  largest  majorities  ever  given  a  candi- 
date for  the  comptrollership.  It  may  be  truthfully 
said  that  he  is  the  only  state  officer  in  this 
commonwealth  at  present  universally  recognized  as 
holding  his   office   legally.     He   has  held   import- 


NICHOLAS    STAUB. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


255 


ant  offices  and  positions  outside  of  politics,  and  is 
the  president  of  the  State  Firemen's  Association. 
He  is  one  of  the  past  masters  of  St.  Peter's  Lodge, 
No.  21,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  New  Milford,  a  Knight 
Templar,  member  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows, 
Knights  of  Honor,  and  Hartford  Lodge  of  Elks. 
He  has  been  a  prominent  tobacco  dealer  in  the 
Housatonic  valley,  and  is  a  member  of  the  hard- 
ware firm  of  Soule  &  Staub  in  New  Milford.  Comp- 
troller Staub  was  born  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  now 
Germany,  February  i,  1S41,  and  removed  to  the 
United  States  when  sixteen  years  of  age.  He  en- 
joyed the  advantages  of  a  common  school  educa- 
tion, fitting  him  for  the  successful  business  and 
political  career  which  he  has  had.  For  thirty  years 
he  has  been  a  resident  of  New  ^lilford,  and  possesses 
the  fullest  confidence  and  esteem  of  that  com- 
munity. He  is  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church.  His  wife  was  Miss  Nancy  J.  Peck  previous 
to  her  marriage,  and  is  still  living.  There  are 
three  sons  in  the  family.  The  official  career  of  ^Ir. 
Staub  has  been  one  of  which  any  citizen  might  be 
proud. 


REV.  JOHN  C.    WILSON,    Stonington:    Pastor 

First  Congregational  Church. 

Rev.  John  C.  Wilson  was  born  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia,  May  9,  1862,  and  was  educated  at 
Rugby  Academy  in  that  city,  and  at  Amherst  Col- 
lege, graduating  from  the 
latter  in  1S85.  His  theo- 
logical studies  were  pur- 
sued at  the  Yale  Semi- 
nary in  New  Haven, 
from  which  he  received 
the  degree  of  B.D.  in 
iSSS,  and  of  M.A.  from 
Amherst  College  in  June 
of  the  same  year.  He 
was  immediately  installed 
as  pastor  of  the  Stoning- 
ton church,  and  is  re- 
garded as  one  of  the 
ablest  of  the  j-ounger 
preachers  in  the  Congregational  pulpit  in  Connec- 
ticut. He  is  a  gentleman  of  admirable  scholar- 
ship, and  has  edited  a  commentarj^  on  Sunday- 
school  lessons.  Some  of  his  sermons  have  been 
published  in  the  Christian  Union.  He  also 
edited  The  Young  Christian  in  Philadelphia, 
in  1S76-80.  He  spent  one  year  in  the  south, 
in  1880-S1,  had  charge  of  the  Home  Mission  work 
in  Virginia  during  the  summer  of  1886,  and  has 
traveled  through  the  west.  He  is  married,  his  wife 
being  Miss  LiHan  A.  Barton  of  Washington,  D.  C, 
prior  to  her  marriage.  Mr.  Wilson  is  an  indepen- 
dent in  politics. 


REV.   J.    C.   WII.SO.N. 


-^"'■^ 


J.  GILBERT  CALHOUN,  Haktfoku;  Attorney- 

at-Law. 

Joseph  Gilbert  Calhoun  was  born  in  Manchester, 
July  20,  1856,  and  was  educated  in  the  Hartford 
High  school,  class  of  1874,  and  at  Yale,  graduating 
from  the  university  in 
1S77,  his  classmates  in- 
cluding James  P.  An- 
drews, one  of  the  leading 
members  of  the  bar  in 
this  city;  Thomas  D wight 
Goodelland  Arthur  H.Gul- 
liver, both  of  whom  have 
been  able  instructors  in 
the  Hartford  high  school; 
and  William  Milo  Barnum 
of  Salisbur3\  The  subject 
of    this    sketch    occupies 

one    of    the    first    places  ,    ,;    cALHOfx. 

among  the  younger  mem- 
bers of  the  Hartford  county  bar,  and  is  an  able 
lawyer.  He  was  clerk  of  the  city  police  court  here 
from  1883  until  18S9,  and  is  at  present  a  member  of 
the  couilcil  board  from  the  first  ward.  His  ser- 
vices have  been  of  great  value  to  the  q\\.\.  Council- 
man Calhoun  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  an 
intelligent  observer  of  public  affairs  and  interests. 
He  is  an  attendant  at  the  Center  Congregational 
church.  He  is  a  son  of  Judge  David  S.  Calhoun, 
and  has  received  from  him  traits  of  character 
deserving  of  the  highest  recognition.  Councilman 
Calhoun  married  Miss  Sarah  C.  Beach  of  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.     They  have  no  children. 


MOSES  F.  GRANT,  Norfolk:  Farmer. 

Moses  F.  Grant  was  a  member  of  the  Connecti- 
cut house  of  representatives  in  1S78,  his  colleagues 
from  Litchfield  county  including  the  Hon.  Charles 
B.  Andrews,  now  chief 
justice  of  the  state,  and 
Judge  A.  P.  Bradstreet 
of  Thomaston.  The  Hon. 
Charles  H.  Briscoe  of  En- 
field was  speaker  of  the 
house,  and  the  roll  of 
members  included  the 
names  of  the  Hon.  Ly- 
man D.  Brewster  of 
Danbury,  the  Hon.  W.  W. 
Wilco.x  of  Middletown, 
the  late  Dwight  Marcy 
of     Vernon,     ex-Speaker  -^j    j,-    crant. 

John   H.    Perry   of   Fair- 
field, Increase  W.  Carpenter  of  Norwich,  ex-Mayor 
Henrj'    I.    Boughton   of   Waterbury,    and   County 
Commissioner   Thaddeus    H.   Spencer  of   Suffield. 
I\Ir.  Grant  served  on  the  republican  side,  discharg- 


256 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


ing  his  duties  ably  and  successfully.  He  is  at 
present  the  first  selectman  of  Norfolk,  and  has 
served  as  selectman  for  fourteen  }-ears.  He  was 
postmaster  at  Grantville  for  seventeen  years,  and 
has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  assessors.  He 
has  also  been  associated  with  the  settlement  of 
various  estates.  Wr.  Grant  is  a  member  of  West- 
ern Star  Lodge,  No.  37,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Norfolk, 
and  is  thoroughly  devoted  to  the  interests  of 
Masonry.  His  wife,  whose  maiden  name  was 
Mary  Ann  Gilbert,  is  still  living.  There  is  one 
daughter,  Miss  Lillie  E.  Grant.  Mr.  Grant  is  a 
native  of  Norfolk,  where  he  was  born,  June  26, 
1S35 ;  obtained  his  education  in  the  common  schools, 
and  has  been  chieflj'  engaged  in  lumbering  and 
farming. 

GEORGE    MAHL,    Hartford:    Contractor    and 
Builder. 

Alderman  George  ]\Iahl  was  born  in  New  York 
city,  Februar\'  26,  1S4S1  and  was  educated  in  the 
public  schools  of  Norwich  in  this  state,  the  family 
removing  from  New  York 
to  Connecticut  when  the 
subject  of  this  sketch  was 
but  a  lad.  Mr.  Mahl  re- 
mained in  Norwich  until 
he  was  twenty-four  years 
of  age,  acquiring  there  the 
avocation  of  a  practical 
plumber  and  steam-fitter. 


He  became  a  resident  of 
Hartford  not  far  from 
twenty  years  ago  and  has 
since  resided  here.  In 
company  with  his  brother, 
Frederick  Mahl,  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  plumbing  business  on  jNIain 
street,  and  met  with  success  from  the  outset.  At 
the  end  of  four  years  he  purchased  his  brother's 
interest  and  has  since  conducted  the  businers  alone. 
Ten  years  ago  he  engaged  in  building  enterprises, 
buying  land  and  constructing  dwellings  thereon 
both  for  private  residences  and  tenements.  In  this 
way  he  has  erected  upwards  of  forty  structures  in 
the  city,  realizing  a  handsome  income  from  the 
course  which  he  has  pursued.  He  has  been,  in 
fact,  one  of  the  most  successful  builders  in  the  city. 
He  was  the  first  to  build  on  Florence  street, 
developing  one  of  the  most  attractive  sections  of 
the  city.  Six  3'ears  ago  he  engaged  in  politics,  and 
was  elected  to  the  council  board  from  the  seventh 
ward.  He  held  the  office  of  councilman  for  two 
years,  and  was  then  elected  to  the  board  of  alder- 
men, where  he  has  served  for  four  consecutive 
years.  During  the  whole  of  this  period  he  has 
been  the  chairman  of  the  city  hall  committee.  He 
is  also  the  chairman  of  the  seventh  ward  republican 


GliORGE    M.A.H1.. 


committee  and  is  an  influential  member  of  that 
party  in  the  city.  Alderman  ]Mahl  belongs  to  St. 
John's  Lodge,  No.  4,  F.  and  A.  M.  of  this  cit}',  and 
is  a  member  of  Washington  Commandery,  Knights 
Templar.  He  is  also  connected  with  the  National 
Provident  L^nion.  January-  i,  1S73,  he  married 
Miss  Ellen  L.  Hills  of  this  city,  who  is  still  living. 
The  family  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Mahl  consists  of  six 
children,  two  sons  and  four  daughters.  They  are 
members  of  the  Windsor  Avenue  Congregational 
church.  As  a  business  man  and  citizen  Mr.  ]\Iahl 
is  regarded  with  high  esteem  in  this  city. 


STEPHEN  GOODRICH,  Hartford:  Druggist. 

Bank  Commissioner  Stephen  Goodrich  of  this 
city  was  born  in  Simsbury,  April  13,  1836,  and  re- 
ceived a  common  school  education.  In  1852  he  re- 
moved to  Hartford,  where 
he  acquired  the  profes- 
sion of  a  druggist,  begin- 
ning his  career  in  the 
place  of  business  which 
has  been  under  his  man- 
agement and  proprietor- 
ship for  a  number  of 
years.  He  is  one  of  the 
best-known  druggists  in 
the  state  and  has  occupied 
the  highest  positions  at- 
tainable in  that  avocation. 
Mv.  Goodrich  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the 
Connecticut  Pharmaceutical  Association,  and 
one  of  the  first  presidents  of  the  organization. 
He  was  also  influential  in  the  movement  resulting 
in  the  organization  of  the  State  Board  of  Phar- 
macy, and  held  the  place  of  commissioner  for  three 
years,  the  appointment  being  an  executive  one. 
As  a  commissioner  his  work  was  invaluable  to  the 
druggists  of  the  state.  He  insisted  on  a  higher 
standard  of  examinations,  and  was  insti-umental  in 
elevating  the  scholarship  and  attainments  of  the 
profession  throughout  the  state.  Commissioner 
Goodrich  has  served  in  both  branches  of  the  court 
of  common  council  in  this  city  and  has  served 
eight  years  as  a  member  of  the  board  of  police  com- 
missioners. His  career  as  a  member  of  the  city 
government  was  one  of  great  credit  and  success, 
his  influence  in  both  boards  being  recognized  as 
that  of  a  man  of  unfaltering  personal  integrity  and 
judgment.  In  the  police  board  his  work  has  been 
equally  important  and  valuable  to  the  city.  He 
has  been  resolute  in  his  demands  for  the  best  ser- 
vice, the  efficiency  and  morale  of  the  department 
receiving  his  special  attention.  In  1SS9  he  was  ap- 
pointed bank  commissioner  by  Governor  Bulkeley 
for  the  term  of  four  years,  and  the  appointment 


STEPHEN    GOODRICH. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


257 


was  confirmed  b}-  the  senate  with  a  unanimity  that 
reflected  the  utmost  credit  upon  the  standing  of 
Mr.  Goodrich  as  a  public  citizen.  He  has  dis- 
charged the  duties  of  the  office  with  complete  ac- 
ceptance, and  has  been  a  faithful  custodian  of  the 
interests  that  have  been  committed  to  his  care  and 
watchfulness.  The  office  of  bank  commissioner  is 
one  of  the  most  important  in  the  state,  requiring 
exceptional  adaptation  and  judgment  in  the  incum- 
bent. Mr.  Goodrich  has  fully  exemplified  his  fit- 
ness for  the  position.  In  politics  he  is  a  pro- 
nounced republican  and  is  a  staunch  supporter  of 
the  principles  and  achievements  of  that  party.  He 
is  a  member  of  St.  John's  lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of 
this  city,  and  has  attained  the  Scottish  Rite  degree. 
The  wife  of  Commissioner  Goodrich,  who  is  still 
livmg,  was  Miss  Alice  G.  Kellogg  prior  to  marriage. 
The  only  child  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Goodrich  is  the  wife 
of  Capt.  Wm.  B.  Dwight  of  the  First  regiment. 
The  family  are  connected  with  the  Park  church  in 
this  city  and  occupy  a  high  social  position  in  the 
community.  Commissioner  Goodrich  is  at  the  head 
of  the  drug  firm  of  S.  Goodrich  &  Co. 


W.  L.  SQUIRE,  New  Haven:  Treasurer  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Com- 
pany. 

William  Lyman  Squire  was  born  in  West  Gran- 
ville, Mass.,  October  i,  1S31.  His  education  was 
acquired  principally  in  the  old  Hartford  Grammar 
School  and  the  Hartford 
Public  High  School.  At 
eighteen  years  of  age  he 
engaged  as  clerk  in  the 
•  grocery  store  of  Messrs. 
Collins  &  Co.,  Meriden, 
remaining  there  until  De- 
cember, 1851;  from  that 
date  until  July,  1853,  he 
was  employed  in  a  cotton 
commission  house  in  New 
Orleans,  La.;  from  Sep- 
tember, 1853,  until  July 
1868,  was  paymaster  for 
the  Hartford  &  New  Ha- 
ven Railroad  Company;  from  that  time  until  Feb- 
ruary I,  1879,  was  with  the  Charter  Oak  Life  Insur- 
ance Company  in  Hartford  ;  and  from  1879  until 
the  present  time  has  been  treasurer  of  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Railroad  Company. 
He  was  united  in  marriage  to  Miss  Lucy  Cowles 
Butler  of  Meriden,  and  they  have  three  sons, — 
Wilbur  H.,  in  insurance  business  at  Meriden;  Allan 
B.  and  Frederick  N.,  both  in  the  service  of  the 
N.  Y.,  N.  H.  &  H.  R.  R.  Company.  Mr.  Squire 
is  a  member  of  the  United  (Congregational)  Church 
of  New  Haven.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican. 
17 


W.    L.    SQUIRE. 


M.    GUERNSEY. 


LUCIUS    M.    GUERNSEY,    Mystic:    Editor  of 
"  The  Mystic  Press." 

Lucius  M.  Guernsey  was  born  in  East  Hartford, 
February  17,  1824,  removing  with  his  parents  in 
early  childhood  to  Northampton,  Mass.,  where  he 
secured  the  foundation  of 
an  education  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  adding 
thereto  by  study  while 
learning  and  working  at 
his  trade  there,  and  after- 
wards with  book  open 
upon  the  hand-press  while 
printing,  in  the  office  es- 
tablished by  G.  &  C.  Mer- 
riam  in  Springfield,  Mass. 
He  commenced  business 
for  himself  in  that  city  as 
a  book  and  job  printer, 
removing  thence  to  New 

Britain,  in  this  state,  in  1854,  where  he  established 
the  first  permanent  newspaper  of  the  place,  T/ie 
North  and  South,  Elihu  Burritt,  the  "  Learned 
Blacksmith,"  being  its  editor,  and  advocating 
through  its  columns  his  scheme  of  "  compensated 
emancipation"  —  the  United  States  government  to 
pay  the  owners  for  their  slaves  when  given  their 
freedom  by  the  several  states  —  a  plan  afterwards 
publicly  endorsed  by  President  Lincoln  and  others. 
The  name  of  the  paper  was  subsequently  changed 
to  The  Tnee  Citizen,  Mr.  Guernsey  becoming  sole 
editor  and  publisher,  the  present  Record  being  its 
successor.  He  removed  from  New  Britain  in  1868, 
and  after  some  three  years  spent  in  Cromwell  and 
Middletown  went  to  Mystic  River  (now  Mystic), 
where  in  1873  he  established  The  Mystic  Press,  an 
independent  republican  newspaper,  of  which  he  is 
still  editor,  cylinder  pressman,  and  sometimes  com- 
positor, notwithstanding  he  has  been  more  than 
fifty  years  in  a  printing  office. 

Mr.  Guernsey  was  married  at  Springfield,  Mass., 
in  1850,  to  Mary  A.,  youngest  daughter  of  Captain 
John  Beaumont,  a  native  of  Lebanon,  this  state, 
who  is  still  living,  with  two  sons,  George  M.  and 
John  B.,  who  are  his  assistants  in  his  business.  In 
religious  faith  he  is  a  Baptist,  having  been  actively 
identified  with  a  church  of  that  denomination  and 
its  Sunday-school  work  in  every  place  where  he  has 
lived  since  the  age  of  sixteen  3'ears.  In  politics  he 
was  in  early  days  an  anti-slavery  whig  and  free- 
soiler,  and  subsequently  a  republican  from  the  birth 
of  that  party.  Always  an  advocate  of  liberty  and 
temperance,  he  believes  and  maintains  that  the 
party  of  which  he  is  a  member  is  called  in  the  name 
of  God  and  humanity  to  give  the  negro  whom  it 
has  freed  his  rights  under  the  laws  of  the  land,  and, 
as  far  as  practicable  by  law,  to  free  that  land  from 
the  curse  of  intemperance.     He  has  filled  various 


258 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


offices  in  churches  and  societies,  and  also  in  the 
towns  where  he  has  resided;  has  for  several  years 
been  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  an  officer  of  the 
board  of  health  for  Mystic,  in  the  town  of  Groton; 
is  corresponding  secretary  of  the  Mystic  Valley 
Board  of  Trade,  and  is  proud  to  be  identified  with 
all  the  interests  of  that  delightful  locality  by  the 


JOHN     LATHROP     HUNTER,     Willimantic: 
Attorney-at-Law. 

John  L.  Hunter  was  born  in  Gardiner,  Me., 
March  13,  1834.  His  father  and  mother  were  both 
lineal  descendants  of  the  pioneer  stock  of  Maine. 
He  attended  school  at 
Gardiner  and  Wiscassett 
(Me.)  academies;  entered 
Bowdoin  College  in  1851, 
and  graduated  there  in 
1 85 5;  studied  law  at  Gar- 
diner, Me.,  with  Hon. 
Charles  Danforth,  LL.D., 
who  was  one  of  the  judges 
of  the  supreme  court  of 
that  state  from  1861  to  his 
decease  in  March,  1890. 
He  was  admitted  to  the 
bar  in  Maine  in  1859;  prac- 

J.    L.     HUNTER.  ,  ,  .      ^         ^f^     ^ 

ticed  law  m  Gardmer  sev- 
eral years,  residing  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Farm- 
ingdale,  where  he  was  supervisor  of  schools.  In 
1863,  in  connection  with  his  law  practice,  he  edited 
The  Age,  a  long-established  democratic  weekly 
newspaper,  published  at  Augusta,  the  capital  of 
Maine,  and  of  which  the  present  chief  justice  of 
the  United  States  had  been  an  editor.  He  went  to 
Willimantic,  in  this  state,  and  entered  upon  the 
practice  of  law,  in  1871,  and  has  continued  his  legal 
practice  at  that  place  ever  since.  He  is  married, 
and  has  two  daughters. 

In  politics  Mr.  Hunter  has  always  been  a  demo- 
crat, and  for  twelve  3'ears  was  one  of  the  demo- 
cratic state  committee  of  Connecticut.  He  repre- 
sented the  democracy  of  his  congressional  district 
in  the  national  democratic  conventions  of  1872  and 
1S76.  He  was  elected  to  the  legislature  of  Connec- 
ticut in  1879,  his  democratic  colleague  on  the  demo- 
cratic ticket,  although  a  popular  man,  being  de- 
feated by  a  large  vote.  The  legislature  was 
strongly  republican,  but  the  speaker  placed  Mr. 
Hunter  on  the  judiciary  committee,  where  he  did 
effective  work,  as  well  as  on  the  floor  of  the  house, 
in  accomplishing  the  change  from  the  old  technical 
common  law  forms  to  the  present  ff)rm  of  practice. 
He  has  been  town  and  borough  attorney,  under 
democratic  regfime;  has  served  many  years  on  the 
school  board  of  his  town,  and  is  at  present  the 
chairman  of  the  hitrh  school  committee. 


B.  P.   BEACH,  Washington:  Builder. 

Benajah  Peck  Beach  was  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture in  1867,  his  colleagues  in  the  house  including 
Setli  Thomas  of  Plymouth,  ex-Governor  Waller, 
Hon.  John  T.  Wait  of 
Norwich,  ex-Congress- 
man George  M.  Landers, 
and  States  Attornej'  Til- 
ton  E.  Doolittle  of  New 
Haven.  Mr.  Beach  ser\'ed 
on  the  democratic  side  of 
the  house.  He  has  held 
the  offices  of  grand  juror, 
justice  of  the  peace,  and 
constable.  He  is  a  builder 
by  avocation.  He  was 
born  in  Woodbridge,  No- 
vember 27,  1820,  and  re- 
ceived a  public  school 
Most  of  his  early  life  was  spent  in  the 
towns  of  New  Haven  and  Woodbridge.  Since  1842 
he  has  resided  in  the  town  of  Washington.  His  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Huldah  A.  Titus. 
There  are  two  children  in  the  familv. 


education. 


JAMES  BOLTER,  Hartford:  President  Hartford 
National  Bank. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  now  at  the  head  of  the 
oldest  banking  institution  in  Connecticut,  was  born 
at  Northampton,  Mass.,  June  27,  181 5.  Most  of 
his  early  life  was  spent  in 
his  native  town,  and  there 
his  education  was  acquired 
in  the  public  and  private 
schools.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  two  j-ears  in  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  since  leaving 
Northampton,  Mr.  Bolter 
has  resided  onlj-  in  Hart- 
ford. His  first  business 
experience  here  was  as  a 
clerk  in  the  grocery  estab- 
lishment of  C.  H.  North- 
am.  Afterwards  he  en- 
tered the  Phoenix  Bank  as 
discount  clerk,  occupying  that  position  for  a  few 
months.  He  then  formed  a  partnership  wnth.  Mr. 
Ellery  Hills  in  the  wholesale  grocery  business, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Hills  &  Bolter.  In  1843 
he  became  a  partner  with  his  old  employer,  C.  H. 
Northam,  and  the  firm  of  C.  H.  Northam  &  Co. ' 
continued  until  i860,  when  Mr.  Bolter  was  made 
cashier  of  the  old  Hartford  Bank,  afterwards  re- 
organized as  a  national  bank,  with  a  present  capi- 
tal of  §1,200,000.  This  connection  continued  until 
1S74,  when  he  was  promoted  to  the  presidency  of 
the  institution,  which  position  he  still  holds.     Dur- 


JAMES    BOLTER. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


259 


ing  his  administration  of  its  affairs,  the  history  of 
the  Hartford  National  Bank  has  been  one  of  almost 
phenomenal  prosperit}-,  giving  it  rank  among  the 
very  foremost  of  the  banking  institutions  of  the 
city  and  state.  Mr.  Bolter  is  by  political  faith  a 
democrat,  though  rarely  engaging  actively  in  poli- 
tics, and  never  seeking  public  office.  His  only  ac- 
ceptance of  public  preferment,  on  record,  was  that 
of  membership  on  the  board  of  aldermen,  some 
years  ago.  His  time  and  attention  are  chiefly  de- 
voted to  his  duties  as  president  of  the  bank,  though 
he  holds  a  directorship  in  the  National  Fire  Insur- 
ance Company,  the  Dime  Savings  Bank,  the  Hart- 
ford County  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company,  and 
the  P.  &  F.  Corbin  Company  of  New  Britain;  he  is 
also  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Club.  His  reli- 
gious connections  are  with  Christ  church  (Episcopal) 
of  this  city.  Mr.  Bolter  was  married,  in  1846,  to 
Miss  Mary  S.  Bartholomew,  and  they  have  three 
children,  one  son  and  two  daughters,  the  younger 
daughter  being  the  wife  of  John  W.  Gray,  Esq. ,  of 
Hartford. 


PROF.   HENRY  A.  PARSONS,  Salem:  Teacher 

of  Music. 

Among  the  distinguished  names  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary era,  and  in  later  days,  which  have  shed  a 
lustre   upon   the   country,    that  of  Parsons  stands 
prominent.     The   subject 
of  this  sketch  was  born  in 
Franklin,  Delaware 
County,  New  York,  July 
7,    1839.      His   childhood 
days   were   spent   in   the 
common     school,     which 
experience    was     supple- 
mented   by    a    thorough 
course   in   the    Delaware 
Literary  Institute   at 
Franklin,   New   York,    to 
which  was  added  a  finish- 
ing   course    in   music    in 
Brooklyn,  N.  Y.     He  be- 
gan teaching  music  in  his  native  town  in  i860,  and 
to  study  art  while  teaching.     He  has  taught  paint- 
ing more  or  less  during  the  past  twenty-five  years. 
In  Oxford  he  taught  music   two  years;   in   Rich- 
mond, Va. ,  two  years;  in  Cooperstown,  N.  Y.,  one 
year;  in  East  Greenwich,  R.   I.,  six  years;  and  in 
New   London,  Conn.,  until  failing  health  caused 
him  temporarily  to  abandon  his  chosen  profession 
and   enter   a  new  field   more  for  recreation  than 
profit,   that   of  the   "Tribune   Fresh   Air"   work, 
traveling  in  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Vermont,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut,  making 
arrangement  for  the  work  to  be  done  in  each  of  the 
states  named,    and   entertaining    children.      This 


H.   .\.    PARSONS. 


new  field  of  labor  has  proved  of  great  physical 
advantage  to  him.  He  married.  May  30,  1866, 
Hattie  R.  Miner,  youngest  daughter  of  the  late 
Rev.  Nathaniel  Miner,  at  Salem,  Conn.  She  died 
March  24,  1S88,  in  Salem,  at  the  residence  of  her 
brother,  deacon  N.  E.  Miner.  Professor  Parsons  is 
a  republican,  believing  that  the  principles  of  that 
party  are  conducive  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
country.  In  local  affairs  he  is  in  the  habit  of  giv- 
ing his  support  to  the  men  best  qualified  for  minor 
offices,  irrespective  of  party.  He  has  never  been 
an  office-holder,  preferring  honors  that  are  the 
direct  result  of  patient  study  in  his  chosen  profes- 
sion. He  is  an  intelligent  Christian  gentleman,  a 
useful  and  respected  citizen,  and  a  self-made  man 
in  the  best  sense  of  the  term. 


A.  M.   PARKER,  Putnam:   Boot  and   Shoe  Mer- 
chant. 
Alfred  M.  Parker  was  born  at  Boston  Highlands, 

Mass.,  October  26,  1853,  and  was  educated  in  the 

Dearborn  School  in  Boston  and  at  the  High  School 

in  Medford.     He  has  been 

engaged  in  the  boot  and 

shoe  trade  for  twenty-two 

years,    serving   with   one 

of  the  leading  wholesale 

houses    in    Boston   for   a 

long  period  and  also  with 

the    largest   firm    in    St. 

Louis,    Mo.,    residing    in 

the  latter  city  from   1869 

until  1S73.   Heisabrother 

of  H.  B.  Parker  of  Boston, 

senior     member    of     the  -^     ^ 

wholesale  boot  and  shoe 

r  T^      ,  XX    ,  a.    M.    PARKER. 

firm  of  Parker,  Holmes  & 

Co.  In  1877  the  subject  of  this  sketch  sticceeded 
the  firm  of  Houghton  &  Crandall  in  Putnam,  and 
has  since  been  engaged  in  business  there,  control- 
ling one  of  the  best  trades  in  his  business  in  eastern 
Connecticut.  He  was  formerly  an  officer  in  Com- 
pany G,  of  the  Third  Regiment,  Connecticut 
National  Guard,  and  was  an  aid-de-camp  on  the 
staff  of  Gen.  Graham  for  two  years,  ranking  as 
captain.  His  selection  for  staff  service  was  a  high 
compliment,  showing  the  confidence  that  was  placed 
in  his  ability  as  a  national  guardsman.  He  resigned 
when  the  military  troubles  began  in  the  state  in 
1S90,  retiring  from  the  service  with  his  chief.  Cap- 
tain Parker  is  a  republican  in  politics.  He  is  a 
prominent  Mason,  being  worshipful  master  of 
Quinebaug  Lodge  and  past  high  pi'iest  of  Putnam 
Chapter  Royal  Arch  Masons.  He  is  connected 
with  the  Congregational  church  at  Putnam, 
and  is  married.  There  are  no  children  in  the 
family. 


26o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


MYRON  P.  YEOMANS,  Andover:  Attorney-at- 
Law. 

M.  P.  Yeomans  was  born  in  Columbia,  Tolland 
county,  Conn.,  AjDril  i,  1837.  He  spent  the  entire 
term  of  his  minority  in  his  native  town,  where  he 
was  first  a  pupil  at  the 
district  schools,  after- 
wards studying  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  In- 
stitute at  Suffield  and  the 
Wesleyan  Academy  at 
Wilbraham,  Mass.  After 
graduation  he  was  three 
years  in  Charleston,  Mo., 
whence  he  returned  to 
Connecticut  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law  at  Andover, 
which  has  been  his  resi- 
dence for  thirty  years. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Tolland  County  in 
1862,  and  has  been  a  prominent  practitioner  in  all 
courts  most  of  the  time  since  that  date.  He  has 
been  judge  of  probate  for  his  district,  represented 
Andover  in  the  Connecticut  legislature  in  1875,  is  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  and  has  held  many  other  pub- 
lic offices.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  and  always 
occupies  an  influential  position  in  the  councils  and 
activities  of  his  party.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Andover  Congregational  church  and  society,  also 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  is  a  Granger.  He  is 
at  present  secretary  of  the  Andover  Creamery 
Company.  Mr.  Yeomans  is  married  and  has  two 
children,  his  wife  being  Miss  Marion  A.  Cheney 
before  their  marriage. 


YEOMANS. 


CLIFTON  PECK,  Franklin:  Farmer. 

Clifton  Peck  was  born  in  Canterbury,  July  11, 
1844,  and  received  a  public  school  education.  He 
also  pursued  a  business  course  at  Eastman's  College 
in  Poughkeepsie,  N.  Y. 
He  has  devoted  his  time 
principally  to  farming  and 
teaching,  pursuing  the  lat- 
ter avocation  from  1861 
until  1869,  when  he  en- 
gaged in  the  wood  and 
lumber  business.  In  1S82 
he  removed  to  Franklin, 
where  he  has  a  large  and 
profitable  farm  under  his 
control.  He  is  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Lebanon 
Creamery,  in  which  he 
takes  a  great  interest. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Lebanon  Grange  of  the 
Patrons  of  Husbandry,  the  Franklin  Farmer's 
.League,  and  the  Lebanon  Lodge  of  the  Ancient 


Order  of  United  Workmen.  He  is  a  firm  believer 
in  legislation  in  favor  of  the  farmers.  In  1873  Mr. 
Peck  represented  the  town  of  Canterbury  in  the 
legislature,  serving  on  the  democratic  side  of  the 
house.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board  of  select- 
men from  1869  until  1873,  assessor  and  member  of 
the  board  of  education  in  that  town.  He  is  at 
present  first  selectman  in  Franklin  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  board  of  relief.  Prior  to  his  removal 
to  Franklin  Mr.  Peck  was  connected  with  the  Reade 
Paper  Company  in  Sprague  for  one  year.  October  5, 
1870,  Mr.  Peck  married  one  of  his  pupils.  Miss  Hul- 
da  M.  Preston,  and  has  four  daughters,  one  of 
whom  became  the  bride  of  E.  A.  Hoxie  of  Lebanon 
last  February.  January  12,  1891,  Mr.  Peck  lost  his 
left  arm  while  running  an  Ensilage  cutter,  the 
injury  requiring  amputation  below  the  elbow.  In 
politics  he  is  an  independent. 


CLIFTON    I'ECK. 


TRACY   B.  WARREN,  BRiDf.EPORT:    Proprietor 
Atlantic  Hotel. 

Tracy  Bronson  Warren,  who  was  a  member  of 
Governor  Harrison's  stafi^,  is  one  of  the  best-known 
National  Guardsmen  in  the  state.  In  1872  he  was 
a  lieutenant  in  the  New 
Haven  Grays,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Veteran 
Association  of  that  com- 
mand. He  had  served  as 
adjutant  of  the  Fourth 
regiment  prior  to  his  ap- 
pointment as  an  aid-de- 
camp by  Governor  Har- 
rison. He  is  a  gentleman 
of  great  personal  popu- 
larity in  military  circles, 
and  belongs  to  the  Old 
Guard  of  New  York,  in 
addition  to  his  Connecti- 
cut connections.  He  is  a  prominent  republican  in 
Bridgeport,  where  he  has  served  for  two  terms  in 
the  board  of  aldermen,  and  held  the  position  of 
city  treasurer.  He  is  a  member  of  Corinthian 
Lodge,  No.  104,  of  Bridgeport,  F.  and  A.  M.,  and 
is  connected  with  the  higher  Masonic  bodies  of  the 
state.  For  fourteen  years  Colonel  Warren  has  been 
a  vestryman  of  St.  John's  church  in  Bridgeport. 
He  was  born  at  Watertown,  December  20,  1847, 
and  was  educated  at  the  Collegiate  and  Commercial 
Institute  in  New  Haven.  He  is  the  proprietor  of 
the  Atlantic  Hotel  in  Bridgeport,  and  is  the  son-in- 
law  of  John  F.  Mills  of  the  Parker  House  in  Bos- 
ton, his  wife  being  Clara  A.  Mills.  There  are  four 
children  in  the  family.  The  Colonel  is  a  member 
of  the  Seaside  Club,  the  finest  organization  of  the 
kind  in  Bridgeport,  and  also  of  the  Scientific  Society 
in  that  city. 


T.     B.    WARREN. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


261 


NEWTON. 


CYRUS  B.  NEWTON,  M.D.,  Stafford  Spkin<;s: 
Physician  and  Surgeon. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  an  able  and  widely- 
known  physician,  who  stands  in  the  front  rank  of 
his  profession  in  eastern  Connecticut.     Dr.  Newton 
was  born  in  Ellington  in 
1 83 1.       He    received    his 
preparatory    training     in 
the  high  schools  of  Somers 
and    Ellington,    attended 
the  Connecticut  Literary 
Institute  at  Suffield,  and 
graduated  from  the  medi- 
cal  department    of    Yale 
College  in   1856.     In  the 
latter    year    he   came   to 
Stafford    Springs,    where 
he     has     since     resided. 
During  this  time  he  has 
devoted  himself  to  a  con- 
stantly increasing  medical  practice  and   has  per- 
formed more  surgical  work  than  any  other  physi- 
cian in  this  part  of  the  state.     Dr.  Newton  is  by 
natural  incUnation  a  student  and  he  has  kept  well 
abreast  with  the  best  work  of  scientific  discovery  as 
it  pertahas  to  his  chosen  profession.     This  is  espec- 
ially true  of  the  advances   made   in   his   favorite 
studies,  chemistry, botany,  physiology,  and  hygiene. 
His  interest  in  the  latter  subject  has  led  him  into 
the  examination  of  sanitary  questions,  the  conclu- 
sions from  which  have  been  from  time  to  time  pub- 
Hshed  in  the  medical  journals  of   New  England. 
Dr.  Newton  has  long  been  an  active  member  of  the 
state  medical  association,  and  has  frequently  pre- 
sented papers  before  the  medical  conventions   of 
Connecticut   and   Massachusetts,    and   the   county 
medical  societies,  advancing  new  methods  of  treat- 
ment;   among  others,  one  upon  Pneumonia,   and 
one  concerning  improved  methods  of  using  plaster 
spHnts  in  the  treatment  of  fractures  of  lower  extrem- 
ities, read  before  the  State  Medical  Society  of  Con- 
necticut.    An  article  upon  the  thermometer  pub- 
lished in  the  New  Etigland  Medical  Monthly, 
and  one    entitled    "Our   Armamentarium,"   pub- 
lished in  the  Philadelphia  Medical  and  Surgical 
Reporter  in  1884,  were  prepared  by  Dr.  Newton. 
He  has  also   written   sketches   of  the  life  of  Dr. 
Orson  Wood  of  Somers,   of    Dr.  Joshua  Blodgett 
and  Dr.  William  N.  Clark  of  Stafford. 

In  1880,  Dr.  Newton  was  appointed  a  director  of 
the  State  Prison  at  Wethersfield,  and  has  been  con- 
tinued by  re-appointment  in  that  office  ever  since. 
He  is  also  actively  interested  in  the  public  affairs 
of  Stafford  and  has  been  chairman  of  the  board  of 
selectmen  and  chairman  of  the  board  of  school  visi- 
tors during  various  years. 

Dr.  Newton  married,  in  1856,  Caroline,  daughter 
of  John  Fuller,  Esq. ,  who  was  prominently  identi- 


fied with  the  early  growth  and  development  of 
Holyoke,  Mass.  Four  children  have  been  born  to 
them,  one  of  whom  died  in  childhood.  Dr.  Newton 
has  enjoyed  remarkably  good  health,  and  during 
thirty-five  years  of  exacting  professional  service 
has  lost  scarcely  a  fortnight  from  active  personal 
attention  to  his  business. 


EDWARD    GRISWOLD. 


EDWARD  GRISWOLD,  Guilford:  Merchant. 

Mr.  Griswold  is  a  native  of  the  town  where  he 
now  resides;  was  born  June  30,  1839.     He  studied 
in  the  public  schools,   and  graduated  at  the  Guil- 
ford Institute.     When  the 
civil    war    broke    out  he 
was  twenty-two  years  old, 
and  in  September,    1861, 
he,  with  another  resident 
of       Guilford,       enlisted 
thirty-four   of   the  young 
men     of     that    place    as 
members     of     the     First 
Light  Battery,  and  served 
with    them   as   a   private 
soldier  in   that   organiza- 
tion three  years.     At  the 
end  of  that  time  his  rec- 
ord showed  that  he  had 
participated   in   one   more   engagement   than   any 
other  member  of  the  battery.     Returning  from  the 
war,  he  was  solicited  by  the  late  Governor  Buck- 
ingham and  by  Generals  Russell  and  Kellogg  to  re- 
cruit a  section  of  artillery  for  the  Connecticut  Na- 
tional Guard.     This  he  did,  the  condition  of  many 
enHstments  being   that   he   too   should  become  a 
member,    and   upon   organization   he   was    unani- 
mously  elected   commander  — a  position  he  most 
satisfactorily  filled  six  years.     It  was  the  first  bat- 
tery that  ever  appeared  with  the  state  militia  fully 
equipped  for  mounted   service.     He  has  been  an 
active  member  of  the  Grand  Army  from  its  organ- 
ization.    For  upwards  of  twenty  years  he  has  kept 
a  "  country  store  "  of  general  merchandise,  and  for 
several  years  was  business  manager  of  the  Guil- 
ford  Canning   Company.      He  has    held    various 
minor  offices  in  his  town  and  borough,  and  in  1882 
and  1883  represented  Guilford  in  the  Connecticut 
legislature.     He  voted  for  the  "  parallel  road  "in 
the  house,  and  cannot  resist  the  impression  that 
this  action  cost  him  the  bitter  personal  ill-will  of 
some  of  the  active  opponents  of  the  measure.     He 
has  always  been  a  republican  in  politics,  and  cast 
his  first   vote  for  Abraham  Lincoln;  but  he   now 
classes  himself  as  an  independent.     He  is  married 
and  has  three  children,  his  wfe  being  Miss  Annie 
E.   Parmelee  prior  to  her  marriage.     His  church 
membership  is  with  the  First  Congregational  so- 
ciety of  Guilford. 


262 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


HERMAN  W.  HUKE,  Torkington  :  General 
Foreman  and  Assistant  Superintendent  Excelsior 
Needle  Company. 

Herman  W.  Huke  was  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly  in  18S9  and  acquitted  himself  with  credit 
on  the  republican  side  of  the  house.  He  was  born 
in  Torrington  October  2, 
1854,  and  was  educated 
at  the  Torrington  High 
School  and  Yale  College 
of  Business  and  Finance, 
preparing  himself  for  a 
business  career.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Board 
of  Education  in  his  town 
and  is  connected  with 
a  number  of  industrial 
enterprises,  including  the 
Excelsior  Needle  Com- 
pany, the  Torrington  Co- 
H.  w.  HUKE.  operative   Company,  and 

the  I  Alvord  &  Spear  Manufacturing  Compan)-. 
He^has  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Excelsior  Needle 
Company  for  twenty  years,  occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  general  foreman  and  assistant  superinten- 
dent for  the  past  fifteen  years.  He  is  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Torrington  Co-operative  Company. 
Mr.  Huke  is  a  member  of  the  Third  Congrega- 
tional Association  at  Torrington,  and  is  a  repub- 
lican in  politics.  His  wife,  who  was  Miss  Nellie 
H.  Allen  prior  to  her  marriage,  is  the  daughter 
of  Sheriff  Allen  of  Litchfield  county.  There  is 
one  child,  a  boj-  of  seven  years. 


ERWIN    O.    DIMOCK,    Tolland  :    Attorney-at- 
Law. 

E.  O.  Dimock  was  born  in  Stafford,  October  6, 
1842,  and  received  a  good  common  and  select 
school  education.  He  served  with  the  Twenty- 
fifth  Connecticut  regi- 
ment in  the  late  war,  and 
spent  a  year  at  General 
Banks'  headquarters  after 
the  regiment  returned 
home.  He  engaged  in 
farming  and  lumbering  a 
few  years,  and  afterwards 
took  up  the  fire  insurance 
business  and  the  study  of 
law,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  Tolland  county  bar  in 
1 87 1,  and  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  law  in  Stafford 
till  1873,  when  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  Tolland,  and  has  been  in  practice 
there  to  the  present  time.  In  1875  he  was  ap- 
pointed  assistant   clerk   of  the   superior  court  for 


Tolland  county,  and  was  appointed  clerk  the  fol- 
lowing year,  which  position  he  now  holds.  He 
has  also  held  several  town  offices.  He  was  a  lib- 
eral republican  in  the  Greeley  campaign,  and.  a  St. 
John  prohibitionist,  and  is  now  acting  with  the  re- 
publican party. 

Mr.  Dimock  married  Miss  ]\Iary  E.  Sparrow. 
She  died  June  15th  of  the  present  year.  He 
has  no  children.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Tolland;  also  of  the  Ma- 
sonic fraternity,  Patrons  of  Husbandrj-,  Grand 
Army  of  the  Republic,  and  Sons  of  Temperance. 


OSCAR    LEACH. 


E.    O.    niMOCK. 


HON.  OSCAR  LEACH,  Dlrham. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  IMadison 
in  1 83 1.  He  had  the  advantages  of  the  common 
schools  and  academj-,  and  an  acquaintance  early  in 
life  with  all  the  prominent 
people  of  the  commvuiity 
through  his  father,  Hon. 
L.  W.  Leach,  who  was 
long  a  leading  citizen  of 
Middlesex  county.  The 
senator  removed  to  Dur- 
ham when  young,  and  be- 
came a  successful  mer- 
chant. He  was  early  in- 
terested in  the  success  of 
the  republican  party,  and 
filled  many  local  positions 
of  honor  and  trust.  He 
was  appointed  postmaster 
at  Durham  at  the  opening  of  President  Lincoln's 
first  term,  and  was  removed  during  the  last  year  of 
Johnson's  term,  but  was  re-appointed  the  next 
A^ear,  under  President  Grant.  He  held  the  office 
until  his  resignation  in  October,  1885.  In  1866  he 
represented  Durham  in  the  house,  being  the  col- 
league of  William  Wadsworth,  and  serving  upon 
the  committee  on  incorporations.  In  iS6g  he  was 
elected  to  the  state  senate,  and  became  a  con- 
spicuous member  of  a  body  in  which  were  Hon. 
David  Gallup,  Hon.  Heusted  W.  R.  Hoyt,  Hon. 
Charles  B.  Andrews,  Hon.  Carnot  O.  Spencer, 
Hon.  George  M.  Landers  of  New  Britain,  and  ex- 
Mayor  Lucien  W.  Sperry  of  New  Haven.  In  1S87 
Senator  Leach  was  returned  to  that  body,  and  was 
made  senate  chairman  of  the  committee  on  cities 
and  boroughs,  and  served  with  distinction  through- 
out the  session. 

Senator  Leach  has  been  always  in  politics, 
and  has  probably  exerted  a  more  controlling 
influence  in  the  deliberations  of  his  party  asso- 
ciates, locally  and  statewise,  than  almost  any  of 
his  contemporaries.  He  is  entirely  at  home  in 
legislative  aft'airs,  is  a  fluent  speaker,  and  has  a 
most   happy   faculty   for   impressing   his  audience 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


263 


with  the  righteousness  of  his  cause,  which  he 
adopts  conscientiously  and  advocates  with  great 
persistence  and  profound  earnestness  of  manner 
and  language.  Senator  Leach  married,  in  Decem- 
ber, 1853,  Miss  Eliza  J.  Hickox.  daughter  of  L.  C. 
Hickox  of  Durham,  and  they  have  two  children. 


THOMAS    CLARK. 


HON.  THOMAS   CLARK,    North   Stont.\gton: 

President  Norwich  &  New  York  Transportation 

Company. 

Hon.  Thomas  Clark  is  the  only  son  of  Hon. 
Thomas  A.  Clark  of  Lisbon,  Conn.,  and  was  born 
in  that  town,  December  26,  1830.  His  early  boy- 
hood was  spent  at  home. 
He  received  his  education 
at  the  common  and  select 
schools,  and  from  a  pri- 
vate teacher.  At  sixteen 
.years  of  age  he  taught 
school  in  his  own  district, 
and  was  so  efficient  that 
the  same  board  chose  him 
again  for  teacher  the  fol- 
lowing winter.  When 
eighteen  years  old  he 
left  home,  spending  a 
year  at  Norwich  and  a 
year  or  two  in  Mata- 
gorda, Tex.,  as  merchant's  clerk.  In  the 
autumn  of  1S53  he  returned  north  and  opened 
a  store  temporarily  in  North  Stonington,  where 
he  married  Miss  Sarah  E.  Wheeler,  only 
daughter  of  the  late  William  R.  Wheeler,  and 
where  he  has  since  resided.  He  was  educated  a 
democrat,  but  his  sojourn  at  the  south  and  other 
influences  decided  him  to  work  with  the  republican 
party  from  the  day  of  its  organization.  He  has 
ever  since  been  its  staunchest  friend,  and  one  of 
its  most  earnest  workers. 

For  many  years  he  pursued  an  energetic  and  suc- 
cessful career  as  a  manufacturer.  At  the  time  of 
the  war,  and  for  several  years  succeeding,  his 
health  was  much  impaired.  He  sent  a  substitute, 
and  with  his  zeal  and  purse  gave  all  the  aid  in  his 
power  to  the  cause  in  which  he  so  thorough^  be- 
lieved. Subsequently  his  physicians  recommended 
a  voyage  across  the  ocean  and  entire  rest  from 
business  as  the  only  means  of  saving  his  life.  In 
1870  he  made  the  trip  to  Europe,  spending  several 
months  on  the  continent  and  placing  himself  under 
the  care  of  Sir  Henry  Thompson.  This  course  re- 
sulted, after  long  debility,  in  an  entii-e  cure. 

In  1 86 1,  1862,  and  1866,  he  was  a  member  of  the 
house,  and  in  1867  a  member  of  the  senate.  In 
186S  he  was  a  delegate-at-large  at  the  national  re- 
publican convention  at  Chicago,  acting  in  place  of 
the  late  Hon.   H.    H.   Starkweather,  and  as  secre- 


tary of  the  Connecticut  delegation.  In  1889  he  was 
elected  president  and  manager  of  the  Norwich  & 
New  York  Transportation  Company,  which  posi- 
tion he  now  holds.  In  1882  he  was  nominated  for 
the  office  of  judge  of  probate  for  his  district,  but 
declined  the  honor.  He  was  comptroller  of  the 
state  in  1887-88,  having  been  elected  on  the  state 
ticket  which  had  the  Hon.  P.  C.  Lounsbury  at  its 
head.  He  discharged  the  duties  of  this  office  with 
signal  ability,  his  ripe  judgment  and  experience  in 
business  affairs  serving  to  good  purpose  in  enabling 
him  to  decide  promptly  and  wisely  concerning  the 
responsibilities  and  obligations  of  this  important 
trust.  His  church  connections  and  membership 
are  with  the  Congi-egational  society.  He  has  one 
son,  Wilfred  A.  Clark,  who  is  a  lawyer  in  New 
York  city. 

Mr.  Clark  is  a  gentleman  of  pleasing  social  quali- 
ties, and  his  wide  circle  of  personal  friends  hold 
him  in  the  highest  esteem. 


H.    W.    WESSEI;LS. 


HENRY  W.  WESSELLS,  Litchfield:  Druggist. 
Henry  W.  Wessells  was  born  in  New  Milford, 
July  13,  1S45,  and  was  educated  at  the  "  Gunnery  " 
in  Washington.  He  is  the  son  of  General  L.  W. 
Wessells  of  Litchfield, 
who  was  a  prominent  sol- 
dier in  the  field  during 
the  war,  and  is  actively 
connected  with  the  Con- 
necticut Division,  Sons  of 
Veterans.  When  the  C. 
O.  Belden  camp.  No.  31, 
was  organized  at  Litch- 
field, Oct.  5,  18S7,  he  was 
elected  captain  and  held 
the  position  until  January, 
1S90.  In  May,  18S9,  he 
was  elected  lieutenant- 
colonel  of  the  Connecticut 

division  and  was  advanced  to  the  command  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1890.  February  5,  1891,  he  was  chosen 
lieutenant-colonel  and  commander  of  the  Arm 
Battalion  of  the  division.  He  is  also  at  present  the 
captain  of  Belden  Camp.  He  was  the  first  dictator 
of  the  Litchfield  lodge,  Knights  of  Honor,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  New  York  Commandery,  Loyal 
Legion.  Colonel  Wessells  is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics and  has  held  the  office  of  assessor  in  'Litchfield. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  that 
place.  He  is  engaged  in  the  druggist  business, 
being  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Wessells,  Gates  <Sr 
Co.,  and  is  also  the  secretary  of  the  Litchfield 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company.  He  was  lieu- 
tenant Company  H,  Fourth  Regiment,  C.  N.  G., 
for  three  years,  resigning  in  1S75.  The  wife  of 
Colonel  Wessells  was  Miss  Anne  E.  Dotterer  pi'ior 
to  marriage.     There  are  no  children  in  the  famih'. 


264 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


W.    F.    J.    BOARDMAN. 


WILLIAM  F.  J.  BOARDMAN,  Hartford:  A 
Retired  Merchant  and  Manufacturer. 
W.  F.  J.  Boardman,  a  representative  of  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  honorable  families  of  Hartford, 
was  born  in  Wethersfield  December  12,  1828.  He 
is  a  descendant  in  the 
seventh  generation  from 
Samuel  Boardman  (origi- 
nally spelled  Boreman), 
who  was  born  in  Banbury, 
Oxfordshire,  England, 
and  emigrated  to  Ameri- 
ca about  1637,  settling  in 
Ipswich,  Mass.,  where  he 
was  a  land  owner  in  1639, 
and  whence  he  removed 
to  Wethersfield,  Conn.,  in 
1640.  He  was  a  deputy 
from  Wethersfield  to  the 
general  court  for  thirty- 
four  sessions,  and  during  his  lifetime  there  occupied 
many  positions  of  honor  and  trust  within  the  gift 
of  his  township  and  the  colony.  "  Few  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Connecticut  (says  Hinman)  came  with  a 
better  reputation,  or  sustained  it  more  uniformly 
through  life,  than  Mr.  Boardman."  From  the 
original  American  ancestor,  Samuel,  down  through 
six  generations,  in  the  line  of  the  subject 
of  this  sketch,  the  Boardmans  have  without 
exception  been  natives  of  Wethersfield,  and  during 
their  lives  prominently  identified  with  that  ancient 
town,  where  each  has,  in  one  or  another  official 
capacity,  served  with  distinction  his  day  and 
generation,  leaving  an  honorable  and  patriotic 
record.  The  father  of  the  present  subject,  William 
Boardman,  was  born  at  Lenox,  Mass.,  but  removed 
to  Wethersfield  with  his  father  the  year  of  his  birth. 
He  was  by  trade  a  printer;  was  a  book  and  news- 
paper publisher,  and  afterwards  a  merchant  and 
manufacturer  for  forty-six  years.  He  came  to 
Hartford  in  1858,  and  until  his  death  in  1887  was  a 
prominent  and  useful  citizen,  as  many  of  the  resi- 
dents of  Hartford  of  the  present  day  will  well 
remember. 

William  F.  J.  Boardman  i-eceived  his  primary 
education  at  the  public  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  graduated  from  Wethersfield  Academy  in  1846, 
where  he  had  studied  under  the  preceptorship  of 
Noah  B.  Clark  and  S.  A.  Galpin,  distinguished 
educators  of  that  day.  On  leaving  school  in  the 
spring  of  1846,  he  entered  the  coflfee  and  spice 
manufactory  of  his  father  in  Wethersfield,  to  learn 
the  business  in  detail.  Four  years  later,  upon  the 
removal  of  the  business  to  Hartford,  he  purchased 
a  one-third  interest  therein  and  it  was  continued 
under  the  firm  name  of  William  Boardman  &  Son. 
On  the  seventh  of  January,  1852,  he  was  married 
to  Jane  M.    Greenleaf,   daughter   of   Dr.    Charles 


Greenleaf  of  Hartford.  In  1853  his  brother,  Thomas 
J.  Boardman,  was  admitted  as  a  partner  in  the 
business,  and  the  firm  removed  to  larger  quarters; 
its  name  was  changed  to  William  Boardman  &  Sons, 
and  its  operations  extended  to  include  importing, 
manufacturing,  and  jobbing  in  teas,  coffees,  and 
spices,  with  a  wholesale  trade  throughout  New 
England  and  other  states.  The  financial  part  of 
the  business  being  under  the  care  of  W.  F.  J. 
Boardman,  his  father  attended  to  the  buying,  and 
his  brother  to  the  manufacturing  and  packing  de- 
partment. This  business  connection  continued  with 
uninterrupted  success  until  1S87,  when  Mr.  Board- 
man,  senior,  died,  and  one  year  later  W.  F.  J. 
Boardman  retired,  having  been  connected  with  the 
firm  continuously  for  thirty-eight  years. 

Mr.  Boardman  was  one  of  the  original  members 
of  the  Putnam  Phalanx  under  its  permanent  organ- 
ization in  1859.  In  1863  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Hartford  common  council  from  the  third 
ward,  in  which  he  was  a  member  of  the  highways 
committee  and  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the 
horse  railroad  then  being  constructed.  As  a  mem- 
ber of  the  council  he  did  his  whole  duty,  acting  for 
the  city's  good  without  fear  or  favor.  In  1861  he 
was  chosen  a  director  of  the  State  Bank  of  Hart- 
ford, serving  several  years  and  giving  to  the  insti- 
tution the  same  conscientious  attention  that  he  did 
to  his  own  business.  This  was  during  the  war  of 
the  rebellion,  when  the  "old  State"  Bank  was 
called  upon  by  Governor  Buckingham,  perhaps 
more  freely  and  extensively  than  any  other  institu- 
tion in  the  state  to  furnish  the  "  sinews  of  war,"  which 
it  did  to  the  extent  of  many  times  its  capital. 
In  1868  Mr.  Boardman's  health  suffered  serious 
impairment,  and  he  was  obliged  temporarily  to  retire 
from  active  business  ;  but,  regaining  it  to  a  con- 
siderable extent,  he  gave  renewed  attention  to  the 
affairs  of  the  firm.  The  establishment  was  again 
moved  to  larger  quarters  on  State  street,  and  in 
1871  the  fine  "Boardman  Building"  on  Asylum 
street  was  erected  at  a  cost  —  including  machinery, 
etc., —  of  over  $100,000,  the  firm  occupying  the  new 
building  in  1872.  In  1S87  he  went  abroad,  visiting 
parts  of  England,  Scotland,  and  France,  in  the 
hope  of  confirming  his  still  imperfect  health,  and 
taking  with  him  his  medical  adviser.  The  trip  was 
not  entirely  successful,  and  as  a  matter  of  physical 
necessity  he  concluded  on  his  return  in  18SS  to 
abandon  all  business  activity,  which  he  did  by 
selling  to  his  brother  his  entire  interest  in  the  old 
firm  July  7,  1888,  as  above  intimated,  after  an  ex- 
perience of  forty-two  years,  thirty-eight  of  which 
was  with  the  firm  already  specified.  During  his 
business  life  Mr.  Boardman  has  been  actively  en- 
gaged in  promoting  or  establishing  many  enter- 
prises, including  the  Hartford  &  New  York  Steam- 
boat Company,  the  Merrick  Thread  Company  of 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


265 


Holyoke,  Mass.,  and  the 'Hudson  River  Water 
Power  and  Paper  Company  of  Mechanicsville, 
N.  Y.  He  has  also  assisted  many  young  men  in 
estabhshing  themselves  in  business.  In  1863-64  he 
in  company  with  others  built  a  number  of  sailing 
vessels,  for  the  coasting  and  foreign  trade,  among 
them  the  IVilliam  Boardinan,  the  M.  M.  Merri- 
man,  the  Sarah  A.  Reed,  and  the  A.J.  Bent  ley, 
with  a  considerable  proprietory  interest  in  many 
others.  He  has  often  served  on  commissions,  has 
settled  estates,  operated  in  real  estate  considerably, 
attended  to  the  construction  of  some  of  the  best 
buildings  in  Hartford,  and  has  generally  led  an 
active  life.  He  has  made  it  a  point  never  to  incur 
an  obhgation  which  he  could  not  meet  at  once  or 
on  maturity  of  his  promise,  and  has  thus  acquired 
and  maintained  a  reputation  for  integrity  which 
none  can  call  in  question.  He  is  and  always  has 
been  a  democrat,  inheriting  that  political  faith  from 
ancestors  whose  patriotism  has  been  inflexibly  loyal 
and  solid  in  all  emergencies.  He  has  held  no  pub- 
lic office  for  several  years,  nor  does  he  seek  any. 
He  has  until  recently  retained  his  connection  with 
the  Phalanx,  and  is  still  a  member  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Historical  Society,  and  of  the  Sons  of  the 
American  Revolution. 

Mr.  Boardman's  family  consists  of  his  wife  and 
an  only  son,  William  Greenleaf  Boardman,  who 
was  born  in  Hartford  June  29,  1853,  and  still  resides 
in  this  city. 

EDWARD  MILLER,  Meride.n:  Manufacturer  of 

Brass  and  Iron  Goods. 

Edward  Miller  was  born  in  Wallingford,  in  this 
state,  August  10,  1827.  When  he  was  two  years  of 
age  his  parents  moved  to  Canistota,  New  York, 
eight  years  later  return- 
ing to  Connecticut  and  set- 
tling in  Meriden, where  his 
life  has  since  been  spent. 
His  education  was  acquir- 
ed chiefly  at  the  public 
schools  of  Meriden,  with 
a  brief  subsequent  acad- 
emical experience.  After 
leaving  school  he  engaged 
in  mechanical  pursuits, 
and  ultimately  established 
himself  in  Meriden  in  the 
manufacture  of  kerosene 
burners,  lamps,  bronzes, 
sheet  brass,  and  various  forms  of  utensils  made 
from  that  metal;  making  and  putting  upon  this 
market  the  first  kerosene  burner,  for  burning 
kerosene  oil  made  from  distilled  coal.  He  is 
now  the  president  and  senior  member  of  the 
house  of  Edward  Miller  &  Company,  one  of 
the  important  industrial  establishments  of  that  city, 


EDWARD    MILLER. 


with  offices  and  salesrooms  in  Boston  and  New 
York.  This  house  was  estabUshed  in  1844,  and  in- 
corporated under  the  laws  of  the  state  in  1866. 
Mr.  Miller  has  never  sought  public  office,  though 
having  occupied  various  positions  of  trust  within 
the  gift  of  his  townsmen.  He  is  a  republican  in 
politics,  and  a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  church. 
He  has  a  wife  and  three  children  living,  two  sons 
and  a  daughter.  Mrs.  Miller  was  Miss  Caroline  M. 
Neal  prior  to  her  marriage,  and  a  native  of  South- 
ington.  

S.  Y.  BEACH,  Seymour:  Paper  Manufacturer. 

Sharon  Yale  Beach  is  a  descendant  of  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Beach,  an  influential  clergyman  of  New 
Haven  county.  His  father,  Giles  Beach,  was  born 
in  North  Haven,  where 
the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  also  born,  May  21, 
1809.  On  his  mother's 
side  he  is  a  descendant  of 
Captain  Jonathan  Day- 
ton, who  was  a  justice  of 
the  peace  and  an  officer  in 
the  revolutionary  war. 
An  interesting  fact  in 
connection  with  the  mili- 
tary service  of  Captain 
Dayton  is  that  his  four 
sons  were  members  of  the 
company  which  he  com- 
manded. The  wife  of  Captain  Dayton  was  Mary 
Yale,  the  latter  name  appearing  in  Mr.  Beach's. 
Mr.  Beach  has  four  sons,  who  with  himself  compose 
the  S.  Y.  Beach  Paper  Company  of  Seymour.  The 
oldest  of  the  sons,  Mr.  G.  W.  Beach,  is  also  the  su- 
perintendent of  the  Naugatuck  division  of  the  New 
York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  railroad  system. 
The  second,  A.  Y.  Beach,  is  engaged  in  the  coal 
and  grocery  trade.  The  third,  Sharon  D.  Beach, 
is  the  manager  of  the  paper  company,  while  the 
fourth,  Theodore  B.  Beach,  is  the  railroad  station 
agent  at  Seymour.  The  first  wife  of  Mr.  Beach, 
who  died  February  18,  1871,  w^as  Miss  Adeline 
Sperry  of  Orange,  sister  of  the  late  Dr.  Isaac  J. 
Sperry  of  Hartford.  The  second  wife,  who  is  now 
living,  was  Miss  Julia  L.  Hine  of  Orange.  There 
is  also  one  daughter  in  the  family.  Mr.  Beach  has 
made  his  own  fortune  in  the  world.  He  began  life 
on  a  North  Haven  farm  and  was  afterward  a  clerk 
in  a  grocery  store.  Subsequently  he  spent  about 
twelve  years  in  a  cotton  factory  atHumphreysville, 
now  Seymour,  and  there  began  the  manufacture  of 
paper.  In  the  latter  industry  he  met  with  decided 
success.  When  the  Ansonia  Baptist  church  was 
organized,  Mr.  Beach  was  chosen  its  first  deacon, 
and  the  office  is  still  retained  by  him  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the   people.     He   was   the   superin- 


S.    Y.    BEACH. 


266 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


tendent  of  the  Bible-school  until  he  was  seventy 
vears  of  age.  Deacon  Beach  has  been  a  member 
of  the  Baptist  church  for  more  than  sixty  years. 
He  was  a  democrat  originally,  but  abandoned  the 
party  on  account  of  the  extension  of  slavery  and 
united  vath  the  republicans.  At  present  he  is  an 
active  supporter  of  the  prohibition  party.  He  has 
held  the  offices  of  selectman,  justice  of  the  peace, 
and  chairman  of  the  board  of  education.  During 
the  war  he  was  chairman  of  the  republican  town 
committee  of  Seymour  and  called  the  first  meeting 
in  the  town  favoring  President  Lincoln.  He  also 
presided  at  the  last  meeting  in  the  town  held  in 
consequence  of  the  strtiggle.  His  life  has  been  one 
closely  identified  with  public  interests. 

ELIPHALET     B.     HULL,     Norutox     Heights 
(Darien). 

Eliphalet  B.  Hull,  who  is  the  sole  survivor  of  the 
party  that  attempted  to  convey  assistance  to  the 
passengers  of  the  burning  steamer  Lexingtoti  Jan- 
uar}-  13,  1S40,  was  born 
in  the  town  of  Westport 
February  4,  1S20,  and 
educated  in  the  common 
schools  of  that  section  of 
the  state.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  was  appren- 
ticed to  the  carpenter's 
trade.  At  the  end  of  his 
apprenticeship  he  was 
employed  for  two  years 
in  Fairfield  and  Bridge- 
port. It  was  towards  the 
end  of  his  apprentice  days 
that  the  event  referred  to 
above  occurred.  Young  Hull  was  not  twenty  years 
of  age  at  the  time.  With  three  others  he  manned 
a  yawl  boat  at  Southport  and  started  for  the  rescue 
of  the  burning  steamer's  passengers.  It  was  an 
act  of  great  gallantry,  the  four  men  taking  their 
lives  in  their  hands,  ready  to  sacrifice  themselves 
in  the  effort  to  rescue  the  Lexitigtoti's  passengers 
from  the  terrible  calamity  that  engulfed  them. 
The  rescuers  labored  with  a  will  to  reach  the  ill- 
fated  steamer  but  were  unable  to  make  much  more 
than  half  of  the  distance  before  the  vessel  sank  out 
of  sight.  In  1842  Mr.  Hull  entered  the  employ  of 
the  Stamford  jVIanufacturing  Co.,  being  assigned 
to  wheelwright  and  machinery  work,  and  remained 
with  the  establishment  for  twenty-eight  years. 
From  the  close  of  that  period  until  within  a  few 
years  he  was  engaged  in  his  regular  trade.  Mr. 
Hull  served  in  the  state  militia  in  the  town  of  Fair- 
field. He  is  a  member  of  the  ^Methodist  church  and 
a  republican  in  politics.  He  has  been  twice  mar- 
ried. His  present  wife  was  iliss  Sarah  C.  Hyde. 
There  are  three  daughters  living,  l)y  the  first  wife. 


E.    B.    HULL. 


HAMMOND. 


REV.  SAMUEL  M.  HAMMOND,  Turrington: 
Pastor  Methodist  Episcopal  church. 
Samuel  M.  Hammond  was  born  in  Brookhaven, 
N.  Y.,  March  10,  1833.  He  supplemented  an  aca- 
demic education  by  a  theological  course  in  the 
Methodist  Biblical  Insti- 
tute at  Concord,  N.  H., 
graduating  in  1S59. 
When  a  young  man  he 
taught  in  the  south,  and, 
during  the  war,  spent 
some  time  in  the  service 
of  the  Christian  Commis- 
sion. He  became  a  min- 
ister in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church  in  1S60, 
and  has  spent  part  of  his 
ministerial  career  in 
Brooklyn,  New  Rochelle, 
New  Haven,  New  Britain, 
and  Ansonia,  going  to  his  present  charge  at  Tor- 
rington  in  the  spring  of  1888.  In  1859  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Miss  Fannie  A.  Howell  of  Mattituck,  L.  I.,  a 
lady  in  all  respects  well  adapted  to  assist  him  in 
the  prosecution  of  the  work  to  which  he  has  devoted 
his  life.  They  have  been  blessed  with  ten  children, 
three  sons  and  seven  daughters.  Mr.  Hammond 
is  a  most  sympathetic  and  faithful  pastor,  and  a 
logical,  instructive,  magnetic,  and  very  earnest 
preacher.  He  has  an  excellent  gift  of  language,  is 
never  at  a  loss  for  words  to  express  either  his 
thoughts  or  feelings,  and,  when  fully  aroused,  in 
using  either  tongue  or  pen,  not  seldom  reaches  an 
eloquence  that  touches  every  emotion  and  awakens 
every  sympathy.  He  is  a  man  of  clear,  well-rea- 
soned, strongly-grounded  conviction,  and  therefore 
a  man  of  great  moral  courage,  who  is  never  afraid 
to  stand  with  a  despised  minority,  in  defense  of 
any  cause  that  he  deems  right.  He  is  well  known 
throughout  Connecticut  and  in  other  states  as  a 
fearless  and  uncompromising  enemy  of  the  Ameri- 
can grog-shop.  During  one  of  his  pastorates  on 
Long  Island  he  took  such  an  active  part  in  pushing 
the  temperance  cause  and  suppressing  the  illegal 
sale  of  liquors,  that  the  worshipers  of  Bacchus  and 
Gambrinus,  instead  of  canonizing  him  for  the  good 
work  he  had  accomplished,  cannonaded  him  by  fir- 
ing a  national  salute,  out  of  \oy  for  his  departure, 
the  day  he  left  for  a  new  field  of  labor.  When  a 
young  man  he  became  deeply  interested  in  the 
anti-slavery  qiiestion,  was  a  stout  advocate  of  free- 
dom, and  a.n  ardent  member  of  the  republican 
party;  but  when,  in  1872,  his  party  in  the  sixteenth 
resolution  of  its  national  platform,  joined  hands 
(as  he  believed)  with  the  liquor  interest,  he  became 
convinced  that  the  drink  evil  could  only  be  effec- 
tually dealt  with  b}^  a  political  party  organized  for 
that  purpose.     He  assisted  to  organize  the  prohibi- 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


267 


tion  party  in  Connecticut  in  1884,  and  during  the 
four  years  following  was  one  of  its  most  able  and 
aggressive  leaders.  The  productions  of  his  pen 
were  scattered  broadcast  over  the  state,  arousing 
the  hostility  of  some,  carrying  deep  and  permanent 
conviction  to  others,  and  giving  new  inspiration 
and  courage  to  those  who  had  already  entered  the 
prohibition  ranks.  In  18SS,  he  was  sent  as  a  dele- 
gate at  large  to  the  national  prohibition  convention 
at  Indianapolis.  He  there  became  satisfied  that 
the  party  as  officered  and  managed  stood  as  much 
for  woman-suffrage  as  for  the  abolition  of  the 
drink  evil,  and,  being  strongl}'  opposed  to  that 
measure,  he  was  reluctantly  compelled  to  leave 
the  party;  but  he  never  lets  slip  a  good  opportunity 
to  strike  a  blow  at  the  liquor  traffic  and  its  political 
protectors.  Physically,  Mr.  Hammond  is  not  what 
would  be  called  vigorous,  but  intellectually  and 
spiritually  he  is  thoroughly  equipped  for  his  import- 
ant work.  He  is  a  sincere,  manly  man,  who 
"abhors  that  which  is  evil,  and  cleaves  to  that 
which  is  good." 

GOULD  SMITH  CLARK,  Middlebury:  Farmer. 
Mr.  Clark,  now  in  his  seventy-eighth  year,  was 
born  in  the  town  of  Prospect,  March  12,  1814.  He 
was  reared  a  farmer,  in  an  agricultural  neighbor- 
hood, where  the  educa- 
tional facilities  were  few, 
and  at  a  remote  date 
when  school-houses  were 
of  very  primitive  design 
exteriorly  and  interiorly, 
in  striking  contrast  with 
the  public  schools  of  to- 
day and  the  buildings  in 
which  pupils  are  n  o  w 
taught.  He  was  married 
in  1S40  to  Miss  Maria  H. 
Skilton  of  Watertown,  bj' 
whom  he  has  had  three 
children.  His  married 
life  has  been  spent  almost  entirely  in  Middlebury, 
where  he  has  owned  and  managed  the  farm  upon 
which  he  now  resides,  and  where  he  has  held  nearly 
all  the  offices  within  the  gift  of  the  town,  being 
elected  thereto  by  the  republicans,  of  which  party 
he  has  been  a  member  since  1S56.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church  of  ^Middlebury,  and 
has  been  one  of  its  deacons  since  1S64.  He  repre- 
sented that  town  in  the  legislature  in  the  years 
1857,  1S71,  and  1872,  and  was  appointed  by  Gov- 
ernor Andrew  as  one  of  the  appraisers  of  the  state 
prison  property  in  Wethersfield.  Deacon  Clark 
has  had  a  long,  useful,  and  honored  life.  He  was 
of  sturdy  New  England  stock,  and  in  his  person 
and  character  exemplifies  the  noblest  and  best 
traits  of  a  Puritan  ancestry. 


G.     S.    CLARK. 


NATHANIEL  LYON    KNOWLTON,  Ashford: 

Farmer. 

N.  L.  Knowlton  was  born  in  Ashford,  May  19, 
1844.  After  acquiring  a  solid  education  at  the  pub- 
lic schools  he  engaged  in  mechanical  and  agricultu- 
ral pursuits,  which  have 
since  occupied  his  atten- 
tion.  He  represented 
Ashford  in  the  legislature 
in  1S72,  and  was  post- 
master at  West  Ashford 
from  1881  till  1887.  He 
was  married  in  1868  to 
Miss  Sarah  S.  Wright  of 
Ashford.  He  is  a  demo- 
crat in  politics,  and  by 
that  party  has  been  raised 
to  the  various  positions 
of  trust  and  honor  which 
he  has  held.  Mr.  Knowl- 
ton is  of  distinguished  ancestry,  being  a  nephew  of 
General  Lyon,  the  brave  and  lamented  soldier  who 
lost  his  life  in  the  service  of  his  country,  during  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  at  Wilson  Creek,  Aug.  10, 
1861;  and  also  a  descendant  of  Colonel  Thomas 
Knowlton  of  revolutionary  memory,  who  was  killed 
in  the  battle  of  Harlem  Heights,  Sept.  16,  1776. 


L.    KNOWLTON. 


AMOS    S.     BLAKE,  W.a.terbury:    Inventor   and 

Manufacturer. 

Amos  S.  Blake  has  been  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly  during  three  sessions.     He  was  originally 
elected  to  the  house  from  Waterbury  in  1869,  and 
was  returned  during  the 
two  successive    years   of 
1874  and  1875.   In  politics 
Mr.  Blake  is  a  democrat. 
He  has  also  held  public 
offices    in    Vermont    and 
Michigan.     For  a  number 
of  years   he  was   one   of 
the  judges  of  jail  delivery 
in  the  former  state,  where 
the  law  until  recent  years 
authorized  imprisonment 
for  debt.    He  was  a  coun- 
ty commissioner  for  three  a.  s.  bl.'^ke. 
)'ears    in     the     state     of 

Michigan.  Mr.  Blake  is  an  inventor  of  distinc- 
tion, his  inventions  being  covered  by  nineteen 
patents.  During  the  winter  of  1830-31  he  con- 
structed the  first  locomotive  ever  seen  in  New 
England.  The  model  was  small,  being  designed 
to  illustrate  the  principles  of  railroad  construc- 
tion. It  was  able  to  carry  two  persons  around 
a  hall  on  a  circular  track.  The  design  was  verj' 
generally   exhibited   through  the  northern   states. 


268 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


by  Asa  Harrington  of  Middlesex,  Vt.  During  the 
war  Mr.  Blake  was  the  superintendent  of  the  Ameri- 
can Flask  and  Cap  Compan)^  at  Waterbury.  In  one 
year  the  concern  delivered  one  hundred  tons  of 
])ercussion  caps  to  the  government.  Mr.  Blake 
has  employed  not  less  than  3,000  persons  for  him- 
self and  others  in  various  kinds  of  work.  He  was 
born  at  Brookfield,  Vt.,  January  18,  1812,  and  was 
educated  at  Southmade  Academy  and  Scott's  MiH- 
tary  School  at  Montpelier,  Vt.  He  was  a  captain 
in  the  artillery  service  for  two  years.  The  maiden 
name  of  his  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Eliza  Cor- 
delia Woodward.  Two  daughters  are  also  living. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  spent  his  whole  life 
in  the  profession  of  dentistry  and  in  mining  and 
manufacturing. 

JEROME    B.    BALDWIN,    Willimantic  :    Mer- 
chant. 

Mr.  Baldwin  was  bom  in  the  town  of  Mansfield, 
September  14,  1843.  The  common  schools  of  the 
town  afforded  him  his  education,  and  at  the  age  of 
eighteen  he  enlisted  as  a 
private  in  Company  D, 
Twenty-First  regiment 
Connecticut  Volunteers, 
serving  three  years;  rose 
to  the  rank  of  sergeant, 
was  in  all  the  principal 
battles  of  his  gallant  regi- 
ment, and  was  seriously 
wounded  in  the  second 
day's  engagement  in  front 
of  Petersburg.  Return- 
ing from  the  war,  after 
three  years'  active  ser- 
vice, he  turned  his  atten- 
tion to  mercantile  pursuits,  and  for  many  j^ears  was 
senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Baldwin  &  Webb  in 
the  clothing  and  furnishing  goods  trade,  doing 
business  in  Willimantic.  For  the  last  few  years, 
since  the  retirement  of  Mr.  Webb  from  the  firm,  he 
has  conducted  the  business  alone.  He  married 
Miss  Ella  M.  Adams,  and  has  three  children,  daugh- 
ters. Mr.  Baldwin  filled  the  position  of  town  and 
borough  assessor  for  three  years  and  was  (M1  the 
board  of  water  commissioners  for  a  similar  term, 
which  latter  position  he  still  occupies.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  republican  party,  and  as  such  was 
elected  to  represent  the  town  of  Windham  in  the 
state  legislature  in  1885,  serving  as  chairman  of  the 
engrossed  bills  committee  and  also  on  the  commit- 
tee on  military  affairs.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
(irand  Army  organization  in  Willimantic.  Mr. 
Baldwin  is  a  highly-respected  citizen,  and  though 
never  an  aspirant  for  public  office,  takes  an  ac- 
tive interest  in  whatever  promotes  the  public 
welfare. 


J.    B.    BALDWIN. 


E.    H.    BUGHEE. 


HON.   EDWIN  HOLMES  BUGBEE,  Pltn.vm. 

Edwin  H.  Bugbee  was  born  in  Thompson,  Conn., 
in  1820,  the  son  of  James  Bugbee,  born  in  Wood- 
stock in  1788,  a  descendant  of  Edward  Bugby, 
who  settled  in  Roxbury, 
Mass.,  in  1634,  sailing  in 
the  ship  Francis,  from 
Ipswich,  England.  The 
family  home  of  the  immi- 
grant was  Stratford-Bow, 
then  a  suburb  of  London, 
but  now  within  the  cor- 
porate limits  of  that  city. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  educated  in  the  pub- 
lic schools  of  the  town, 
and  was  early  a  clerk  in 
his  father's  store.  In 
1S39  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  the  Lyman  Manufacturing  Company  at  their 
mills  in  North  Providence,  R.  I.,  as  clerk  and  book- 
keeper. In  1S43-44  he  obtained  a  lease  of  the 
mills,  and  commenced  business  on  his  own  account. 
The  business  of  those  years  proved  successful  for 
manufacturers,  and  at  the  close  of  1S44  he  returned 
to  Thompson,  having  in  the  meantime  purchased 
a  farm  in  his  native  town.  In  1S49  he  removed  to 
Killingly,  entering  the  employ  of  the  Williamsville 
Manufacturing  Company,  at  their  factory  in  Kill- 
ingly, remaining  with  them  till  1879.  He  early 
took  an  active  interest  in  the  political  affairs  of  the 
town,  and  in  1855  received  the  nomination  for  rep- 
resentative to  the  general  assembly.  The  exciting 
question  in  the  several  towns  of  the  county  at  that 
time  was  that  of  the  proposed  incorporation  of  a 
new  town  to  be  formed  from  portions  of  Thompson, 
Killingly,  and  Pomfret,  to  be  called  Putnam.  Mr. 
Bugbee  having  earnestly  advocated  the  cause  of 
the  friends  of  the  proposed  new  town  was  defeated, 
because  of  that  advocacy,  by  a  majority  of  fourteen 
votes.  In  1857  he  was  again  a  candidate  and  was 
elected  by  a  handsome  majority;  he  was  also 
elected  a  representative  from  KiUingly  in  1859,  '61, 
'63,  '69,  '71,  '73,  and  1879.  In  1865  and  1S6S  he  was 
senator  from  the  Fourteenth  District,  and  in  1S6S 
was  elected  president  pro  ton.  of  the  senate.  He 
served  eight  terms  as  chairman  of  committees,  and 
in  1 87 1  was  speaker  of  the  house.  In  all  these 
years  he  proved  an  active  member  on  the  floor  of 
either  house.  Mr.  Bugbee  is  a  republican,  having 
acted  with  that  party  since  its  organization,  but 
disclaims  being  a  partisan.  He  is  represented  as 
being  in  favor  of  tariff  and  civil  service  reform, 
and  is  strenuously  opposed  to  the  so-called  "  Lodge 
Force  Bill  "  of  the  Fifty-first  congress.  He  con- 
tends that  the  country's  greatest  need  at  the  pres- 
ent time  is  for  more  patriots  and  fewer  partisans. 
Mr.  Bugbee  was  married  in  1S57,  his  wife  surviv- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


269 


ing  less  than  one  year.  Since  18S2  he  has  been  a 
resident  of  Putnam,  having  retired  from  business. 
He  has  been  a  director  of  the  Putnam  National 
Bank  since  the  year  of  its  organization,  and  is  vice- 
president  for  Connecticut  of  the  New  England 
Historic-Genealogical  Society,  and  is  much  inter- 
ested in  genealogical  research. 


J.     I).     KROWNE. 


JOHN  D.  BROWNE,  Hartkord:  President  Con- 
necticut Fire  Insurance  Company. 
John  D.  Browne  is  a  native  of  Connecticut,  hav- 
ing been  born  in  the  town  of  Plainfield,  Windham 
coimty,  in  1836.  The  old  homestead,  iirst  occupied 
by  his  great-great-grand- 
father, is  still  in  the  fam- 
ily, and  now  occupied  by 
an  elder  brother.  Mr. 
Browne  comes  of  long- 
lived,  hardy,  Puritan,  and 
revolutionary  stock;  the 
kind  which  broke  up  the 
rugged  soil,  built  the 
public  highways,  and 
the  school-houses  and 
•churches,  and  fought  the 
battles  for  liberty  and  na- 
tional independence.  His 
grandfather,  John 
Browne,  enlisted  as  a  musician  in  the  patriot  army 
in  1776,  serving,  with  two  of  his  brothers,  through 
the  long  and  trying  period  of  the  war,  and  was  pro- 
moted while  in  service  to  the  position  of  fife-major 
of  his  regiment.  His  father,  Gurdon  Perkins 
Browne,  was  a  hard-working  farmer,  who  reared 
liis  family  in  habits  of  industry  and  frugality, 
.and  did  not  forget  to  inculcate  by  precept  and 
example  those  principles  of  robust  morality 
.and  patriotism  in  which  he  had  himself  been 
trained.  He  was  also  a  school  teacher  of  con- 
siderable celebrity,  beginning  to  teach  at  the 
age  of  seventeen,  and  continuing  in  that  profession 
through  thirty-six  winters.  He  was  an  ardent 
■democrat  of  the  old  school,  always  performing  his 
duties  as  a  patriotic  citizen,  and  voting  at  every 
election  in  his  town  until  the  very  close  of  his  long 
life,  dying  at  the  advanced  age  of  eighty-three 
years.  Mr.  Browne's  mother  was  a  woman  of 
rare  qualities,  deeply  solicitous  for  the  intel- 
lectual and  spiritual  culture  of  her  children, 
and  earnestly  devoted  to  her  family.  The  early 
environment  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  was, 
therefore,  of  a  healthy  sort,  in  both  its  material 
and  mental  aspects,  favorable  to  the  formation  of 
correct  habits  and  a  manly  character,  and  promo- 
tive of  the  best  development  of  the  natural  gifts 
which  he  had  inherited  from  a  long  line  of  sturdy 
and  honorable  ancestors. 

Mr.  Browne's  youthful  life  was  devoted  to  the 


farm  and  the  district  school,  and  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen he  taught  one  of  the  schools  of  his  native 
town.  But  the  duties  of  a  school  teacher  were  not 
congenial  as  a  life  work;  and,  having  in  1855  made 
a  visit  to  the  then  far-off  territory  of  Minnesota,  he 
made  a  second  journey  thither  in  the  spring  of 
1857,  and  located  in  Minneapolis.  He  was  for  two 
years  connected  with  the  Minneapolis  Mill  Com- 
pany, and  aided  in  the  development  and  improve- 
ment of  the  magnificent  water-power  at  that  point. 
Afterwards  he  went  to  Little  Falls,  then  a  town  of 
a  few  hundred  inhabitants,  located  on  the  Missis- 
sippi River,  about  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
miles  north  of  Minneapolis,  where  he  spent  a  year 
as  director  and  agent  of  the  Little  Falls  Manufac- 
turing Company,  engaged  in  developing  the  water- 
power  there  by  the  construction  of  a  dam  across 
the  Mississippi. 

While  in  Minnesota  Mr.  Browne  was  actively 
prominent  in  local  and  state  politics,  aided  in  or- 
ganizing the  republican  party  in  Minnesota,  and 
held  intimate  relations  with  the  dominant  party  at 
the  national  capital  throughout  the  administra- 
tion of  President  Lincoln,  for  whose  election  he 
had  been  an  enthusiastic  and  effective  worker. 
He  was  often  a  delegate  to  county  and  state 
conventions,  and  was  elected  an  alternate  dele- 
gate to  the  national  republican  convention 
which  nominated  Mr.  Lincoln.  His  republican- 
ism was  known  to  be  of  the  most  pronounced 
type,  and  his  political  activity  and  enthusiasm  con- 
stituted him  an  important  factor  in  all  the  councils 
of  his  party  throughout  the  greater  portion  of  the 
period  of  eight  years  over  which  his  residence  in 
Minnesota  extended. 

At  the  close  of  the  presidential  campaign ,  in  the 
autumn  of  i860,  he  was  elected  messenger  to 
take  the  first  electoral  vote  of  Minnesota  to 
Washington,  in  which  city  he  remained  during 
the  succeeding  winter,  having  been  appointed 
to  a  desk  in  the  interior  department  at  the 
capitol  under  Jo.  Wilson,  then  commissioner  of  the 
general  land  office.  He  returned  to  Minnesota  in 
the  spring  of  1861,  and  for  four  years,  during  Lin- 
coln's administration,  was  chief  clerk  in  the  office 
of  the  surveyor-general  of  public  lands  at  St.  Paul, 
to  which  city  the  office  had  been  recently  removed 
from  Detroit. 

In  1865  Mr.  Browne  returned  east,  and  soon  after- 
wards entered  upon  insurance  work,  in  1867  becom- 
ing permanently  connected  with  the  Hartford  Fire 
Insurance  Company  as  its  general  agent  and  ad- 
juster. In  1870  he  was  elected  secretary  of  that 
company,  in  the  duties  of  which  office  he  was  en- 
gaged for  ten  years,  or  until  called  to  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Connecticut  Fire  in  1880.  His  incum- 
bency of  this  latter  office  still  continues.  It  is  but 
just  to  Mr.  Browne  to  say  that  since  his  elevation 


270 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


to  its  chief  executive  office  the  Connecticut  has 
abundantly  maintained  its  high  standing  among 
the  solid  and  prosperous  institutions  of  its  class  in 
this  insurance  center,  while  its  progressive  tendency 
is  illustrated  by  the  fact  that  the  volume  of  the 
company's  yearly  business  has  doubled  since  he  as- 
sumed its  management. 

Mr.  Browne  sustains  official  relations  with  vari- 
ous business  and  social  organizations  in  Hartford. 
He  is  a  director  in  the  Phoenix  Mutual  Life  Insur- 
ance Company,  the  National  Exchange  Bank,  the 
Board  of  United  Charities,  the  Humane  Society, 
and  the  Connecticut  State  Prison  Association,  with 
which  latter  society  he  is  further  connected  as  a 
member  of  its  committee  on  visitations  and  dis- 
charges. He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
Historical  Society,  and  of  the  Connecticut  Society 
of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  He  was 
married,  October  23,  1S61,  to  Miss  Frances  Cleve- 
land, daughter  of  Luther  Cleveland,  Esq.,  of 
Plainfield.  They  have  two  children,  the  elder  being 
now  the  wife  of  Francis  R.  Cooley,  son  of  Hon.  F. 
B.  Cooley  of  this  city. 


which  city  he  removed  in  i86g,  and  has  since  main- 
tained his  residence  there.  He  was  married,  July 
23,  1848,  to  Sarah  Ann  Clark,  daughter  of  Ambrose 
Clark  of  Middletown.  They  have  two  sons  living, 
one  of  whom  is  Dr.  E.  A.  Markham  of  Durham. 


OLIVER  MARKHAM,  Middletown:  Gunsmith. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Middle- 
town,  of  which  city,  either  as  a  municipality  or  a 
township,  his  ancestors  for  five  generations  were 
natives     and      residents. 
,,-rr^^.  Mr.   Markham  is  able  to 

trace  his  descent  in  a 
direct  line  through  nine 
generations  to  Sir  Robert 
^Markham  of  Nottingham- 
shire, England,  who  was 
seventeenth  in  descent 
from  Claron  de  Markham, 
the  Saxon  chief,  of  West 
Markham,  England,  the 
first  of  the  name,  who 
died  in  the  year  1066. 

Oliver  INIarkham  was 
born  in  Middletown,  as 
before  stated,  July  17,  1S25.  He  learned  the  trade 
of  gunsmith  from  his  father,  John  Markham  (the 
last  owner  of  Markham's  mills),  at  Savage's  factory 
in  Middletown.  He  went  to  Windsor,  Vt.,  in  1848, 
took  a  contract  for  locks  for  Robbins  &  Lawrence, 
and  when  that  firm  removed  to  Hartford  under  the 
name  of  "  Sharps'  Armory,"  he  went  with  them 
there,  and  subsequently  to  Bridgeport,  being  a  con- 
tractor with  the  corporation  during  its  entire  exist- 
ence. He  was  an  inventor  of  sundry  parts  of  guns, 
and  acted  as  draughtsman  for  the  concern.  While 
in  Hartford,  Mr.  Markham  was  a  member  of  the 
common  council  in  1862.  He  is  now  a  director  in 
the    Central    National    Bank    of    Middletown,    to 


OLIVER    M.'VKKHAM. 


J.    CAMT 


CALEB  J.  CAMP,  West  Winsted:  Retired  Mer- 
chant and  Financier. 

C.  J.  Camp  was  born  in  the  town  of  Winchester, 
where  he  has  spent  his  whole  life.  His  early  edu- 
cation was  that  of  the  common  school,  with  a  win- 
ter or  two  at  the  village 
academy  by  way  of  finish. 
This,  however,  was  the 
foundation  only.  Reading 
and  observation,  and  con- 
stant contact  with  able 
men  have  since  made  him 
a  self-reliant  and  versa- 
tile man  of  affairs,  judi- 
cious and  sagacious.  At 
fifteen  he  began  his  busi- 
ness career  as  clerk  in  the 
general  store  of  Lucius 
Clarke.  At  nineteen  he 
was  a  member  of  the  firm 
of  M.  &  C.  J.  Camp,  who  were  Mr.  Clarke's  succes- 
sors. Such  was  the  enterprise  and  energy  of  this 
young  firm  that  thej-  soon  not  only  surpassed  all 
local  competitors,  but  in  amoimt  of  sales  distanced 
every  other  mercantile  establishment  in  Litchfield 
county.  The  management,  largely,  of  this  store 
soon  came  into  this  j-oung  man's  hands,  who  not 
only  made  a  grand  success  of  it,  but  also  a  first- 
class  training  school  for  many  a  clerk,  who  was 
there  drilled  to  do  his  very  best,  and  taught  habits 
of  strictest  integrity.  In  public  enterprises  he  has 
often  been  a  leader  —  ahvays  an  active  promoter. 
His  strong  characteristics  have  been  an  inborn 
business  sagacity,  a  clear  insight  into  the  intrica- 
cies of  almost  any  kind  of  enterprise,  and  the  pos- 
session of  that  rare  tact  which  enabled  him  to  dis- 
arm prejudice,  and  secure  for  his  own  ideas  an  en- 
thusiastic approval,  or  at  least  a  respectful  consid- 
eration. He  has  been  a  successful  organizer  and 
an  influential  man  at  all  times.  During  his  career 
as  village  merchant  ilr.  Camp  was  progressive, 
and  the  promoter  of  various  schemes  which  long 
ago  resulted  in  making  Winsted  one  of  the  most 
attractive  boroughs  in  the  state.  The  firm  of 
which  he  was  a  member  were  active  in  the  estab- 
lishment of  several  manufacturing  enterprises.  For 
thirty-five  years  the}'  were  the  owners  of  the  Union 
Chair  Company  of  Robertsville;  they  built  the  first 
large  brick  block  in  Winsted  containing  a  public 
hall,  which  was  at  that  time  regarded  as  in  ad- 
vance  of   the   demands   of   the   village.      To   Mr. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


271 


Camp's  individual  efforts  the  borough  was  in- 
debted for  its  flagging  stone  walks,  and  he  was  the 
first  mover  in  the  introduction  of  gas  works.  He 
was  also  the  founder  of  the  Winona  Savings 
Bank  at  Winona,  Minn.,  of  which  the  late  Secre- 
tary Windom  was  president  at  the  time  of  his 
death.  While  president  of  the  Connecticut  West- 
ern Railroad  Company  he  evinced  the  same  ability 
to  master  the  affairs  of  railway  enterprises  that  he 
had  manifested  in  mercantile  and  inanufacturing 
pursuits.  Under  his  management  the  securities  of 
the  company  advanced  in  value  more  than  one 
hundred  per  cent.  In  politics  Mr.  Camp  has  been 
a  life-long  republican,  a  firm  believer  in  high  tariff 
and  protection,  and  a  consistent  temperance  man. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  a  xnember  of  the 
Congregational  church,  and  an  earnest  and  ac- 
tive supporter,  and  not  only  of  the  church  but  of 
every  benevolent  and  worthy  cause.  He  is  always 
recognized  as  a  friend  and  helper  of  the  minister 
and  the  missionary,  and  as  taking  cognizance  of 
the  needs  and  bestowing  judicious  benefactions 
upon  the  deserving  and  unfortunate  poor.  He  is 
known  and  honored  not  less  for  his  marked  ability 
than  for  his  courtesy  and  kindliness  of  heart  and 
unquestioned  integrity,  while  his  home  is  proverbial 
for  its  genial  and  generous  hospitality. 


LUKE  M.   HEERY,  Versailles:    Woolen  Manu- 
facturer. 

Mr.  Heery  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  where  he  was 
born  in  1848.     His  father's  family  removed  to  this 
country  and   settled  in  Hinsdale,   Mass.,  in  1858. 
At    the    age     of     twelve 
years,  after  earlier  train- 
ing  in  the  public  schools, 
he  went  to   work   in   the 
woolen  mills  at  Hinsdale, 
and     rose    through    the 
various  grades  of  employ- 
ment  to   the    superinten- 
dency,  which  position  he 
held  six  years,  until  1876, 
when   he   formed  a  part- 
nership with  James  Wal-  ,%i.    ;•     >/•    /    ,-'    ;  / 
ton,     who     owned     and  '      f'  ''J-' 
operated    the     Methuen              j     ^j    heery 
Mills.      This  partnership 

was  dissolved  two  years  later,  when  Mr.  Heery 
assumed  sole  management  and  control  of  the  ex- 
tensive business.  In  1878  he  was  owner  of  the 
West  Chelmsford  mills,  near  Lowell,  Mass.,  and  in 
1880  bought  the  Versailles  Mill.  A  year  later  he 
also  purchased  mills  in  Monson,  Mass.,  and  for  sev- 
eral years  operated  the  several  establishments  in 
the  manufacture  of  cassimeres  and  worsted  goods, 
being  probably  the  largest  individual  woolen  man- 


ufacturer in  New  England.  In  1889  he  suffered 
quite  heavy  losses  through  parties  to  whom  he  con- 
signed his  goods,  and  shortly  afterward  contracted 
his  business  and  disposed  of  the  Versailles  and 
Chelmsford  establishments.  In  partnership  with 
his  brother  he  is  now  confining  his  attention  to  the 
Monson  Mills,  in  the  same  lines  of  manufacture, 
the  establishment  being  incorporated  under  the 
laws  of  jMassachusetts,  and  known  as  the  IMonson 
Woolen  Company.  Mr.  Heery  is  an  active,  ener- 
getic man,  who  will  conquer  success  in  the  face  of 
great  obstacles.  He  was  an  aid-de-camp  on  the 
staff  of  Governor  Waller  in  1883-84,  with  the  rank 
of  Colonel. 


M.   redwav. 


GEORGE     M.    REDWAY,    Hartford:     Marble 

Dealer. 

Lieutenant-Colonel  George  M.  Redwav  occupies 
a  prominent  position  in  the  Order  of  Odd  Fellows 
in  Connecticut,  and  is  widely  known  throughout  the 
state.  He  became  a 
member  of  Charter 
Oak  Lodge  in  Hartford, 
September  23,  1874,  and 
united  with  Midian  En- 
campment in  1S76.  He 
held  all  of  the  offfces  in 
that  organization,  occupy- 
ing that  of  Chief  Patri- 
arch in  18S1.  He  has 
been  the  treasurer  of  the 
encampment  for  a  num- 
ber of  years.  He  was  a 
charter  member  of  Can- 
ton Capitol  City,  Patri- 
archs Militant,  and  was  elected  captain  of  the 
organization  in  1SS7.  During  that  year  he  was 
also  advanced  to  the  position  of  major  of  the 
Second  Regiment;  December  22,  1889,  he  was 
elected  lieutenant-colonel  of  the  regiment,  and  still 
retains  that  position.  September  25,  1890,  the 
decoration  of  Chivalry,  the  highest  degree  in  the 
order,  was  conferred  on  him  in  Hartford  on  the 
occasion  of  the  annual  field-day  of  the  Connecticut 
Patriarchs  MiHtant.  October  21,  1890,  he  became 
an  officer  of  the  Grand  Encampment,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
of  the  state  of  Connecticut.  Lieut. -Col.  Redway  is 
one  of  the  most  exemplary  of  Odd  Fellows,  and  is 
governed  in  all  respects  by  the  principles  of  the 
order.  He  has  for  years  been  an  influential  par- 
ticipant in  the  work  of  the  different  organizations 
with  which  he  is  associated,  and  was  one  of  the 
originators  of  the  Odd  Fellow  Memorial  "Dslj.  He 
was  born  in  Trenton,  N.  J.,  July  12,  1832,  and  was 
educated  in  grammar  school  No.  3,  New  York  city. 
He  removed  from  New  York  to  Hartford,  Nov.  16, 
184S,  going  to  Mobile,  Ala.,  in  1S53.  He  remained 
in  that  city  not  far  from  four  years,  and  returned 


2/2 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


to  Hartford  in  1857.  He  engaged  in  the  employ  of 
the  Hon.  James  G.  Batterson  as  a  marble  engraver, 
and  remained  with  him  until  1879,  proving  himself 
one  of  the  most  competent  men  in  the  state  in  his 
avocation.  After  retiring  from  the  emploj'  of  Mr. 
Batterson  in  1879,  he  established  the  monument 
business  on  North  Main  street,  where  he  has  since 
remained.  In  1857  he  married  Miss  M.  Elizabeth, 
daughter  of  Elijah  Bibbins  of  Windham,  and  has 
resided  in  this  city  since  his  marriage.  There  are 
no  children  in  the  family.  As  a  citizen  and  busi- 
ness man  Lieut. -Col.  Redway  possesses  the  fullest 
confidence  of  the  pubhc  and  is  deserving  in  every 
way  of  the  positions  which  he  has  attained  in  life. 


LUZON  B.  MORRIS,  New  Haven:  Attorney-at- 
Law. 

Hon.  Luzon  B.  Morris  was  born  in  Newtown, 
April  16,  1827,  and  received  a  collegiate  education 
at  Yale,  being  a  member  of  the  class  of  1854.  His 
life  at  the  outset  was  en- 
vironed with  difficulties 
from  which  men  of  less 
spirit  and  determination 
would  have  shrunk  in 
despair.  The  means  for 
defraying  his  college  ex- 
penses were  earned  by 
himself,  and  the  diploma 
that  was  awarded  him  by 
the  great  university  of 
which  he  has  been  a 
loyal  son  was  merited  in 

the  highest  degree.   With- 
in.   K.    MUKKIS.  ^  ° 

in  a  year  of  his  gradua- 
tion from  Yale,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
legislature  from  the  town  of  Seymour,  was  re- 
turned from  that  town  in  1856,  and  in  1870  repre- 
sented New  Haven  in  the  same  body.  In  1874  he 
was  a  member  of  the  state  senate  from  the  old 
Fourth  district,  and  in  1876  again  represented  New 
Haven  in  the  house,  as  he  has  since  for  one  or  two 
sessions.  He  was  the  candidate  of  the  democratic 
party  for  governor  in  1888,  and  again  in  1890, 
receiving  at  each  succeeding  election  a  large 
plurality  of  the  votes  cast, —  and  by  the  face  of 
the  returns  a  majority  in  1890.  But  his  inaugura- 
tion in  regular  form  was  defeated  by  the  republi- 
cans at  the  opening  of  the  legislative  session  follow- 
ing, in  January,  1891,  on  technicalities  which  are  still 
occupying  the  attention  of  the  courts  at  the  present 
writing.  Judge  Morris  is  a  distinguished  mem- 
ber of  the  New  Haven  county  bar  and  the  presi- 
dent of  the  Connecticut  Savings  Bank  of  New- 
Haven.  His  career  has  been  an  exemplification  of 
the  results  attainable  in  New  England  by  men  of 
genius   and   perseverance.     As   a   young   man   he 


worked  at  the  blacksmith's  forge  in  Roxbury  and 
in  an  edge  tool  factory  at  Seymour,  earning  the 
means  to  send  him  through  college.  In  the  ma- 
ture years  of  life  he  has  been  one  of  the  state's 
most  trusted  counselors,  and  the  honored  standard- 
bearer  of  a  great  political  party.  In  every  position 
he  has  been  a  citizen  deserving  the  utmost  honor 
and  respect.  His  family  consists  of  a  w'ife  and  six 
children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters,  each  of 
the  latter  being  a  graduate  of  Vassar.  The  maiden 
name  of  Mrs.  Morris  was  Eugenia  L.  Tuttle. 


BEARDSLEY. 


GEORGE  LUCIUS  BEARDSLEY,  Birmingham: 
Physician  and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  Beardsley  is  the  son  of  Dr.  Lucius  N.  Beards- 
ley  (deceased)  of  Milford,  where  he  was  born  May 
12,  1848.  At  the  High  School  in  that  towm,  and 
subsequently  at  the  Hop- 
kins Grammar  School, 
New  Haven,  Dr.  Beards- 
ley  prepared  for  Yale  Col- 
lege,graduating  with  high 
honors  in  1870.  In  1S73 
he  received,  also,  the  de- 
gree of  A.M.,  and  in  the 
same  year  was  graduated 
at  the  Bellevue  Hospital 
Medical  College,  N.  Y. 
From  1 871  until  1873,  Dr. 
Beardsley  was  assistant 
to  the  distinguished  sur- 
geon. Dr.  A.  B.  Mott,  and 
the  chief  of  his  clinic  in  the  "  Outdoor  Poor  Depart- 
ment, Bellevue  Hospital."  In  1874  Dr.  Beardsley 
commenced  his  practice  in  Birmingham,  where  he 
now  resides.  He  was  appointed  assistant  surgeon 
of  the  Second  Regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  and  served  five 
years  under  Colonels  Smith  and  Graham.  For  the 
past  seven  years  he  has  been  post  surgeon  for 
Derby. 

Dr.  Beardsley  is  now  the  acting  school  visitor  of 
Derby,  and  has  been  elected  to  the  office  four  times. 
He  has  been  a  member  of  the  town  board  of  edu- 
cation thirteen  years.  For  five  years  Dr.  Beards- 
ley has  been  the  medical  examiner  of  the  towm  of 
Derby,  being  rated  by  Coroner  Mix  as  one  of  his 
best.  He  is  a  member  of  the  town  board  of  health, 
has  been  twice  elected  a  burgess  of  the  borough  of 
Birmingham,  and  is  an  officer  of  the  Derby  board 
of  trade.  His  political  preferences  are  republican; 
his  religious  tendencies,  Methodist.  As  a  writer 
he  has  contributed  several  medical  essays  of  merit, 
is  the  medical  examiner  for  seven  life  insurance 
companies,  and  president  of  the  local  medical 
society.  His  wife  is  a  daughter  of  Mr.  A.  H. 
Ailing,  the  senior  member  of  the  firm  of  A.  H.  & 
C.  B.  Ailing,  woolen  manufacturers  of  Birmingham. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


273 


CHRISTIAN    HAUSER,   Waterbukv:    Clothing 

Merchant. 

Christian  Hauser  was  born  at  Wurttemberg,  Ger- 
many, June  6,  1848,  and  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools  of  that  country.  He  removed  to  the 
United  States  in  1865,  and 
resided  for  a  number  of 
years  in  the  town  of 
Southington,  where  he 
held  at  one  time  the  office 
of  tax  collector.  For  the 
last  four  years  he  has  re- 
sided in  Waterbury,  and 
is  at  present  chairman  of 
the  board  of  relief.  In 
politics  he  is  a  democrat. 
For  the  last  twentj^  years 
he  has  been  engaged  in 
the  ready-made  clothing 
business,  and  is  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  Waterbury  One  Price  Clothing  store, 
being  one  of  the  leading  establishments  in  that 
city.  Mr.  Hauser  has  been  the  grand  master  of 
the  German  Order  of  Harugari  of  this  state,  and  a 
prominent  member  for  sixteen  years.  He  has  been 
the  president,  and  is  now  the  treasurer,  of  the  Con- 
cordia Singing  Society  of  Waterbury,  one  of  the 
favorite  German  societies  in  Connecticut.  The 
wife  of  Mr.  Hauser,  who  was  Miss  Mary  C.  Erbe 
of  Southington,  is  still  living.  The  family  includes 
three  children. 


(_HRIS1IA.N    HA.USER 


ANDREW  T.  SMITH,  Hartford:  Superintend- 
ent of  Agencies  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  In- 
surance Company. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  native  of  the  city  of  Bridgeport, 
Conn.,  where  he  was  born  on  the  15th  of  October, 
1851.  His  father  early  removed  to  New  Haven, 
and  the  son  was  educated 
in  the  schools  of  that  city. 
After  graduating,  Mr. 
Smith  was  for  a  time  as- 
sociated with  his  father  in 
manufacturing,  but  soon 
turned  his  attention  to 
special  work  in  life  under- 
writing, in  which  business 
he  has  been  engaged  for 
nearly  twenty  years.  In 
1879  he  became  associated 
with  the  late  H.  P.  Duclos 
in  perfecting  and  intro- 
ducing   the    safety    fund 

plan  of  life  insurance,  which  was  shortly  after 
adopted  by  the  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Insur- 
ance Company.  Upon  the  adoption  of  that  plan 
by  the  company,  Mr.  Smith,  together  with  Mr. 
Duclos,  took  charge  of  the  agency  department,  and 

18 


A.    T.    SMITH. 


during  their  administration  the  company's  business 
became  an  exceedingly  popular  and  progressive 
one.  Upon  the  death  of  Mr.  Duclos  in  1885,  Mr. 
Smith  became  sole  superintendent  of  agencies, 
which  position  he  has  since  held,  and  in  which  his 
wide  experience,  together  with  his  ability,  energy, 
and  push,  iind  full  scope. 

In  1872  Mr.  Smith  married  Miss  Mary  E.  Perkins 
of  New  Haven,  and  has  four  children,  the  oldest 
being  seventeen  years  of  age,  and  the  youngest  an 
infant  daughter.  His  home  is  in  the  western  part 
of  Hartford,  on  Prospect  avenue,  a  handsome 
suburban  villa,  with  artistic  surroundings,  over- 
looking the  capital  city. 


HON.  JOSEPH  W.  ALSOP,  Middletown:  Phy- 
sician and  Farmer. 

Dr.  Joseph  W.  Alsop  was  born  in  New  York  city 
August  20,  1838,  and  was  educated  in  the  Yale  and 
Columbia  Scientific  Schools  and  in  the  medical 
school  of  the  University 
of  New  York.  He  is  a 
descendant  of  New  Eng- 
land stock,  being  the  third 
of  the  name  belonging  in 
Middletown.  Dr.  Alsop's 
father  was  born  and 
brought  up  in  that  cit3% 
and  on  his  mother's  side 
he  is  a  Bostonian  by  de- 
scent. Most  of  his  active 
life  has  been  in  Middle- 
town  where  he  has  held 
important  and  responsi- 
ble public  trusts.  He  has 
served  in  both  branches  of  the  court  of  common 
council  and  represented  the  city  in  the  general 
assembly,  serving  on  the  democratic  side  of  the 
house  in  1873.  During  that  year  he  was  assigTied 
to  the  chairmanship  of  the  school  fund  committee 
and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  position  with  great 
credit  and  fidelity.  He  was  elected  to  the  senate 
from  the  Middletown  district  for  three  consecutive 
terms,  during  two  of  which  terms  he  was  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on  agriculture,  the  six 
years  of  continuous  services  beginning  in  1881. 
As  a  state  senator  Dr.  Alsop  won  the  approval  of 
all  parties,  his  course  from  first  to  last  reflect- 
ing honor  on  his  district  and  state.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agi-icul- 
ture  since  1881,  and  is  now  a  member  of  the  state 
commission  on  the  diseases  of  domestic  animals. 
He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Connecticut  Hospital  for  the 
Insane  at  Middletown,  having  held  the  position 
since  1S80,  and  being  at  present  the  secretary  of 
the  board,  and  has  been  a  director  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Indiistrial  School  for  Girls  at  Middletown  since 


274 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


iSSi.  He  is  also  a  director  of  the  Russell  Library 
Company,  and  of  the  St.  Luke  Home  in  Middletown 
for  aged  and  indigent  women.  Dr.  Alsop  was 
nominated  for  lieutenant-governor  by  the  demo- 
cratic state  convention,  which  was  held  in  this  city 
September  i6,  1890,  and  received  a  majority  ex- 
ceeding 500  in  number  at  the  election  November 
4th.  The  personal  popularity  of  the  Doctor,  who  is 
known  and  honored  throughout  the  state,  added 
strength  to  the  democratic  ticket.  In  addition 
to  his  professional  life  he  is  a  special  partner  in 
the  firm  of  C.  E.  Jackson  &  Co. ;  he  is  also  one  of  the 
most  successful  stock  breeders  in  the  state.  The 
truth  is  the  Doctor  is  a  genuine  farmer  and  values 
the  avocation  for  its  own  sake.  At  the  election  last 
fall  the  farmers  extended  to  him  a  most  gratifying 
support.      Dr.  Alsop  has  five  children  living. 

[Dr.  Alsop  died  in  Fenwick,  June  24,  1891,  after 
the  above  sketch  had  been  prepared. —  Ed.] 


WILLIAM  H.  HAMILTON,  Danielsonville  : 
Publisher  "  The  New  England  Fancier." 
WilHam  Hunter  Hamilton  was  born  at  Winsted 
January  8,  1857,  ^^d  was  educated  in  the  Killingly 
High  School.  He  is  a  printer  by  avocation  but  has 
for  a  number  of  years  pub- 
lished The  Fancier  at 
Danielsonville.  This  peri- 
odical is  devoted  to  poul- 
try interests  and  is  an 
ably-conducted  journal. 
Mr.  Hamilton  is  an  au- 
thority in  his  line  of  re- 
search and  is  prominently 
connected  with  poultry 
associations  throughout 
New  England,  being  a 
member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Poultry  Association, 
the  Bay  State,  the  North 
Middlesex,  and  the  Quinebaug  Vallej'  Associa- 
tions, and  is  a  member  of  the  American  Lang- 
shan  Club,  the  American  Pekin  Bantam  Club, 
the  American  Brown  Leghorn  Club,  and  the 
American  White  Wyandotte  Club,  being  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  first-named  of  these  clubs  at  Boston 
in  1887.  He  is  known  all  over  the  country  for  the 
work  which  he  has  accomplished  in  behalf  of  the 
breeding  and  raising  of  poultry.  Mr.  Hamilton  is 
connected  with  various  orders,  including  the  Ameri- 
can Mechanics,  the  Ancient  Order  of  L^nited  Work- 
men, and  the  Odd  Fellows.  His  life  has  been  spent 
at  Winsted,  Worcester,  and  Danielsonville.  He  is 
a  republican  in  politics  and  is  connected  with  the 
Episcopal  church.  His  wife,  who  is  living,  was 
Miss  Marceline  P.  Dumas.  The  familj'  consists  of 
three  children,  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 


W.    H.    HAMILTON. 


D.    W.    C.    SKIl.TON. 


D.  W.  C.  SKILTON,  Hartford:  President  Phoe- 
nix Insurance  Company. 

DeWitt  Clinton  Skilton  was  born  in  that  portion 
of  the  present  town  of  Thomaston  which  was  then 
known  as  Plymouth  Hollow,  on  the  nth  of  January, 
1839.  His  first  American 
ancestor  was  Doctor  Hen- 
ry Skilton,  who  was  born 
in  the  parish  of  St.  Mich- 
ael, Coventry,  England, 
November  19,  1718,  and 
sailed  for  America  in  a 
"  gun  ship,"  April  i,  1735, 
in  his  seventeenth  j^ear. 
He  left  the  ship  the  same 
year  on  its  arrival  in  Bos- 
ton, boarded  awhile  in 
Roxbury,  and  is  next 
heard  of  in  Preston, Conn. , 
where  he  was  married  in 
1 741  to  the  daughter  of  Joseph  Avery  of  Norwich. 
He  removed  to  Southington  in  1750,  ten  years  later 
to  Woodbury,  and  finally  in  his  old  age  to  Water- 
town,  where  he  died  in  1802  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 
Henry  Skilton  was  the  first  physician  to  commence 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  Southington.  He  built 
a  house  in  Southington  which  is  still  standing.  Mr. 
Skilton's  ancestors  were  among  the  early  and  most 
distinguished  settlers  of  Hartford  county,  including 
such  historical  names  as  Hon.  John  Steel  (who 
came  to  Hartford  with  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  from 
Massachusetts  in  June  of  the  year  1636),  Hon.  John 
Wadsworth  (the  half  brother  of  Captain  Wadsworth 
who  is  said  to  have  removed  and  concealed  the 
Connecticut  charter  in  the  old  charter  oak),  Sir 
William  Southmayd,  Hon.  Matthew  AUyn  (one  of 
the  original  parties  to  the  royal  charter),  and  Hon. 
John  Allyn  (who  is  called  in  the  "  History  of  Con- 
necticut" "the  great  secretary"),  William  Pyn- 
chon,  Esq.,  Governor  Thomas  Welles,  Captain  Wil- 
liam Judd,  and  Timothy  Judd,  Esq.,  the  last  two 
the  representatives  of  Waterbury  in  the  colonial 
government  almost  continuously  for  forty  years, — 
and  many  others  of  equal  prominence  in  colonial 
and  state  history. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  removed  from  Ply- 
mouth Hollow  to  Hartford  in  1855,  and  began  his 
business  career  in  the  dry-goods  trade.  In  October, 
1 861,  he  first  entered  the  insurance  business  as  a 
clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Hartford  Fire  Insurance 
Company.  In  1862  he  joined  Company  B,  of  the 
Twenty-second  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers, 
and  was  elected  second  lieutenant,  serving  with 
distinction  in  the  army  until  he  was  mustered  out, 
having  been  promoted  in  the  meantime  to  first 
lieutenant.  On  his  return  from  the  army  he  re- 
sumed his  old  position  with  the  insurance  company. 
In  November,  1S67,  he  was  elected  secretary  of  the 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


275 


Phoenix  Insurance  Compan3%  and  remained  in  that 
capacity  until  August  i,  iSSS,  when  he  was  elected 
vice-president  and  acting  president;  and  February 
2,  1891,  was  elected  president  of  the  company.  He 
ranks  unquestionably  among  the  expert  under- 
writers of  the  country,  and  the  Phoenix  owes  much 
of  its  success  to  his  able  management. 

Mr.  Skilton  was  married,  August  8,  1865,  to  Miss 
Ann  J.  Andrews,  daughter  of  Lyman  Andrews  of 
Hartford.  They  have  had  two  children,  a  son  and 
daughter,  neither  of  Avhom  is  now  living.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  official  connection  with  the  Phoenix  In- 
surance Company,  Mr.  Skilton  is  a  director  in  the 
Hartford  National  Bank,  a  corporator  and  trustee 
of  the  State  Savings  Bank,  president  of  the  National 
Board  of  Fire  Underwriters,  a  member  of  the 
Military  Order  of  the  Loyal  Legion  of  the  United 
States,  a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Repub- 
lic, and  of  the  Hartford  Club.  He  held  the  office 
of  committeeman  of  the  West  Middle  school  district 
in  Hartford  for  several  years.  He  is  a  republican 
in  politics,  and  his  religious  connections  are  with 
the  Asylum  Avenue  Congregational  church,  of 
which  he  has  long  been  an  active  member. 


E.  K.  CHRIST,  New  Britain:  Teacher  of  Draw- 
ing and  Penmanship. 

Ernest  Konrad  Christ  is  a  native  of  Germany, 
where  he  was  born  September  10,  184S.  He  was 
educated  in  the  public  schools  and  the  gymnasium 
in  his  native  country,  and 
at  the  age  of  twenty  left 
Germany  to  evade  con- 
scription for  military  ser- 
vice and  came  to  the 
LTnited  States.  He  settled 
in  New  York,  made  artis- 
tic pen  work  a  specialty, 
and  engaged  in  teaching 
drawing  and  penmanship 
to  private  pupils  and  in 
the  public  schools.  He 
removed  to  New  Britain 
in  1871,  where  he  has  since 
remained,  engaged  in  the 

same  profession.  He  now  holds  the  position  of 
supervisor  of  drawing  and  penmanship  and  teacher 
of  German  in  the  public  schools.  He  is  often 
called  upon  to  engross  resolutions  and  testimonials, 
which  he  does  in  an  exceedingly  artistic  and  attrac- 
tive style.  Mr.  Christ  was  a  member  of  the  New 
Britain  court  of  common  council  in  1S7S,  and  has 
held  other  public  positions.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Odd  Fellows  and  other  benevolent  societies,  of  the 
First  Church  of  Christ  in  New  Britain,  and  of  the 
republican  party.  He  is  married,  his  wife  being 
Miss  Jennie  B.  Wilson  before  marriage,  and  they 
have  six  children. 


E.    K.    CHRIST. 


HOXIE  BROWN,  Colchester:  Farmer. 

Hoxie  Brown,  who  is  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful and  influential  farmers  in  his  locality,  was 
born  in  South  Kingston,  R.  I.,  Nov.  i,  1819,  and 
resided  there  until  he  was 
ten  years  of  age,  when  he 
removed  to  Lebanon,  in 
this  state.  He  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common 
schools  of  Rhode  Island 
and  Connecticut,  amply 
preparing  him  for  busi- 
ness hfe.  Mr.  Brown  re- 
sided at  Lebanon  until 
1865,  when  he  transferred 
his  interests  to  the  town 
of  Colchester,  where  he 
has  since  lived.  In  1879 
he  represented  that  town 
in  the  general  assembly,  being  a  member  of  the 
house.  His  associates  from  New  London  County 
included  such  men  as  Senator  Robert  Coit  and  ex- 
Mayor  George  F.  Tinker  of  New  London,  ex-Mayor 
Increase  W.  Carpenter  and  Jabez  S.  Lathrop  of 
Norwich,  and  William  T.  Cook  of  Ledyard.  Mr. 
Brown  was  associated  with  the  democratic  side  of 
the  house.  He  has  been  the  recipient  of  many 
recognitions  from  his  townsmen,  and  has  occupied 
public  office  most  of  the  time  since  he  became  a 
resident  of  Colchester.  In  early  life  he  was  con- 
nected with  the  state  militia.  His  wife,  Mrs. 
Esther  Hoxie  Brown,  is  still  living  at  the  age  of 
sixty-nine   years.     Three  children  are  also  living. 


/  \^       A 

HOXIE   BROWN. 


EDWARD     E.     CULVER,    Winsteu  :     Lumber 

Dealer. 

Edward  E.  Culver  was  born  in  Colebrook,  April 
19,  1S28,  and  received  a  common  school  education. 
The  first  twenty  years  of  his  life  were  spent  in 
Colebrook,  three  years 
were  passed  in  Litchfield, 
and  the  remainder  of  his 
career  has  been  identified 
with  Winsted.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  selectmen  four 
years  and  of  the  board  of 
water  commissioners  for 
thirteen.  He  is  connect- 
ed with  the  Second  Con- 
gregational church  and 
is  a  member  of  the  repub- 
lican party.  He  is  also  a 
member  of  the  Royal  Ar- 
canum and  the  American  Mechanics.  His  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Mary  Ann  Bowker 
prior  to  marriage.  There  are  three  children,  one 
son  and  two  daughters,  in  the  family. 


CULVER. 


2/6 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


ELI    DEWHURST. 


ELI  DEWHURwST,  Bridgeport:  A  Retired  Con- 
tractor. 

Eli  Dewhurst,  eldest  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth 
Dewhurst,  was  born  in  Berry,   Lancashire,   Eng- 
land, July  24,    1S24.     When    three   years   old  his 
parents  sailed  from  Liv- 
erpool in  the  Mayflower 
boimd      for       Plymouth, 
Mass.        After      landing 
they     immediately     pro- 
ceeded to  Pawtucket,   R. 
I.,  where  the  father  soon 
found  employment  in  the 
woolen  mills  as  a  superin- 
tendent of  the   loom   de- 
partment ;     from    thence 
they  removed  to  Andover 
and  remained  there  until 
1S33,  when  they  took  the 
stage     for     Boston,    and 
thence  from  Boston  to  the  old  Franklin  Inn  at  the  cor- 
ner of  State  and  Main  streets,  Bridgeport.   Although 
Bridgeport  had  not  yet  become  a  city,  the  Bunnells 
woolen  mills  had  made  the  place  known  throughout 
the  trade, and  here  the  father  again  obtained  emplo}-- 
ment;  and  it  was  at  this  time  that  the  lad  Eli,  then 
but  nine  years  of  age,  formed  an  attachment  to  the 
place  in  which  the  greater  part  of  his  life  was  to  be 
spent.       From    Bridgeport    they    moved    to    Zoar 
Bridge,  and  from  thence  to  Birmingham.     During 
these  years  he  had  learned  that  industry  and  the 
practice  of  temperance  and  economy  were  the  nec- 
essary requisites  to  prepare  for  the  comforts  of  old 
age.     Shortly  after  his  arrival  in  Birmingham  he 
met  the  helpmeet  of  his  life,  Elizabeth  Simpson, 
whom  he  married  in  1845.     In   1849  they  removed 
to  Woodbury,  where'  Eli  and   Mr.    Simpson   pur- 
chased a  farm,  which  they  worked  together;  after- 
wards he  moved  to  Waterbury  and  from  there  to 
Watertown;  and  not\^dthstanding  he  had  become 
proficient  in  his  trade  as  a  spinner,  he  foresaw  the 
future  of  the  sewing-machine  business  and  aban- 
doned  his   trade   to   accept   a   position   as    screw- 
maker  iij  the  Wheeler   &   Wilson    Manufacturing 
Company.     At  that  time  the  companj'   employed 
only  one  other  person  in  that  department.     In  1856 
the  factory  was  removed  to   Bridgeport,   and  Eli, 
having  formed  an  attachment  for  its  new  locality, 
willingly  came  with  them.      As   the  business  in- 
creased, instead  of  working  by  the  day  he  took  the 
work  by  contract  and  had  in  his  employ  at  times 
upwards  of  sixty  employes.     During  his  contract 
of   twenty-five   years   with   the   company,    having 
commenced  saving  from  his  individual  hard  earn- 
ings in  youth,  with  careful  investments  he  had  ac- 
cumulated sufficient  in   1S81  to  retire  from  active 
business.     Not   only  did  his  employers   regret   to 
lose  his  valuable  and  trustworthy  services,  but  his 


employes  also  who  had  worked  for  him  many  years 
equally  regretted  the  change.     He  was  a  man  who 
always  demanded  a  fair  price  for  his  services,  and 
also  believed  that  the  laborer  was  worthy  of  his 
hire,  and  paid  his  workmen  liberally  for  their  ser- 
vices, which  the  writer  can  personallj-  testify  to. 
While  his  early  days  were  spent  in  the  mill  or  on 
the   farm,   and  no  opportunity  offered  for  educa- 
tional training  such  as  is  open  to  the  lad  of  to-day, 
yet  he  embraced  every  opportunity  to  acquire  what 
self-education  and  training  he  could.     He  is  a  keen 
observer  of  human  character,  and  has  delight  in 
assisting  those  who  have  tried  to  help  themselves. 
He  has  served  in  the  common  council  of  the  city, 
and  for  sixteen  years  served  as  one  of  the  board  of 
fire  commissioners.     He  is  a  firm  believer  in  pure 
and  simple  democracy.     He  is  and  has  always  been 
ready  and  willing  to  labor  for  the  good  and  welfare 
of  the  beautiful  Park  City.     A  few  years  ago  he 
built  two  substantial  brick  blocks  on  Harriet  street, 
and  then  selected  a  commanding  site  on  the  corner 
of   Barnum   avenue   and   Noble   street,  facing  on 
Washington  park,  where  he  erected  a  home  under 
which  roof  during  the  summer  months  he  enjoys 
the  results  of  the  labors  of  youth  and  early  man- 
hood.    While  not  a  devotee  of  society,  yet  those 
who  enjoy  his  friendship  can  testify  to  the  hearty 
and  whole-souled  hospitality  that  is  dispensed  to 
the  intimates  of  his  household.     The  time  is  ap- 
proaching for  them  to  celebrate  their  golden  wed- 
ding; and  of  the  many  who  start  in  life  with  good 
resolutions  and  promises  to  each  other,  if  success 
attend  them  and  they  reap  the  golden  harvest,  few 
appreciate  the  same  as  full}-  as  does  Eli  and  his 
wife ;  the  writer  can  truthfully  say  that  they  have 
worked  together,  they  have  liv-ed  for  one  another, 
and   their   greatest    delight  is   to   see   each   other 
happy. 

He  was  made  a  mason  in  King  Solomon  lodge  of 
Woodbury , but  afterwards  became  a  charter  member 
of  Corinthian  lodge,  No.  104,  of  Bridgeport.  They 
helped  the  late  Rev.  Dr.  N.  8.  Richardson  to  plant 
St.  Paul's  Protestant  Episcopal  parish  of  East 
Bridgeport.  Eli  has  been  an  active  worker  in  its 
vestry  and  Mrs.  Dewhurst  has  gone  along  continu- 
ously doing  good  among  the  needy  in  a  quiet  unos- 
tentatious manner.  They  are  firm  believers  in  the 
pure  and  simple  form  of  worship  as  promulgated 
in  the  book  of  Common  Prayer,  and  strenuously 
oppose  all  invasions  that  tend  toward  high  ritual- 
ism. 

i\Iay  their  lives  be  spared  for  j-ears  to  come  so 
that  they  may  enjoy  many  more  winters  in  Florida, 
as  has  been  their  custom  of  late,  and  their  pleasant 
and  happy  home  in  Bridgeport  during  the  summer; 
and  may  the  purity  of  their  lives  and  character 
prove  a  living  example  of  a  life  well  spent,  is  the 
earnest  desire  of  the  writer.  w.   ii.  c. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    CONNECTICUT. 


277 


A.  T.  RICHARDS. 


ALFRED  T.  RICHARDS,  Hartford:  General 
Agent  Connectictit  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Richards  was  born  at  Pembroke,  South  Wales, 
August  28,  1843.  While  attending  the  country 
school  of  his  native  place,  one  day  a  strolling  gypsy 
came  into  the  schoolroom 
and  sought  to  tell  the 
fortunes  of  the  teacher 
and  pupils.  She  fixed 
her  eye  on  young  Rich- 
ards, and  pointing  at  him 
exclaimed:  "That  boy 
will  go  to  America  and 
get  rich!"  The  predic- 
tion did  not  so  far  over- 
come the  lad  as  to  occa- 
sion any  neglect  of  his 
studies,  but  it  proved  true 
so  far  at  least  as  his  emi- 
grating   to    this    country 

was  concerned.  Mr.  Richards  received  from  his 
parents  a  careful  religious  training.  His  mother 
impressed  upon  his  young  mind  the  importance  of 
a  strict  adherence  to  the  truth,  and  of  living  a 
God-fearing  life.  The  teachings  and  example  of  a 
Christian  mother  generally  have  a  more  restraining 
and  controlling  influence  upon  a  child's  life  than 
any  other  agency  can  accomplish;  and  in  the  case 
of  the  subject  of  this  sketch  it  is  certain  that  his 
mother's  kindly  and  oft-repeated  precepts  have 
been  the  guiding  star  of  his  early  and  later  career. 
Before  coming  to  the  States,  Mr.  Richards  was 
for  some  time  a  resident  of  New  Brunswick,  where 
he  held  the  office  of  postmaster.  He  came  to 
Hartford  in  1871,  and  was  for  some  years  engaged 
in  mercantile  pursuits,  a  part  of  the  time  as  the 
business  representative  of  the  firm  of  Keney  & 
Roberts.  Latterly  for  several  3'ears  he  has  repre- 
sented the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany as  general  agent  for  Connecticut,  and  he  is 
also  president  of  the  Connecticut  Life  Underwriters' 
Association.  As  general  agent  of  the  Connecticut 
Life,  with  headquarters  at  the  home  office,  he 
has  labored  most  earnestly  and  conscientiously,  and 
to  the  great  satisfaction  of  the  management.  His 
ideas  and  methods  are  entirely  in  harmony  with  the 
honorable  policy  which  distinguishes  this  companjr, 
and  his  habits  of  persevering  industry  have  been  i-e- 
warded  with  a  degree  of  success  which  still  further 
strengthens  the  attachments  that  bind  him  to  his 
principals. 

Mr.  Richards  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and  has 
acted  with  that  party  since  becoming  a  voter.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Asylum  Avenue  Congregational 
church,  in  which  he  holds  the  office  of  deacon.  He 
has  a  wife  and  four  children,  three  of  whom  are 
daughters.      Mrs.   Richards   was    Miss   Laura   R. 


Johnson  prior  to  her  marriage ;  a  graduate  of  Mount 
Holyoke  Seminary,  and  a  most  estimable  lady. 
Mr.  Richards  is  a  man  of  excellent  literary  in- 
stincts, and  an  enthusiastic  admirer  of  Carlyle, 
Ruskin,  and  Emerson.  He  is  not  unaccustomed  to 
public  speaking;  his  addresses  on  special  lines  of 
research  have  been  particularly  interesting.  He 
is  in  every  way  a  valued  citizen  of  Hartford. 


D.    COLBURN. 


GEORGE  DANIEL  COLBURN,  Union:  Farmer 

and  Lumberman. 

George  D.  Colburn  was  born  at  the  old  home- 
stead in  Stafford,  February  11,  1819,  is  of  the  fifth 
generation  in  descent  from  Daniel  Colburn,  who 
was  one  of  the  twelve 
original  settlers  of  the 
town  in  171S,  and  the 
seventh  from  Daniel  Col- 
burn who  landed  in  Bos- 
ton in  1631.  He  removed 
to  New  Haven  with  his 
parents  in  1828;  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common  and 
private  schools  of  that 
city;  served  three  years 
at  a  trade;  at  nineteen 
was  working  as  a  jour- 
neyman ;  at  twenty-two 
went    into     business;     at 

twenty-five  married  EHzabeth,  daughter  of  Gard- 
ner Wallace  of  Holland,  Mass.,  and  had  four 
children  born  to  them,  three  of  whom  are  living, 
all  daughters.  In  1848,  on  account  of  his  health, 
he  removed  to  the  town  of  Union,  and  engaged  in 
farming  and  lumbering.  He  returned  to  New 
Haven  in  1853,  and  again  engaged  in  manufactur- 
ing. Health  again  failing,  in  1856  he  went  back  to 
the  farm  in  Union.  In  1862  (at  the  urgent  request 
of  his  brother,  the  late  Colonel  Ledyard  Colburn  of 
the  12th  Connecticut  Volunteers)  he  went  to  New 
Orleans  and  took  the  position  of  superintendent  of 
construction  on  the  railroad  running  from  New 
Orleans  to  Brashear  City,  Colonel  Colburn  having 
been  detailed  by  General  Butler  as  military  super- 
intendent of  all  the  roads  in  the  department.  In 
1863-64  he  also  assisted  Colonel  Colburn  in  building 
transport  steamers  for  government  use.  By  order 
of  General  Banks,  one  was  finished  and  put  on  com- 
mission, and  was  so  useful  that  it  was  kept  in  ser- 
vice longer  than  any  other  vessel  of  its  class  in  the 
department.  He  experienced  some  exciting  times 
and  had  several  narrow  escapes  during  his  service 
on  the  road.  He  returned  home  just  before  the 
close  of  the  war,  and  has  since  been,  and  is  now, 
actively  engaged  in  farming  and  lumbering,  at  the 
age  of  seventy-two.  He  has  held  numerous  town 
offices,  and  has  been  five  times  honored  with  a  seat 


278 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


in  the  general  assembly  —  1S57,  1858,  1862,  1S69, 
and  1870.  He  also  had  the  honor  of  being  defeated 
for  the  state  senate.  He  is  a  Protestant,  but  no 
bigot;  joined  the  Odd  Fellows  in  1843;  is  a  Patron 
of  Husbandry,  and  an  tincompromising  enemy  of 
:-um.  He  cast  his  first  presidential  vote  for  Wm. 
H.  Harrison  in  1S40,  and  his  last  for  his  grandson, 
Benjamin  Harrison,  in  1888. 


T.    L.    WATSON. 


GEN.     THOMAS     L.     WATSON,     Bridgeport: 
Banker  and  Broker. 

Thomas  L.  Watson  was  born  at  Bridgeport,  Dec. 
13,  1847.  He  was  educated  in  his  native  city  and  at 
the  Military  Institute  at  New  Milford,  with  a  view 
to  West  Point,  but  owing 
to  a  temporary  physical 
injury  this  design  was 
abandoned.  The  Connec- 
ticut Guardsman  in  a 
recent  issue  gives  an 
admirable  sketch  of  Gen- 
eral Watson,  which  states 
that  ' '  his  business  career 
began  as  a  clerk  in  the 
Farmers'  Bank  of  Bridge- 
port; from  there  he  went 
to  the  City  National  Bank, 
and  left  there  to  become 
a  partner  in  the  private 
banking  and  brokerage  business,  with  the  late 
Daniel  Hatch.  The  firm  began  Nov',  i,  1866,  as 
Hatch  &  Watson,  and  has  been  continued  since  the 
death  of  Mr.  Hatch  by  General  Watson,  as  T.  L. 
Watson  &  Co.  General  Watson  extended  his  busi- 
ness to  New  York  city  in  1879,  and  became  head 
of  the  firm  of  Watson  &  Gibson,  which  firm  is  in 
successful  operation.  General  Watson  has  held 
many  positions  of  responsibility  and  trust,  both  in 
Bridgeport  and  New  York.  Since  the  completion 
of  the  Boston  &  New  York  Air  Line  Railroad  he 
has  been  a  director  and  secretary  of  the  company. 
The  General  has  for  several  years  been  vice-presi- 
dent and  a  director  in  the  Consolidated  Stock  and 
Petroleum  Exchange  of  New  York,  and  chairman 
of  its  finance  committee.  He  accepted  the  position 
of  paymaster  on  the  staff  of  Colonel  R.  B.  Fair- 
child  of  the  Fourth  Regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  and  was 
commissioned  with  the  rank  of  first  lieutenant. 
May  28,  1877.  He  was  promoted  aid-de-camp  to 
General  S.  R.  Smith,  commanding  the  Connecti- 
cut National  Guard,  with  rank  of  captain,  July  6, 
1S7S.  He  was  promoted  brigade-quartermaster, 
with  rank  of  major,  Jan.  30,  1879,  and  while  occu- 
pying this  position  was  elected  colonel  of  the 
Fourth  Regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  and  commissioned 
April  23,  1884.  General  Watson  was  tendered  the 
position  of  adjt:tant-general  of  Connecticut  by  Gov- 


ernor Lounsbury,  but  declined  the  honor,  preferring 
his  earnest  work  of  maintaining  the  high  standard 
of  excellence  in  his  regiment.  In  politics  he  is  a 
republican,  and  has  declined  nominations  to  public 
office  on  several  occasions.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Union  League  and  other  leading  clubs  of  New 
York  and  Bridgeport.  He  lives  most  of  the  3'ear 
in  a  handsome  residence  at  Black  Rock,  and, 
although  part  of  his  business  connections  are  in 
New  York,  he  is  thoroughly  identified  with  Con- 
necticut interests.  He  was  senior  colonel  of  the 
brigade  when,  on  March  i,  1S90,  he  was  appointed 
brigadier-general  commanding  the  Connecticut 
National  Guard,  by  Governor  Bulkeley,  and  or- 
dered to  assume  command,  which  position  he  has 
since  filled,  bringing  to  its  duties  that  same  earnest 
attention  to  all  the  details  which  has  characterized 
his  nearly  fourteen  years  of  service  in  the  Guard. 
He  has  always  at  heart  the  interests  of  his  com- 
mand, and  is  constantly  working  to  build  up  and 
promote  its  advancement.  The  press  of  Connecti- 
cut, during  and  after  the  last  encampment  at 
Niantic,  pronounced  it  to  be  as  fine  a  camp  as  the 
state  had  ever  held." 

General  Watson  was  married  May  4,  1874,  to 
j\Iiss  Alice  Cheever  Lyon,  daughter  of  Hanford 
Lyon  of  Bridgeport,  and  his  family  includes  two 
children,  one  son  and  one  daughter.  His  religious 
connections  are  as  a  member  and  vestryman  in  St. 
John's  Episcopal  church  of  Bridgeport. 


CALEB      HOPKINS,     Ellingtcv  :      A     Retired 
Builder  and  Public  Official. 

Mr.  Hopkins  was  the  youngest  of  eight  children, 
born  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  on  the  ground  where 
the  Church  of  the  Unity  now  stands,  July  9,  1S13. 
He  was  educated  at  the 
district  school  and  High 
school  of  Springfield,  until 
he  was  seventeen  years 
of  age,  when  he  learned 
the  trade  of  a  joiner  and 
builder,  working  for  Colo- 
nel Ithamar  Goodman  of 
that  city,  a  noted  biiilder. 
Mr.  Hopkins  built  the 
first  house  in  Brightwood, 
Springfield,  in  1S34.  In 
September  of  that  year 
he  married  Miss  D.  H. 
Holton  of  Ellington,  who 
died  July  31,  1877.  She  was  a  great-gi-eat-grand- 
daughter  of  Governor  Roger  Wolcott.  He  re- 
moved to  Manchester  in  1835,  and  to  Ellington  in 
1837,  since  which  time  he  has  resided  there.  He 
has  held  various  town  offices,  constable,  school 
committee,  justice  of  the  peace;  was  postmaster  for 


CALEB    HOPKINS. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


279 


twelve  years,  judge  of  Ellington  probate  district, 
including  Ellington  and  Vernon,  for  twelve  con- 
secutive years,  and  has  been  station  agent  on  the 
Connecticut  Central  &  Western  road  for  five 
years.  At  his  advanced  age  he  does  but  little, 
occasionally  writing  a  will  or  a  deed,  and  doing 
light  work  at  his  trade  of  a  joiner.  He  is  a  repub- 
lican. He  has  had  three  children,  but  all  have 
died. 

WM.    PHIPPS    BLAKE,    New    Haven  :    Mining 
Engineer. 

William  P.  Blake,  whose  residence  is  at  Mill  Rock, 
in  the  city  of  New  Haven,  was  born  in  New  York 
city,  June  i,  1826.  He  is  a  direct  descendant  from 
William  and  Agnes  Blake ,  ^^-..- 

who  sailed  from  Ply- 
mouth, England,  and  ar- 
rived in  Dorchester, 
Mass.,  in  1630.  He  was 
among  the  first  students 
in  the  department  of  phi- 
losophy and  the  arts  of 
Yale  College,  and  was 
graduated  there  Ph.B. — 
Bachelor  of  Philosophy  —  ( 
in  1852,  in  the  same  class 
with  the  present  profes- 
sors. Brewer  and  Brush,  ^^,  p  blake. 
and  in  1S61  received  the 

honorary  degree  of  M.A.  from  Dartmouth  College. 
While  devoting  his  time  largely  to  purely  scientific 
pursuits,  and  to  the  organization  and  administra- 
tion of  great  international  exhibitions,  Mr.   Blake 
has  foUowed  the  occupation  of  mining  engineer  and 
adviser  with  respect  to  the  value  and  the  working 
of  mining   properties,   in   which   capacity   he   has 
visited  repeatedly  nearly  all  of  the  great  mining 
centers  of  the  United  States,  particularly  the  gold 
and  silver  regions  of  California,  Nevada,  Montana, 
and  Arizona,  and  has  reported  upon  the  chief  gold 
and  silver  mines.     In  185 1  and  1852  he  was  mineral- 
ogist and  chemist  of  the  New  Jersey  Zinc  Company. 
In  1853  he  projected  the  mineral  department  of  the 
•  New  York  International  Exhibition  and  resigned  to 
accept  an  appointment  as  mineralogist  and  geologist 
of  the  United  States  Pacific  Railway  surveys  in 
California,  and  made  extensive  reports   upon  the 
geology  of  California   and   other   portions   of  the 
West.     In   1S57  he  made  an  exploration  in  Texas 
and  New  Mexico;  and  was  also  editor  of  the  iMi'n- 
mg  Magazine ;  in  i860  and  1861  he  visited  the 
silver  mines  of  the  Comstock  Lode  and  introduced 
the  Blake  crusher  in  the  gold  mills  of  California 
and  silver  mills  of  Nevada.     In  18*62  was  appointed 
mining  engineer  to  the  government  of  Japan,  and 
with  his  associate,  Mr.  Raphael  Pumpelly,  organ- 
ized the  first  school  of  science  in  Japan  and  gave 


lectures  on  geolog\'  and  mining.     From  there  he 
went  to  China  and  went  up  the  Yangtse  to  the 
interior  of  China  and  returned  to  America  by  way 
of  the  Aleutian  Islands  and  Sitka;  accompanying  a 
Russian  government   expedition   up   the   Stickeen 
River,    where    he    found    and    described    several 
glaciers,  before  undescribed.     Reaching  San  Fran- 
cisco in  the  summer  of  1863,  he  engaged  actively  in 
examinations  of  critical  questions  of  structure  upon 
the  Comstock  Lode  and  explored  many  of  the  prin- 
cipal mines  then  in  full  work.     In  1S65  he  was  ap- 
pointed professor  of  geology  and   mining  in   the 
department  of  science  of  the  college  of  California, 
by   the   organization   of    which   the   congressional 
grant  of  land  to  the  agricultural  and  mechanical 
art  college  was  secured  to  that  institution,  after- 
wards the  University  of  Cahfornia.     He  resigned 
in  1867  to  go  as  commissioner  from  California  to 
the  Paris  exposition  of  1867,  and  on  his  return  was 
appointed    by    Secretary    Seward    editor    of    the 
reports  of  the  United  States  commissioners,  which 
were  published  by  the  government  in  six  octavo 
volumes,  to  which  Mr.  Blake  was  a  large  contribu- 
tor.    At  the  close  of  this  work  he  was  selected  by 
the  state  department  as  the  geologist  of  the  Santo 
Domingo  commission,  and  headed   an   expedition 
across   the   island   of  Santo   Domingo.       He   next 
devoted  his  energies  to  the  promotion  of  the  great 
International  Expedition  of  1876,  commencing  in 
1871  as  commissioner  alternate  of  Connecticut  and 
continuing  in  this  work  as  commissioner  and  as 
secretary  of  the  Connecticut  board  until  1878  when 
he  went  as  United  States  commissioner  from  Con- 
necticut to  the  Paris  Exposition  of  1878,  where  he 
served  on  the  international  jury  of   awards,  was 
secretary  of  the  scientific  commissioners,  and  made 
several  reports,  among  them  one  upon  the  exhibits 
from  the  state  of  Connecticut,  a  list  of  awards,  etc. 
At  this  exposition  he  received   from   the   French 
government  the  cross  of  the  Legion  of  Honor  of 
France  in  recognition  of  his  services  to  the  mining 
industry  and  to  great  expositions. 

Mr.  Blake  has  been  a  frequent  contributor  t(^  the 
pages  of  the  American  Journal  of  Science  and  to 
the  "Proceedings  of  the  American  Institute  of 
Mining  Engineers."  He  was  editor  of,  and  chief 
contributor  to,  the  "  History  of  the  Town  of  Ham- 
den,  Conn.,"  published  after  the  centennary  of  the 
incorporation  of  the  town.  He  is  a  member  and 
correspondent  of  many  learned  societies  in  America 
and  Europe.  As  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
classification  of  the  exhibition  in  1876  he  became 
familiar  with  this  important  department  of  exhibi- 
tions, and  was  recently  called  by  the  Columbian 
commission,  to  assist  in  the  preparation  of  the 
classification  for  the  Columbian  exposition  at 
Chicago. 

Mr.  Blake  was  married,  in  1S55,  to  Miss  Charlotte 


28o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Haven  Lord  Hayes,  daughter  of  Hon.  Wm.  A. 
Hayes  of  South  Berwick,  Maine,  and  has  four  sons 
and  one  daughter.  He  is  still  active  as  a  mining 
engineer  and  mine  expert  after  forty  years  of  ser- 
vice, and  has  great  familiarity  with  the  mineral  re- 
sources of  the  United  States,  having,  before  the 
advent  of  the  railroad,  traveled  thousands  of  miles 
in  the  saddle  and  by  stage  coach,  and  since  then 
has  crossed  the  continent  frequently,  and  is  per- 
haps more  generally  and  extensively  known  west 
than  east  of  the  Rocky  Mountains. 

Mill  Rock,  a  rugged  and  picturesque  spur  of  East 
Rock,  was  chosen  as  a  place  of  residence  by  Mr. 
Blake  in  1871,  who  made  it  accessible  by  well- 
graded  roads  and  built  the  first  house  upon  its 
summit  before  East  Rock  was  thought  of  as  a  pub- 
lic park.  The  site  affords  most  extensive  and 
delightful  views  of  New  Haven  harbor,  Long 
Island  sound,  and  the  surrounding  country. 


D.  W.  PLUMB,  Huntington:   A  Retired  Manu- 
facturer. 

David  W.  Plum.b  of  Shelton,  in  the  town  of 
Huntington,  has  served  half  a  dozen  sessions  in  the 
general  assembly,  being  a  member  of  the  house 
fifty-three  years  ago.  It 
is  just  half  a  century 
since  he  represented  the 
old  Fifth  district  in  the 
state  senate.  He  resided 
in  Derby  until  1S68,  and 
during  the  five  sessions 
which  he  served  in  the 
house  he  represented  that 
\\  town.  Hewas  first  elected 
in  1838,  and  in  1841  was 
honored  with  a  seat  in  the 
senate.  The  subsequent 
3'ears  in  the  house  were 
1852,  i860, 1862,  and  1864. 
His  colleagues  during  the  latter  year  included 
John  M.  Douglas  of  Middletown;  Seth  Thomas, 
founder  of  the  great  clock  indtistry  at  Thomaston; 
Ira  G.  Briggs  of  Voluntown;  the  lieutenant-gover- 
nor, David  Gallup  of  Plainfield;  Colonel  Dwight 
Morris  of  Bridgeport;  O.  H.  Piatt,  the  present 
United  States  senator;  the  late  O.  H.  Perry  of 
Fairfield;  John  F.  Trumbull  of  Stonington,  who 
was  a  leading  abolitionist  in  his  day;  Roger  Welles 
of  the  patent  department  in  Washington;  ex- 
Speaker  Charles  H.  Briscoe  of  Enfield;  the  late 
President  George  H.  Watrous  of  the  Consolidated 
road;  the  late  David  B.  Booth  of  Dan  bury;  Sen- 
ator Homer  Twitchell  of  Naugatuck;  and  Presi- 
dent Samuel  E.  Elmore  of  the  Connecticut  River 
Banking  Company  of  Hartford,  who  was  then  the 
representative  in  the  house  from  South  Windsor. 


D.    W.    PLUMB. 


Mr.  Plumb  has  been  one  of  the  leading  manufac- 
turers in  the  Naugatuck  Valley.  He  started  in  the 
woolen  manufacturing  business  in  Birmingham  in 
1S36,  removing  to  Ansonia  in  1848.  This  plant  was 
sold  to  the  Slade  Manufacturing  Company  in  1S65. 
Mr.  Plumb  then  removed  to  the  new  village  of 
Shelton,  establishing  his  home  there  in  1868.  Of 
recent  years  he  has  not  actively  participated  in 
manufacturing  interests,  though  he  still  remains  a 
stockholder  in  a  number  of  corporations.  He  has 
been  engaged  from  its  commencement  in  aiding 
the  development  of  the  Ousatonic  Water  Company. 
He  is  a  director  in  the  National  Bank,  the  Ousa- 
tonic Water  Company,  the  Shelton  Water  Company, 
and  several  local  manufacturing  companies.  He  is 
at  present  interested  in  the  development  of  River 
View  Park  in  Shelton,  and  has  been  one  of  the 
commissioners  in  charge  of  the  work  since  its  in- 
ception. Mr.  Plumb  was  born  in  Trumbull,  Octo- 
ber 13,  1808,  and  remained  on  a  farm  during  his 
minority.  He  received  a  common  school  and  acad- 
emic education,  preparing  him  for  the  successful 
business  and  public  career  which  he  afterwards 
pursued.  He  has  been  married  twice.  His  first 
wife.  Miss  Clarissa  Allen,  was  united  with  him  in 
wedlock  in  1841 ,  and  died  in  1865.  His  second  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Louise  Wakelee,  the  mar- 
riage occurring  in  1875.  There  are  no  children. 
Mr.  Plumb  has  been  a  man  of  large  influence  in 
his  community,  and  much  of  the  manufacturing 
success  of  that  locality  is  due  to  his  enterprise  and 
foresight.  He  is  held  in  high  esteem  in  Shelton, 
where  he  has  resided  for  the  past  twenty-three 
years. 

E.  J.  HOLTGH,   Wallingford:  Farmer. 

Elijah  J.  Hough  was  born  in  Wallingford,  July 

28,  1829,  and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools. 

He  is  a  farmer  by  avocation,  and  is  at  present 
largely  interested  also  in 
peach  growing.  He  was 
a  member  of  the  board  of 
selectmen  for  three 
years,  being  elected 
for  the  finst  time  in 
October,  1S87.  He  has 
also  served  on  the  board 
of  relief  for  three  years. 
Mr.  Hough  is  a  member 
of  the  Wallingford 
Grange,  and  has  been  its 
treasurer  since  the  date  of 
organization  in  May, 
1885.     His  wife,  who  was 

Ruth   Blakeslee  prior  to  marriage,  is   still   living. 

There  are  also  two  daughters  and  one  son.     Mr. 

Hough  is  a  democrat,  and  connected  with  the  Bap- 
tist church. 


E.    J.     IKJUGH. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


281 


T.    S.    STEELE. 


THOMAS    SEDGWICK    STEELE,    Hartford: 

Artist  and  Author. 

Thomas  Sedgwick  Steele  was  born  in  Hartford, 
Conn.,  June  11,  1S45.  He  was  a  descendant  of 
John  Steel  (spelled  in  old  times  vnth  only  two  e's), 
one  of  the  founders  of 
Hartford,  who  came  to 
this  country  in  1638,  and 
who  was  afterwards  town 
clerk  of  Farmington.  Mr. 
Steele's  father,  Deacon 
Thomas  Steele,  was  one 
of  the  committee  who 
called  Dr.  Horace  Bush- 
nell  to  the  old  North 
church  (afterwards  Park 
church),  of  which  he  was 
deacon  some  twenty-six 
years.  Mr.  Steele  was 
educated  at  the  public 
High  school  while  T.  W.  T.  Curtis  and  Samuel  M. 
Capron  were  principals;  entered  the  jewelry  busi- 
ness and  was  partner  with  his  father  in  1866,  the 
style  of  the  firm  being  T.  Steele  &  Son,  which  busi- 
ness was  continued  fifty-two  years. 

Mr.  Steele  very  early  developed  a  taste  for  draw- 
ing and  painting,  and  at  odd  hours,  in  and  out  of 
business,  was  plying  the  pencil  or  brush;  in  fact,  at 
one  time  he  almost  ruined  his  eyes  in  trying  to 
paint  by  gas  light.  His  paintings  have  been  well 
received  by  the  public,  and  the  compliment  of  hav- 
ing "hung  on  the  line"  at  the  National  Academy 
of  Design,  New  York,  in  1877,  was  one  of  the  re- 
sults. In  1880  and  1882  Mr.  Steele  published  two 
books  on  the  woods  of  northern  Maine,  entitled 
"  Canoe  and  Camera,"  and  "  Paddle  and  Portage," 
and  compiled  a  map  for  their  illustration,  the  result 
of  his  many  explorations  of  those  wilds.  In  1SS7 
he  closed  out  the  jewelry  business  and  gave  his  en- 
tire time  to  the  long-desired  profession  of  painting. 
In  1890  he  was  honored  by  election  to  the  Boston 
Art  Club,  and  had  his  celebrated  trout  painting, 
entitled  "  Net  Results,"  etched  by  a  Boston  pub- 
lishing company.  He  has  also  been  invited  to  ex- 
hibit his  work  before  the  Union  League  Club  of  New 
York  city. 

Mr.  Steele  has  been  twice  married;  first  in  1S6S 
to  Miss  Annie  Eliza  Smith,  daughter  of  Captain 
Joseph  E.  Smith  of  Stonington;  she  died  about  six 
years  after,  leaving  no  children.  His  second  mar- 
riage was  October  26,  1876,  to  Miss  Sarah  Cole 
Goff,  daughter  of  the  late  Hon.  Darius  Goft" ,  a  dis- 
tinguished citizen  and  extensive  manufacturer  of 
Pawtucket,  R.  I.  There  is  one  child  by  the  second 
marriage,  Annie  Lee  Steele,  born  August  21,  1877. 
Mr.  Steele  is  a  member  of  the  Park  Congregational 
church  at  Hartford;  was  once  superintendent,  and 
for  seventeen  years  a  teacher  in  its  Sunday-school. 


/ 


JAMES   HUNTINGTON. 


JAMES   HUNTINGTON,  Woodblrv:  Attorney- 

at-Law. 

Judge  -Huntington  was  born  at  South  Coventry, 
June  4,  1833.  He  graduated  from  the  State  and 
National  Law  School  of  Poughkeepsie,  in  August, 
1857,  and  was  at  the  same 
time  admitted  to  the  bar 
of  New  York.  Having 
determined  to  practice  in 
Connecticut,  he  entered 
the  law  office  of  Waldo  & 
Hj'de  of  Tolland,  read 
law  under  their  direction 
for  a  year,  and  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  of  Tol- 
land county  at  the  April 
term  of  the  superior  court 
in  1859.  He  immediately 
thereafter  located  in 
Woodbury,  where  he  has 
remained  in  active  practice  to  the  present  time,  be- 
ing now  professionally  associated  with  Arthur  D. 
Warner,  in  the  firm  of  Huntington  &  Warner.  He 
was  elected  judge  of  probate  for  Woodbury  dis- 
trict in  1 86 1,  and  continuously  held  that  office  for 
thirty  years.  He  has  held  the  appointment  of 
states  attorney  for  Litchfield  county  since  June, 
1874,  and  is  also  president  of  the  Litchfield  County 
Bar  Association.  In  politics  Judge  Huntington  is 
a  democrat,  and  as  such  represented  Woodbury  in 
the  legislature  of  1S74  and  1875,  and  was  state  sen- 
ator from  the  old  Sixteenth  district  in  1877  and 
1878.  

NATHANIEL     C.     BARKER,    Lebanon:     Mer- 
chant. 
Mr.    Barker   was    born    in    Middletown,    R.    I., 

August  31,  183S,  attended  the  common  schools,  and 

graduated   at   Lebanon   academy.     He   has    been 

honored    by    his    fellow- 
citizens  by  being  chosen 

town  clerk  and  treasurer 

for  five  years,  and  in  18S6 

was  elected  as  a  repub-  , 

lican  representative  from 

that   town   to   the    lower 

house  of   the  legislature. 

He  is  also  a  justice  of  the 

peace.    He  is  prominently      -(^ 

connected  with  the  Baptist 

church,  with  the  Masonic 

fraternity, and  the  Ancient 

Order   of    United   Work- 
men.    He  is  engaged  in 

mercantile  pursuits,  being  at  the  head  of  the  house 

of  N.  C.  Barker  &  Co.  in  the  village  of  Lebanon. 

His  wife  was  Maria  F.  Sweet,  and  they  have  three 

children. 


N.    C.    B.\RKER. 


282 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


i: 


4> 


u«-^ 


tt 


E.    H.    HYDE. 


HON.  EPHRAIM  H.  HYDE,  Stafford:  Ex- 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Connecticut. 
The  name  of  the  Hon.  Ephraim  H.  Hyde  of  Staf- 
ford is  famihar  to  the  people  of  this  state  as  that 
of  a  leading  politician,  an  agricultural  scientist,  and 
a  thoughtful  student  of 
social  economy.  In  every 
of  these  capacities  he  is 
no  less  widely  than  f  avor- 
abl}'  known,  and  his 
many  years  are  crowned 
with  many  honors.  He 
was  born  at  Stafford,  on 
the  iirst  day  of  June, 
1S12.  He  married  Han- 
nah Converse  Young 
'Sept.  27,  1836.  Six  chil- 
dren were  born  to  them, 
three  of  whom  died  in  in- 
fancy, another  at  the  age 
of  four  years;  the  other 
two,  Ellen  E.,  wife  of 
Ernest  Cady,  of  the  Pratt  &  Cady  Company,  and 
E.  H.  Hyde,  Jr.,  of  the  firm  of  Hyde  &  Joslyn,  are 
now  living  at  Hartford.  His  wife  died  Feb.  26, 
1S62,  and,  on  Oct.  19,  1869,  he  married  Miss  Mary 
S.  Williams  of  Hartford,  who  now  survives. 

Attendance  at  the  district  school  in  his  native 
town,  and  about  six  weeks  of  study  at  the  academy 
in  Alonson,  Mass.,  comprised  his  entire  school  edu- 
cation. His  boyhood  was  passed  in  the  manner 
common  to  the  boys  of  that  time;  work  on  the  farm, 
accompanied  by  general  service  in  an  old-time 
hotel  connected  with  the  farm  and  known  as  the 
half-way  stage  station  between  Worcester  and 
Hartford,  and  about  four  months  as  a  stage  driver 
between  Stafford  and  Sturbridge,  filled  up  the 
years  between  school  and  the  commencement  of 
his  active  business  life.  He  took  an  efficient  and 
active  interest  in  the  Universalist  Society  of  Staf- 
ford, serving  therein  as  sexton,  organist,  and  leader 
of  the  choir  for  fifteen  years.  Entering  a  country 
store  as  a  clerk  in  his  eighteenth  year,  he  became 
proprietor  of  the  same  in  his  twenty-first  year,  and 
from  that  time  on  he  has  been  closely  identified 
with  the  business  interests  of  the  town.  He  was 
interested  in  a  blast  furnace  business  for  about 
eight  years;  in  his  twenty-ninth  year  he  was  the 
chief  promoter  of  a  cotton  mill  at  Stafford  Springs; 
he  was  for  many  years  interested  in  the  business  of 
manufacturing  satinets,  as  one  of  the  firm  of  Con- 
verse &  Hyde;  and  he  has  been  actively  engaged 
in  many  other  industrial  enterprises.  His  energies 
have  been  devoted  principally,  however,  to  pro- 
moting the  agricultural  interests  of  the  state  and 
to  breeding  blooded  stock. 

About  the  year  1842,  having  become  the  owner  of 
two  or  three  large  farms,  all  of  which  he  retained 


until  within  a  few  years,  and  most  of  which  he  still 
owns,  he  commenced  the  careful  breeding  of  stock 
from  imported  and  native  cattle,  and  thus  entered 
upon  a  course  that  was  to  make  his  name  familiar 
as  a  household  word  to  the  leading  agriculturists 
throughout  the  country.  He  began  with  Devons, 
and  afterwards  experimented  with  Ayrshires,  Dur- 
hams,  and  Jerseys;  but  believing  the  Devons  to  be 
the  best  adapted  to  this  part  of  the  country,  he 
applied  himself  to  the  scientific  selection  and  breed- 
ing of  that  class,  and  as  a  result  he  greatly  im- 
proved the  stock  and  produced  herds  of  rare  beauty 
and  excellence,  the  winners  of  many  a  sweepstake 
medal  and  prize.  He  will  be  known  in  the  years  to 
come  as  the  pathfinder  for  Devons  in  this  country. 
Animals  from  his  herds  have  gone  to  all  parts  of 
the  countrj',  and  it  can  be  said  with  truth  that  the 
improvement  of  the  stock  in  his  native  state  is 
owing  in  a  large  measure  to  his  care  and  wisdom 
as  a  breeder  of  pure-blooded  Devons. 

He  early  became  concerned  in  the  general  agri- 
cultural interests  of  the  state,  and  has  been  an  act- 
ive and  zealous  participant  in  all  movements  for 
their  protection  and  advancement.  Fully  compre- 
hending the  needs  of  the  farmers,  and  also  the 
necessity  of  arousing  them  to  a  realization  of  the 
benefits  to  be  derived  by  the  adoption  of  more  in- 
telligent and  scientific  methods  of  farming,  he 
zealously  devoted  the  best  years  of  his  life  to  the 
interests  of  agriculture,  giving  his  time,  money, 
and  talents  without  stint,  and  bringing  to  the  ser- 
vice an  indomitable  will  and  energy  that  prosecuted 
its  aims  with  a  patient  industry  that  was  untiring. 
It  was  largely  owing  to  his  influence  and  enterprise 
that  the  Tolland  County  Agricultural  Society  was 
organized  in  1852.  He  was  its  president  from  its 
organization  to  i860,  and  again  from  1S64  to  1868; 
and  Hyde  Park  at  Rockville  was  thus  named  in 
his  honor,  and  in  recognition  of  his  services  to  the 
society.  He  was  president  of  the  Connecticut 
State  Agricultural  Society  from  1858  to  1881,  vice- 
president  of  the  New  England  Agricultural  Society 
from  its  beginning,  vice-president  of  the  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  from  its  organization  in  1866 
to  1882;  and  was  chosen  again  in  1890,  and  is  now 
vice-president;  chairman  of  the  commissioners  on 
diseases  of  domestic  animals  for  thirty  years,  which 
office  he  still  holds;  president  of  the  American 
Breeders'  Association  from  1S65  until  it  resolved 
itself  into  sections  for  each  breed ;  president  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley  Agricultural  Association,  com- 
prising Connecticut,  Massachusetts,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Vermont;  corporator  of  the  Connecticut 
Stock  Breeders'  Association;  vice-president  of  the 
Dairyman's  Association;  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee to  publish  the  first  volume  of  the  American 
Herd  Book;  president  of  the  Tolland  County  East 
Agricultural  Society,  from  its  organization  in  1870 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


283 


to  1876;  and  one  of  the  trustees  and  vice-president 
of  the  Storrs  School,  a  position  which  he  still  re- 
tains. He  had  long  been  in  favor  of  a  school  in 
which  the  science  of  agriculture  should  be  taught, 
and  was  one  of  the  first  two  persons  who  consulted 
the  Storrs  brothers  in  regard  to  the  project  of  es- 
tabHshing  the  school  at  Mansfield.  The  scheme 
met  his  approval;  and  that  the  plan  was  finally 
adopted,  and  that  the  school  has  been  able  to  main- 
tain itself  against  the  numerous  attacks  that  have 
been  made  upon  it  by  friends  and  foes  alike,  is 
largely  owing  to  his  indefatigable  efliorts  and  ear- 
nest support.  At  a  meeting  of  the  trtistees  in  18S9 
he  was  chosen  one  of  the  building  committee  to 
erect  the  beautiful  and  commodious  structures 
which  have  been  completed  at  about  the  estimated 
cost  of  $50,000. 

His  labors  to  secure  reform  in  the  management 
of  prisons  and  houses  of  correction  have  been  ex- 
tensive and  persistent.  He  is  one  of  the  founders 
and  directors  of  the  Prisoners'  Friend  Association, 
and  a  director,  also,  of  the  Industrial  School  for 
Girls;  and  has  been  more  or  less  active  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  state  board  of  education,  especially  in 
1867,  1868,  and  1869. 

When  the  United  States  Agricultural  Convention 
met  in  Washington  some  time  since,  he  attended  as 
delegate  from  the  New  England  Agricultural 
Association. 

He  has  also  been  called  to  niimerous  other 
offices  by  the  citizens  of  his  town  and  state.  He 
was  county  commissioner  for  Tolland  County  in 
1842-43;  a  member  of  the  house  of  representatives 
from  Stafford  in  1S51-52;  a  delegate  to  the  national 
democratic  convention  at  Baltimore  ;  and  in  the 
presidential  campaign  of  1S60  he  took  a  prominent 
part,  identifying  himself  with  the  state  rights 
faction,  whose  head  and  candidate  was  Breckin- 
ridge, and  was  made  an  elector  on  their  ticket. 
He  was  a  state  senator  and  president  ^rt'  tern,  of 
the  senate  in  1876  and  1887,  and  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor in  1867  and  1868.  While  occupying  the  latter 
position  the  office  of  commissioner  of  agriculture  at 
Washington  became  vacant,  and  he  was  stronglj- 
pushed  for  the  place,  every  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture then  in  session,  irrespective  of  their  party 
affiliation,  signing  the  petition,  and  nearly  all  the 
state  delegation  in  congress.  He  took  an  earnest 
and  lively  interest  in  the  Connecticut  Experimental 
Station,  and  was  chosen  vice-president  of  the  board 
of  control  at  its  organization  March  29,  1879,  and 
still  retains  the  office.  He  presided  at  the  one 
hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the  primitive 
organization  of  the  Congregational  church  and 
society  in  Franklin,  Conn.,  Oct.  4,  1868.  He  was 
president  of  the  Tolland  centennial  celebration  in 
1 876, delivering  the  opening  address, and  he  has  occu- 
pied manjr  other  offices  of  more  or  less  importance. 


In  all  his  public  life,  covering  a  period  of  nearly 
half  a  century,  his  aim  has  been  to  subserve  the  in- 
terests of  the  state,  and  not  the  shadow  of  a  suspicion 
rests  on  his  honored  name.  His  conduct,  motives, 
and  methods  have  been  straightforward  and  honor- 
able, and  his  record  is  one  of  which  he  may  well  be 
proud. 

Ex-Lieutenant-Governor  Hyde  has  filled  a  large 
place  in  the  state,  but  his  name  will  be  best  known 
as  that  of  the  eminent  breeder,  who  by  his  enlight- 
ened efforts  materially  assisted  in  raising  the  farm- 
ing industry  of  the  state  to  a  higher  level,  and  in 
vastly  increasing  the  value  of  its  dairj'  farms  and 
stock. 

In  the  course  of  years  he  is  now  aged;  but  few 
are  the  men  of  half  his  age  who  are  to  be  compared 
with  him  in  activity  and  endurance.  Always 
strictly  temperate  in  his  habits,  he  has  saved  him- 
self from  the  infirmities  that  so  often  overtake  pub- 
lic men  in  their  declining  j'ears.  With  a  tall  and 
slender  form,  a  well-bred  face,  a  flowing  white 
beard  and  the  graceful  courtesy  of  an  elder  day,  he 
presents  a  striking  figure.  Affable  and  agreeable, 
fond  of  society  and  companionship,  kind  and  con- 
siderate of  others,  with  a  pleasant  smile  and  a 
cheerful  greeting  always,  he  has  as  large  a  circle  of 
personal  acquaintances  and  friends  as  any  man  in 
the  state,  and  no  one  is  more  highly  esteemed. 


NELSON    A.    BROWN,    North    Stonington: 

Farmer. 

Mr.  Brown  is  a  native  of  North  Stonington,  and 
was  born  Feb.  16,  1847.  He  received  a  common 
district  school  education  and  has  followed  the  busi- 
ness of  farming  in  North 
Stonington  except  for  two 
years,  when  he  resided  in 
Westerty,  R.  I.  He  has 
always  acted  with  the 
republican  party,  politi- 
cally, and  has  held  the 
office  of  selectman  and 
assessor  for  a  number  of 
years,  his  re-election  for 
ten  successive  3'ears  show- 
ing the  esteem  in  which 
he  is  held  by  his  fellow- 
townsmen.  He  is  gener- 
ally recognized  as  a  man 
of  strict  integrity,  sound  judgment,  quick  percep- 
tion, and  executive  ability.  He  is  a  prominent 
member  of  the  Baptist  church  and  was  chosen 
deacon  at  the  age  of  twenty -four  years.  He  was 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  for  three 
years,  during  which  time  the  school  was  prospered 
greatly.  His  wife  was  Lovisa  K.  Crary,  and  they 
have  one  son. 


N.     A.    BROWN. 


284 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


HON.  SAMUEL  FERDINAND  WEST,  Colum- 
bia:  Farmer. 

Mr.  West  was  born  in  Columbia,  Conn. ,  Decem- 
ber 13,  1812.  He  was  the  son  of  Colonel  Samuel 
West,  who  was  a  lineal  descendant  of  Francis  West, 
who  came  from  England 
and  settled  in  Duxbury, 
Mass. ,  in  the  early  settle- 
ment of  New  England, 
and  died  1694., aged  eighty- 
six.  His  mother  was  Re- 
becca Little,  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Thomas  Lit- 
tle, a  lawyer,  who  came 
from  Devonshire,  Eng- 
land, and  settled  in  Ply- 
mouth 1630.  He  received 
his  education  principally 
in    the    common    district 

S.    F.     WEST. 

school,  with  the  exception 
of  one  term  in  a  select  school;  labored  on  his  father's 
farm  during  the  farming  season,  and  taught  district 
schools  during  the  winter,  from  the  winter  of  1S30- 
31,  to  the  winter  of  1835-36.  In  November  1835, 
he  left  home  and  the  state  of  Connecticut  and  went 
westward  into  Ohio  and  made  a  stopping  point  at 
Delaware  in  that  state.  In  the  spring  of  1836  he 
joined  a  partnership  with  Nathaniel  W.  Little  of 
that  place,  under  the  firm  name  of  Little  &  West, 
in  mercantile  business,  which  business  he  pursued 
until  the  spring  of  1S41.  In  the  fall  of  1841,  at  the 
earnest  solicitation  of  his  father,  he  returned  to 
Columbia,  Conn.,  and  went  on  to  and  managed  the 
ancestral  farm  where  he  was  born  and  where  he 
still  resides.  This  farm  has  been  unincumbered  in 
the  West  family  since  1773.  Tilling  the  soil  and 
the  cultivation  of  fruit  has  been  his  principal  occu- 
pation. September  28,  1837,  he  married  Miss 
Charlotte  Porter  of  Columbia,  who  is  yet  livnng; 
have  had  eight  children,  three  onl}'^  of  whom  are 
now  living,  Samuel  Brainard  West,  who  now 
manages  the  farm,  and  two  daughters  who  are 
married  and  living  in  Providence,  R.  I. 

Mr.  W^est  has  been  selectman,  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  has  held  other  minor  town  offices.  In 
the  spring  of  1847  he  was  chosen  to  represent  the 
twenty-first  senatorial  district  in  the  Connecticut 
legislature,  and  faithfullj'  performed  the  duties  of 
that  position  in  the  Connecticut  general  assembly 
during  its  session  in  May,  1847.  He  was  county 
commissioner  for  Tolland  county  in  1855  and  1856; 
had  a  large  share  in  the  oversight  of  the  building 
of  the  present  county  jail  at  Tolland.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1864,  he  was  appointed  assistant  a.ssessor  for 
the  ninth  division  of  the  first  district  of  Connecticut, 
Avhich  position  he  filled  until  July,  1S6S.  This  divi- 
sion embraced  the  south  part  of  Tolland  county, 
including  the  town  of  Willington.     He  has  been 


president  of  the  Tolland  county  Agricultural  Society 
and  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of  Agriculture. 
Has  been  a  director  in  the  Willimantic  Savings 
Institute,  and  a  trustee  in  that  institution  for  many 
years,  a  place  he  still  occupies.  Politically,  in  the 
early  part  of  his  life,  he  was  an  unwavering  whig; 
ever  since  the  formation  of  the  republican  party  he 
has  been  identified  with  that  party.  He  and  his 
wife,  then  Miss  Charlotte  Porter,  united  with  the 
Congregational  church  in  Columbia  in  1831;  in  1838 
removed  their  relationship  to  the  Presbyterian 
church  in  Delaware,  Ohio.  In  1842  returned  to  the 
membership  of  the  Congregational  church  in 
Columbia. 

Mr.  West  has  been  a  live,  active,  stirring,  ener- 
getic citizen,  interested  in  all  the  advancements 
and  improvements  of  the  times. 


p.    HAMMOND. 


REV.  EDWARD  PAYSON  HAMMOND,  Hart- 
ford: Congregational  Clergyman. 
Edward  Payson  Hammond,  son  of   Elijah    and 
Esther  Griswold  Hammond,  was  born  in  Ellington, 
Tolland   county.   Conn.,  in   1831.      At   the  age  of 
seven      his     parents     re- 
moved to  Vernon  Centre, 
which  was   his  residence 
thenceforth   until    he   re- 
moved to  Hartford,  but  a 
fcAv  years  ago.    Mr.  Ham- 
mond's paternal  American 
ancestor    w  a  s     Thomas 
Hammond,  who  came  to 
America  in  1635,  and  set- 
tled in    Hingham,   Mass. 
His    mother   was    a    de- 
scendant of  George  Gris- 
wold, of  Ke  nil  worth, 
Warwickshire,    England. 
Connecticut  received  two  governors  from  this  fam- 
ily—  Matthew  Griswold,  who  held  the  office  from 
1784    to    1786;  and  Roger  Griswold,  who  was  the 
incumbent  in  iSii,  and  died  in  office,  serving  one 
year  and  five  months.     It  will  thus  be  seen  that 
on  both  father's  and  mother's  side  Mr.  Hammond 
has  some  of  the  best  New  England  blood  in  his 
veins. 

Rev.  E.  P.  Hammond  is  a  graduate  of  Williams 
College,  Mass.  After  his  graduation  he  studied 
theology  for  a  while  in  New  York  city,  then  fin- 
ished his  studies  in  the  seminary  of  the  Free 
Church  at  Edinburgh,  Scotland.  While  a  student 
at  Edinburgh  he  was  invited  to  hold  meetings  in  a 
vacant  church  six  miles  distant.  Here  he  labored 
so  earnestly,  zealously,  and  wisely,  that  there  was 
a  great  religious  awakening;  hundreds  were  con- 
verted. Ministers  in  Edinburgh,  Glasgow,  Aber- 
deen, and  other  cities  heard  of  this  wonderful  re- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


285 


vival;  they  recognized  in  this  youthful   evangehst 
a  man  called  of  God  to  a  special  work ;  they  invited 
him  to  their  pulpits;  they  encouraged  him  to  hold 
special   services,   at  which   they   assisted   him,   in 
halls  that  would  hold  immense  audiences.      Thou- 
sands and  tens  of  thousands,  who  never  entered 
the  churches,  were  drawn  to  these  meetings,  and 
many  of  them  became  Christians.     After  laboring 
thus  two  years  in   Scotland,  going  only  where  the 
ministers  and  churches  invited  him  to  go,  not  set- 
ting himself  up  as  a  leader,  but   yielding  to  the 
urgency  of  the  ablest  and  best  men  of  the  land, 
that  he  should  use  the  gift  with  which  God  had  en- 
dowed  him,  in  the   special   department  of  minis- 
terial work  to  which  he  was  so  manifestly  called,  he 
returned  to  his  native  land.      Here  his  experience 
Avas   the   same.       Wherever   he   went   the   people 
thronged  to  hear  him,  and  multitudes  were  brought 
to  Christ.     After  five  years  of  evangelistic  labor  in 
New  England  and  the  Middle  States  he  again  went 
abroad.      He  has  spent  six  years  and  a  half  on  the 
other  side  of  the  Atlantic,  having  been   there   at 
three  different  times.     In  1S86  he,  with  his  wife, 
visited  the  Holy  Land,  and  at  that  time  he  wrote 
Sketches   of    Palestine.       Since    his    return    from 
Europe  the  second  time  he  has  held  meetings  in 
towns  and  cities  from  Minneapolis  in  Minnesota, 
to  Galveston,  Texas;  and  from  the  shores  of  Lake 
Erie   to  Denver,  among  the  mountains.     He   has 
gone  to  none  of  these  places  without  a  special  in- 
vitation.    Wherever  he  has  gone  the  various  evan- 
gelical   churches    have    been   drawn    together   in 
brotherly  love  and  cordial  cooperation,  and  in  every 
place  conversions  have  followed  his  labors,  not  a 
few  of  the  subjects  being  men  and  women  who 
previously  had  been  notoriously  wicked.      One  of 
the   most  successful  of  Mr.  Hammond's  series  of 
meetings  was  in  St.  Louis.     The  largest  halls  in 
the  city  were  crowded  day  after  day,  and  one  of  the 
pastors  afterwards  stated  that  over  five  thousand 
persons  were  added  to  the  churches  of  St.  Louis  as 
the  result  of  these  special  services.     Mr.  Hammond 
was   for    nine   weeks    in  San    Francisco,   holding 
about  two  hundred  meetings,  and  speaking  to  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  people.      His  efforts 
there  were  blessed  abundantly. 

And  so  the  good  work  has  gone  forward  for  more 
than  thirty  years,  and  eternity  alone  will  reveal  its 
extent  and  blessedness.  The  winter  of  1890-91 
Mr.  Hammond  spent  in  evangelical  work  in  Wash- 
ington, D.  C;  the  previous  winter  he  was  in  the 
mining  districts  of  Colorado  —  two  fields  in  as 
strong  a  contrast  as  can  well  be  imagined,  but 
neither  without  a  harvest.  Mr.  Hammond  has 
written  about  a  hundred  tracts  and  books,  most  of 
which  have  been  published  both  in  this  country  and 
in  Great  Britain.  Numbers  of  them  have  been 
translated     into    various    languages.       They  are 


usually  distributed  judiciously  among  his  audiences, 
and  thus  often  become  a  valuable  auxiliary  to  his 
oral  work. 

Mr.  Hammond  is  a  gentleman  of  marked  person- 
ality. He  has  a  nervous  temperament,  with  quick 
observation,  keen  perceptions,  and  intuitive  judg- 
ment. Physically,  as  well  as  mentally,  he  is  alert 
and  active,  possesses  a  thoroughly  vigorous  con- 
stitution, an  erect  and  portly  figure,  with  pleasing 
and  impressive  features.  He  is  esteemed  at  home 
and  abroad  no  less  for  his  high  personal  traits  than 
for  his  distinguished  services  in  the  advancement 
of  Christianity  throughout  the  world. 


W.    BURR. 


GEORGE  W.  BURR,  Middletown:  President  of 
the  Middlesex  County  National  Bank. 
George   W.    Burr   was  born  in  Haddam  in  this 
state,  April  12,  1816,  the  son  of  a  farmer,  to  which 
calling  his  early  years  were  largely  devoted,  while 
acquiring  his  education  at 
the  cominon  schools  of  his 
native  town.     At  the  age 
of  seventeen  he  passed  a 
successful        examination 
before  the  board  of   edu- 
cation     in     Middletown, 
where  he  was  for  a  time 
employed      in     teaching. 
Two   years    later  he   en- 
gaged in  selling  books  by 
subscription  in  the  eastern 
counties     of    New    York 
state,  and  at   the  age  of 
twenty   went  to  Charles- 
ton, S.  C,  and  thence  to  Avigusta,  Ga.,  spending 
one  year  in  southern  Georgia  in  the  book  trade. 
Returning  north  on  the  decease  of  his  father,  he 
arranged  the  settlement  of  the  ancestral  estate,  and 
afterwards  returned  south,   traveling   and   selling 
books  in  most  of  the  southern  states.     He  subse- 
qiiently  came  back  to  Connecticut  and  located  at 
Middletown,  where  he   became  a  director   of  the 
Meriden  Bank,  trustee  of  the  Middletown  Savings 
Bank,  and  director  of  the  Middlesex  Cotmty  Bank. 
He  was  elected  president  of  the  Middletown  Sav- 
ings Bank,  and  during  his  incumbency  of  the  office, 
covering  a  period  of  twenty  years,  the  deposits  in 
that  institution  increased  under  his  wise  and  care- 
ful administration  from   $1,700,000   to  $6,000,000. 
He  was  afterwards  elected  president  of  the  Middle- 
sex County  National  Bank,  which  position  he  now 
holds,   having  been  on   its  board  of  directors  for 
thirty  years.     He  is  also  president  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Brown  Stone  Quarry  Company  of  Cromwell, 
and  a  director  of  the  Middlesex  Mutual  Assurance 
Company  of  Middletown.     His  religious  connections 
are  with  the  South  Congregational  church  of  Mid- 


286 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


W.    B.    CLARK. 


dletown;  politically  he  is  a  republican.  He  mar- 
ried Miss  Annie  E.  Sage  of  Cromwell,  and  they 
have  two  children,  George  B.  and  Annie  M.  Mr. 
Burr  is  a  gentleman  of  mature  judgment  in  finan- 
cial affairs,  and  has  proved  a  most  successful  man- 
ager and  able  counselor  for  the  various  institutions 
with  which  he  has  been  or  still  is  officially  con- 
nected. 

WILLIAM  B.  CLARK,  Hartford:  Vice-Presi- 
dent ^tna  Insurance  Compan3^ 
Vice-President  Clark  is  the  senior  insurance  offi- 
cer in  this  city  in  years  of  actual  service  with  the 
Hartford  companies.  He  was  born  here,  June 
29, 1 841,  and  was  educated 
in  the  old  North  school, 
completing  his  course  at 
the  New  Britain  high 
school  and  at  N.  L.  Gal- 
lup's  College  Green  school 
in  this  city.  The  latter 
institution  was  located  on 
Trinity  street,  opposite 
Trinity  College,  and  fitted 
students  for  a  collegiate 
course  of  study.  The 
father  of  Vice-President 
Clark  was  the  late  A.  N. 
Clark,  one  of  the  proprie- 
tors of  the  Hartford  Courant  prior  to  the  war, 
the  name  of  the  firm  being  A.  N.  Clark  &  Co. 
After  spending  one  year  in  the  Courant  business 
office,  Mr.  Clark,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  became 
a  member  of  the  clerical  corps  of  the  Phoenix  In- 
surance Company  in  1857.  August  27,  1863,  he  was 
elected  secretary,  and  remained  with  the  company 
until  December  i,  1867,  when  he  was  elected  assist- 
ant secretary  of  the  ^tna.  The  latter  position 
was  retained  under  President  Hendee  through  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty-one  years.  Assistant 
Secretary  Clark  became  familiar  with  the  vast 
detail  connected  with  the  -Etna's  business,  and  was 
regarded  with  the  utmost  confidence  and  trust  by 
his  chief,  who  was  one  of  the  most  successful  insur- 
ance managers  Hartford  has  knowm.  The  demise 
of  President  Hendee,  September  4,  1888,  necessi- 
tated a  number  of  changes  in  the  administration  of 
the  company.  Mr.  Clark  was  advanced  to  the  vice- 
presidency,  September  26,  1888,  receiving  the 
unanimous  vote  of  the  board  of  directors  for  the 
position.  As  vice-president  of  the  company  his 
course  has  been  characterized  by  ability  and  judg- 
ment of  the  highest  order,  entitling  him  to  a  fore- 
most place  among  insurance  managers  in  New 
England.  Vice-President  Clark  occupies  a  number 
of  important  offices  in  business  and  public  institu- 
tions in  the  city.  He  was  elected  a  director  of  the 
City    Bank    January     14,    1S79;     director    in    the 


Travelers  Insurance  Company  July  6,  1S75;  trustee 
in  the  Mechanics  Savings  Bank  July  18,  1883;  and 
a  director  of  the  Retreat  for  the  Insane  April  10, 
1890.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  corporation  of 
the  Hartford  hospital.  April  5,  1880,  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  board  of  aldermen  from 
the  Third  ward,  and  served  two  years  in  that  posi- 
tion. He  was  the  aldermanic  chairman  of  the  ordi- 
nance committee,  the  mayor  holding  the  chairman- 
ship ex  officio.  At  the  conclusion  of  his  term  in  the 
board  of  aldermen  he  was  appointed  a  member  of 
the  board  of  water  commissioners,  and  has  held  that 
office  for  nine  years,  being  one  of  the  ablest  mem- 
bers of  that  commission.  Vice-President  Clark  is 
a  member  of  the  First  Baptist  church  in  this  cit}-, 
and  has  been  clerk  of  the  society  and  member  of 
the  society's  committee  for  twenty-five  5'ears.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  Historical 
Society.  He  values  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  the 
original  Wide  Awakes  as  the  most  interesting 
reality  connected  with  the  first  years  of  his  citizen- 
ship. In  point  of  accuracy,  he  had  not  attained 
his  majority  when  he  became  an  active  participant 
in  that  noted  organization.  It  is  not  necessaiy  to 
add  that  his  republicanism  has  as  true  a  ring  in  it 
now  as  in  the  great  presidential  campaign  of  i860. 
Vice-President  Clark  was  married  May  13,  1863,  his 
wife,  who  is  still  living,  being  Miss  Caroline  H. 
Robbins,  daughter  of  the  late  Philemon  F.  Rob- 
bins.  The  family  includes  three  daughters.  Two 
sons  have  died.  As  a  citizen,  as  well  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  great  business  interests,  Mr.  Clark  has 
but  few  equals  in  the  community.  The  people  of 
Hartford  regard  him  with  the  highest  esteem  and 
honor. 

HEZEKIAH  SPENCER  SHELDON,  Sltfield. 
Mr.  Sheldon  was  born  in  Suffield  June  23,  1S20, 
and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  and  in 
the  Connecticut  Literarj-  Institute.  He  has  given 
a  large  amount  of  time  to 
I'esearch  concerning  the 
history  of  Suffield,  and  is 
one  of  the  best-informed 
men  concerning  local  his- 
tory in  the  state.  His 
work  appears  in  the  ' '  His- 
tory of  Hartford  County," 
and  in  independent  vol- 
umes, showing  the 
thoroughness  and  relia- 
bility of  his  researches. 
His  library  of  old  and  rare 
books  and  town  histories 
is  extensive  and  valuable. 
Mr.  Sheldon  has  held  numerous  places  of  trust  and  re- 
sponsibility in  Suffield,  of  which  town  he  is  and  has 
long  been  one  of  the  best-esteemed  and  leading  citi- 


H.    S.    SHELDON. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


287 


zens.  He  represented  that  town  in  the  general  as- 
sembly in  1S5S,  1S81,  1S87,  and  again  in  1889.  Ini88i 
he  was  a  member  of  the  committee  on  banks,  where 
he  proved  himself,  as  always,  an  able  and  conscien- 
tious legislator.  During  the  session  of  1S87,  the 
first  biennial  session,  he  served  with  marked  ability 
on  the  judiciary  committee  and  as  chairman  of  the 
state  library  committee  —  in  both  of  which  positions 
he  was  continued  when  called  to  the  legislative 
duties  of  the  succeeding  session  in  1889.  In  what- 
ever capacities  he  has  served  the  state,  or  in  local 
affairs,  his  duties  have  been  performed  with  fidelity 
and  success.  His  personal  character  and  honorable 
record  entitle  him  to  the  high  esteem  with  which  he 
is  regarded  by  his  associates  in  public  service,  and 
by  his  fellow-citizens  without  distinction  of  political 
party  or  religious  sect. 


NEWPORT. 


EDWARD  CHARLES  NEWPORT,  M.D.,  Meri- 
den:  Physician  and  Surgeon. 
Dr.  E.  C.  Newport  was  born  in  Halle,  Germany, 
July  I,  1837.  His  early  paternal  ancestors  were 
Englishmen,  who  during  the  Cromwellian  era 
drifted  from  England  into 
Holland,  and  thence  into 
Germany.  His  mother's 
ancestry  dates  back  to 
Martin  Luther's  family. 
She  died  when  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  was  six 
years  of  age.  Dr.  New- 
port was  one  of  a  family 
of  four  brothers,  the  others 
being  Augustus,  William, 
and  Otto.  Their  father 
was  a  political  agitator 
and  participator  in  the 
revolutionary  disturb- 

ances  of  1848,  who,  on  account  of  this,  was  com- 
pelled to  forsake  his  native  country.  He  came  to 
America,  taking  with  him  his  sons  Augustus  and 
WiUiam,  leaving  Edward  and  Otto  in  the  care  of 
an  uncle  and  aunt  in  Halle.  Edward  was  kept  at 
school  quite  closely  from  his  sixth  to  his  fifteenth 
year.  After  that  he  pursued  the  study  of  Hthogra- 
phy  very  successfully,  and  combined  therewith  the 
study  of  music,  anatomy,  and  physiology,  taking 
great  delight  also  in  mastering  the  English  lan- 
guage and  familiarizing  himself  with  its  literature. 
In  1859  he  emigrated  to  America,  and  the  Decem- 
ber after  his  arrival  in  this  country  he  went  to 
Windsor  Locks,  where  his  brother  Augustus  was 
already  employed  in  the  MedHcott  Mills;  and,  as  he 
had  no  pecuniary  resources,  he  engaged  as  a  cutter 
in  the  same  establishment  with  his  brother,  remain- 
ing in  that  position  for  nearly  two  years.  On  the 
first  of  January,  1861,  he  was  married  to  Miss 
Carrie  Jeanette  Norton  of   Sufheld,  who   died   in 


February,  1875,  after  fourteen  years  of  happy 
wedded  life.  By  this  marriage  there  were  four 
children,  namely:  Mary,  now  Mrs.  Dr.  S.  D.  Otis, 
residing  in  Meriden;  Herbert,  who  is  a  druggist  in 
the  same  city;  Belle,  at  present  stud>nng  music  in 
the  conservatory  of  Xavier  Scharwenka  in  Berlin, 
Germany;  and  Gussie,  who  is  at  home  in  Meriden. 
There  is  a  fifth  child,  Ahce,  a  daughter,  by  asecond 
marriage. 

In  1862,  when  the  call  for  nine-months  volunteers 
was  issued  by  President  Lincoln,  Dr.  Newport  and 
several  of  his  personal  friends  enlisted  in  Company 
C,  Twenty-fifth  regiment,  C.  V.,  in  which  company 
he  was  made  a  corporal,  and  afterwards  promoted 
to  be  chief  bugler  of  the  regiment.     January  13, 
1S63,  he  was  ordered  to  general  headquarters  as 
brigade  bugler,  with  rank  of  sergeant.     He  went 
through  all  the  skirmishes  and  battles  in  which  the 
brigade   was   engaged,   including   the   sanguinary 
engagements  at  Irish  Bend  on  the  Mississippi,  until 
the  investment  of  Port  Hudson  by  the  Union  army. 
On  May  27,  1863,  after  the  first  general  assault  on 
the  fort  had  been  made,  he  was  taken  sick,  sent  to 
the  hospital,  and  after  more  than  two  months  of 
suffering  was  sent  home,  arriving  contemporane- 
ously with  his  regiment,  whose  term  of  service  had 
expired.     On  regaining  his  health  Dr.  Newport  be- 
gan the  study  of  medicine,  and  attended  the  New 
York   Homoeopathic   Hospital   College  until    186S, 
when  he  graduated  from  that  institution  with  the 
degree  of  M.D.     He  was  more  or  less  in  practice, 
however,from  1865  to  186S  as  assistant  to  Dr.  Pierson 
of  South  Hadley  Falls  and  Holyoke,  Mass.,  whose 
delicate  health  and  advanced  age  largely  incapaci- 
tated him  from  the  active  practice  of  his  profession. 
In   the  latter  part  of    1868  Dr.   Newport  went  to 
California,  where  he  remained  nearly  a  year;   but 
within  that  period  came  east  again,  and  settled  in 
Meriden,  his  present  home.     Here  he  established 
at  once  an  extensive  practice,  which  he  has  main- 
tained  to   the   present   time.       In   June,   iS74,' he 
visited   Germany   and   England,    spending    about 
three  months   abroad.      The  same  year    he   was 
elected  alderman  of    the   city  of    Meriden,  which 
position,  and  that  of  president  of  the  board,  he  re- 
tained one  year.     In   1875   he  was  elected  medical 
director  of    the   state   encampment  of  the  Grand 
Army  of  the  Repubhc,  which  office  he  held  through 
the  regular  term.     Since  that  he  has  never  sought 
or  accepted  any  office,  his    large    and   increasing 
practice  demanding   all    his    time    and    attention. 
Having  lost  his  wife  by  death,  as  before  stated,  in 
February,  1875,  Dr.  Newport  was  again  married  on 
June   23,    1886,   to   Miss   Ann   Ellsworth    Horton, 
daughter  of  Eh  Horton  of  Windsor  Locks,  a  cele- 
brated inventor  and  manufacturer.     Mrs.  Newport 
is  a  lady  of  many  accomphshments,  of  Puritan  an- 
cestry, and  a  lineal  descendant  in  the  eighth  gen- 


288 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


eration  from  John  Alden  and  Priscilla  (Mullens) 
Alden  of  primitive  New  England  celebi-ity,  whose 
romantic  courtship  and  marriage  have  become  a 
familiar  story  to  every  descendant  of  the  Puritans. 
Mrs.  Newport's  father's  family,  the  Hortons,  is  an 
ancient  and  representative  family  of  New  England, 
prominent  in  political  and  civil  affairs  ever  since  the 
first  settlement  of  the  colonies. 

Dr.  Newport  is  connected  with  the  following 
Masonic  orders:  Apollo  Lodge,  No.  59,  of  Suffield; 
Meridian  Chapter,  No.  8,  O.  E.  S.,  Keystone  Chap- 
ter, No.  27,  R.  A.  M.,  Hamilton  Council,  No.  22,  R. 
and  S.  M.,  St.  Elmo  Commandery,  Knights  Temp- 
lars—  all  of  Meriden;  and  Pyramid  Temple,  A.  A. 
O.  N.  M.  S.,  of  Bridgeport.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  Merriam  Post,  No.  8,  G.  A.  R. ;  Teutonic  Lodge, 
No.  95,  L  O.  O.  F.;  Montowese  Tribe,  No.  6,  L  O. 
R.  M.;  Silver  City  Lodge,  No.  3,  A.  O.  U.  W.,  and 
the  Meriden  Scientific  Association  —  all  of  Meriden. 
He  also  holds  the  office  of  medical  examiner  for  a 
number  of  life  insurance  companies  and  societies. 


J.   M.    BAILEY,  Danbury:  Journalist;  Proprietor 
"  Danbury  News." 

James  Montgomery  Bailey  is  one  of  the  most 
popular  writers  in  this  state.  For  years  his  humor- 
ous productions  have  been  the  delight  of  circles  far 
beyond  the  boundaries  of 
Connecticut,  and  his  name 
is  a  household  word 
throughout  the  country. 
Mr.  Bailey  is  not  only  an 
admirable  humorist,  but 
he  is  also  a  first-class 
business  man.  At  the 
meeting  of  the  state 
board  of  trade  in  Janu- 
ary, i8gi,  he  was  elected 
iirst  vice-president,  and 
he  holds  the  position  of 
president  of  the  Danbury 
board.  He  was  born  in 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  25,  1841,  and  received  a  pub- 
lic school  education.  He  began  business  Hfe  as  a 
carpenter's  apprentice.  In  i860  he  removed  to 
Danbury  and  in  1862  enlisted  m  the  Seventeenth 
Connecticut  regiment,  serving  in  that  command  for 
three  years.  He  is  a  prominent  Mason,  belonging 
to  all  the  bodies  in  the  order,  from  the  blue  lodge 
to  the  mystic  shrine.  He  was  the  first  president  of 
the  Danbury  Hospital  Association  and  is  a  member 
of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Danbury  ReUef 
Society.  Mr.  Bailey  is  one  of  the  most  active  and 
influential  citizens  of  the  new  city  of  Danbury  and 
is  thoroughly  interested  in  its  progress  and  pros- 
perity. He  is  connected  with  the  Baptist  church. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Kate  D. 
Stewart  prior  to  her  marriage. 


J.    M.    BAILEY. 


ORLANDO  C.  OSBORN,  Oxford:  Farmer. 

Orlando  C.  Osborn  was  a  member  of  the  legisla- 
ture in  18S9,  representing  his  town  on  the  demo- 
cratic side  of  the  house.  He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  board  of  selectmen, 
justice  of  the  peace,  and 
school  visitor,  and  is  still 
the  incumbent  of  the  lat- 
ter position.  He  is  a 
farmer  by  occupation,  a 
member  of  the  grange, 
and  a  progressive  mana- 
ger, being  one  of  the  first 
/"-"^K/t^^-^v^  i'^  his  locality  to  adopt 
/  ^  \ /' ^»v  ^ -^V  ^^^"^"^S  improvements. 
He  is  a  member  of  Morn- 
ing Star  Lodge,  No.  47, 
F.  and  A.  M. ,  of  Seymour. 
The  wife  of  Mr.  Osborn 
was  Miss  Idella  J.  Andrew  prior  to  marriage  and 
is  still  living.  The  family  includes  two  sons  and 
two  daughters.  Mr.  Osborn  is  connected  with  the 
Episcopal  church.  He  was  born  in  Oxford  March 
23,  1847,  and  received  a  common  and  high  school 
education.  Most  of  his  life  has  been  spent  on  the 
farm  that  has  been  in  the  family  for  generations. 
It  is  crossed  by  the  New  York  &  New  England 
road,  the  station  being  located  on  a  portion  of  the 
estate  that  has  descended  to  him. 


O.    C.    OSBORN. 


THOMAS  NEARY,  Naugatuck:  Wholesale  and 
Retail  Merchant. 

Thomas  Neary  is  a  native  of  Ireland,  having  been 
born  in  county  Killkenny,  April  i,  1S33.  At  a  very 
early  age  he  left  home  and  friends  in  search  of  for- 
tune, with  scarcely  a  dol- 
lar in  his  pocket,  and  no 
reliance  on  anybody  or 
anything  except  his  own 
clear  head  and  strong 
hands.  He  first  went  to 
England,  but  afterwards 
sailed  for  America,  land- 
ing in  New  York.  Almost 
immediately  after  his  ar- 
rival in  this  country  he 
settled  in  Naugatuck, 
Conn.,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-one  he  was  mar- 
ried. In  1858  he  rented 
a  small  house  in  Naugatuck,  and  started  a  retail 
trade  in  spirituous  and  malt  liquors.  By  careful 
management  and  strict  attention  to  business  he 
built  up  a  prosperous  trade,  and  was  soon  able  to 
open  a  wholesale  department.  The  small  house 
which  he  rented  became  his  own  property,  and  in 
due  time  all  the  surrounding  ones  were  his  also,  as 


THOMAS    NEARY. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


289 


well  as  the  land  connected  therewith.  His  trade 
increased,  and  he  may  be  said  to  have  had  thirty- 
three  j-ears  of  uninterrupted  prosperity.  He  has 
been  all  the  time  acquiring  additional  real  estate, 
until  now  he  is  the  largest  individual  taxpayer  in 
Naugatuck.  His  present  place  of  business  is  per- 
haps the  finest  and  most  elaborate  of  its  kind  in  the 
state,  occupying  a  handsome  block  in  the  center  of 
the  town.  By  its  side,  and  a  Httle  in  the  rear, 
stands  the  old  building  in  which  as  a  poor  young 
man  he  first  began  business.  It  is  preserved  as  a 
memento  of  his  humble  beginnings,  and  visitors 
often  note  and  comment  upon  the  contrast  between 
the  two,  and  the  change  which  thirty-three  years 
have  wrought  under  Mr.  Neary's  skillful  manage- 
ment. From  a  pecuniary  standpoint,  his  life  has 
indeed  been  a  marvelous  success. 

Mr.  Neary  is  a  democrat  in  politics,  and  exerts  a 
powerful  influence  in  his  party.  He  has  never 
sought  public  office,  preferring  to  remain  in  the 
ranks.  He  is  an  earnest  and  generally  a  trium- 
phant worker  for  the  success  of  the  party  and  the 
candidate  in  whose  behalf  his  influence  and  labors 
are  enlisted. 


ALBERT  BARROWS,  Willimantic:  Farmer. 

Albert  Barrows  was  born  in  Mansfield,  June  27, 
1825,  and  received  a  common  school  education. 
With  the  exception  of  four  years  in  Norwich  and 
two  in  this  city,  his  life 
has  been  spent  in  Tol- 
land county.  He  has  been 
engaged  in  the  meat  busi- 
ness and  farming  as  an 
avocation.  Mr.  Barrows 
was  one  of  the  original 
members  of  the  Putnam 
Phalanx,  and  served  four- 
teen years  in  the  bat- 
talion. He  has  been  mar- 
ried three  times.  The 
first  and  second  wives, 
Mary  J.  and  Angeline  M. 
Slate,  were  daughters  of 

the  late  Deacon  N.  Slate  of  Mansfield.  The  third, 
Fanny  M.  Case,  was  the  daughter  of  the  late 
Luther  Case  of  Norwich.  She  died  on  the  4th 
of  April  of  the  present  year.  There  are  three 
children,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  One 
daughter  resides  in  Lowell,  Mass.,  and  the 
other  at  Mansfield.  Mr.  Barrows  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  church,  and  is  a  republican  in  pohtics, 
having  united  with  that  political  organization  after 
the  repeal  of  the  Missouri  compromise.  Prior  to 
that  act  he  was  a  democrat.  In  1S57  he  represented 
the  town  of  Mansfield  in  the  legislature.  He  was 
a  member  of   the    school  board  in   Windham   for 


ALBERT    BARROWS. 


nine  years,  and  truant  officer  for  the  same  period; 
assessor  of  the  town  and  borough  for  fourteen 
years;  and  has  occupied  other  minor  offices.  His 
father,  the  late  Deacon  Samuel  Barrows,  was  one 
of  the  first  settlers  of  Willimantic. 


J.    U.    TAINTOR. 


JAMES    U.    TAINTOR,    Hartford:     Secretary 
Orient  Insurance  Company. 

James   Ulysses   Taintor,   fourth    son   of    Ralph 
Smith  and  Phoebe  Higgins  (Lord)  Taintor,  is  a  na- 
tive  of    the   town   of  Pomfret,  Windham  county, 
Connecticut.      He    was 
born    October    23,    1844. 
He  traces  his  ancestry  to 
Captain  Josiah  Burnham, 
who  was  master  of   the 
brig-of-war  Oliver  Crom- 
well of    revolutionary 
memory;  and  to  Thomas 
Lord,    one    of    the    first 
proprietors   of    Hartford, 
from    whose    family    the 
section    of    the    city    fa- 
miliarly known  as  ' '  Lord's 
Hill"   received  its  name. 
The  American   ancestors 
of  Mr.  Taintor  on  both  sides  were  Pilgrims;  and 
one  of  them.  Rev.  Ralph  Smith,  is  mentioned  in 
colonial  history   as   having  preached  before  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop   and   Governor    Bradford   on   the 
occasion  of  an  important  conference  between  these 
notable  representatives  of  Massachusetts  and  Ply- 
mouth colonies. 

Mr.  Taintor's  stay  in  the  town  of  his  nativity  was 
brief,  for  in  his  fourth  year  the  family  moved  to 
Colchester,  where  he  spent  his  early  years  in  solv- 
ing the  mysteries  of  the  district  school.  Later  he 
prepared  for  college  in  the  reputable  Bacon  acad- 
emy of  Colchester,  and  entered  Yale  in  September, 
1862,  graduating  from  the  university  in  1866.  The 
summer  before  his  gi-aduation  he  was  elected 
assistant  clerk  of  the  Connecticut  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives—a unique  experience  for  a  college 
student  — was  clerk  of  the  House  the  succeeding 
year,  and  in  1868  was  called  to  the  clerkship  of 
the  Senate.  In  January,  1869,  he  became  in- 
terested in  the  principal  fire  insurance  agency  in 
the  city  of  Meriden.  In  July  of  the  same  year  he 
became  adjuster  of  losses  for  the  Phoenix  Insur- 
ance Company  of  Hartford,  and  continued  in  that 
position  until  the  autumn  of  1881,  when  he  was 
called  to  the  home  office  of  the  company.  He  re- 
mained in  the  service  of  the  company  until  June, 
1888,  when  he  became  secretary  of  the  Orient  In- 
surance Company,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

Mr.     Taintor    is    an    earnest     republican,     and 
during   periods   of   his   life    has    been   thoroughly 


19 


290 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


active  in  political  affairs.  At  the  invitation  of 
Mayor  Root  in  1888  he  became,  and  still  is,  a 
member  of  the  Board  of  Street  Commissioners  of 
Hartford,  but  holds  no  other  public  office.  He  is 
married  and  has  two  children,  both  sons.  Mrs. 
Taintor  was  Miss  Isabel  Spencer,  of  Hartford. 


JONATHAN     FLYNT     MORRIS,     H.artford  : 
President  Charter  Oak  National  Bank. 
Jonathan  F.  Morris,  fifth  son  of  Edward  Morris 
of  Belchertown,  Mass.,  and  of  the  seventh  genera- 
tion  from   ancestor  Edward   Morris   of   Waltham 
Holy  Cross  Abbey,  in  the 
county    of     Essex,    Eng- 
land,    and     R  o  X  b  u  r  3^ , 
Mass., was  born  at  "Kent- 
field   Place  "   in   Belcher- 
town,   March     20,     1822. 
After    the    death   of    his 
father,  in    1S24,  he  lived 
with  his  maternal  uncle, 
Rufus  Flynt,  in  Monson, 
until    1836.     In   April   of 
that  year  he  went  to  New 
York  city,  where    he   at- 
tended  school   and  filled 
clerkships   until  October, 
to    sea    as    supercargo    of 
the    Haytian    trade.       He 
four    succeeding     years    in 


1 843 ,  when  he 
a  vessel  engag 
spent    most    of 


went 

id    in 

the 


commercial  establishments  at  Port  de  Paix  and 
Gonaives  ;  but  in  the  autumn  of  1S47,  having 
become  reduced  in  health  by  an  attack  of  yellow 
fever,  which  was  followed  by  a  relapse,  he  was 
compelled  to  seek  a  change  of  climate,  and  re- 
turned to  New  England.  He  soon  recovered  his 
health,  and  obtained  a  situation  in  the  cashier's  de- 
partment of  the  Western  Railroad  —  now  Boston 
&  Albany  —  at  Springfield,  where  he  remained 
until  March,  1850,  when  he  was  offered  and  ac- 
cepted the  position  of  teller  in  the  Tolland  County 
Bank  of  Tolland,  in  this  state.  He  remained  with 
this  institution  until  chosen  cashier  of  the  Charter 
Oak  Bank  of  Hartford,  September  13,  1853.  He 
entered  upon  the  duties  of  his  new  position  on  the 
first  opening  of  the  bank,  October  3,  1853,  and  re- 
mained in  it  until  chosen  its  president,  September 
3,  1879,  which  latter  position  he  continues  to  fill. 

In  politics  Mr.  Morris  has  been  a  whig  and  a  re- 
publican. With  the  latter  party  he  continues  to 
act.  He  was  one  of  the  nine  persons  who  met  in 
Hartford,  February  4,  1856,  to  take  the  first  step 
toward  the  formation  of  the  republican  party  in 
Connecticut.  Of  these  nine  gentlemen  only  three 
are  now  living,  viz.:  General  Hawley,  now  United 
States  senator;  Judge  Shipman  of  the  United  States 
district  court;  and  the  subject  of  this  sketch.     In 


educational  affairs  Mr.  Morris  has  always  mani- 
fested a  lively  interest,  and  during  his  residence  in 
Hartford  has  borne  an  active  part.  He  is,  and  has 
been  for  years,  treasurer  of  the  AVadsworth  Athe- 
naeum, treasurer  of  the  Hartford  Theological 
Seminary,  and  treasurer  of  the  West  Middle  school 
district.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Connecticut  His- 
torical Societ3%  and  for  many  years  has  been  its 
treasurer  also.  In  business  matters,  additionally  to 
his  duties  as  president  and  director  of  the  Charter 
Oak  National  Bank,  he  has  filled  the  position  of 
trustee  for  the  Society  of  Savings  on  Pratt  street 
for  thirty-four  years,  and  has  been  for  thirty  years 
an  auditor  of  the  same  institution.  He  is  also  a 
director  in  the  National  Fire  Insurance  Company, 
and  one  of  the  original  members  of  the  Cedar 
Hill  Cemetery  Association.  He  has  during  the 
same  time  served  as  trustee  or  executor  in  the 
settlement  of  several  important  estates.  He  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  Connecticut  Society  Sons 
of  the  American  Revolution.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church. 

Mr.  Morris  married  May  8,  1855,  Harriet,  young- 
est daughter  of  Samuel  Hills  of  Springfield,  Mass. 
She  was  for  many  years  an  invalid,  and  died  March 
3,  1879,  leaving  two  daughters.  The  elder,  Anna, 
married  Rev.  Alfred  Tyler  Perry  of  Ware,  Mass.; 
and  the  younger,  Alice,  is  the  wife  of  Rev.  Charles 
Smith  Mills  of  Andover,  Mass. 


CHARLES  B.  SMITH,  Hartford:  Senior  Part- 
ner Smith,  Bourn  &  Co.,  Manufacturers  Harness 
and  Saddlery. 

Charles  B.  Smith  was  born  in  Hartford  July  31, 
181 1.  His  parents  were  Normand  and  Mary 
Boardman  Smith;  Normand  Smith  was  the  fifth 
son  of  William,  who  had 
eight  children.  The  fa- 
ther of  William  was  John 
Smith,  who  was  born  in 
Liverpool,  England,  in 
1680;  married  to  Anna 
AUwood  of  Glastonbury, 
England,  in  1722,  and 
emigrated  to  America  the 
same  year,  settling  in 
Boston.  In  1726  he 
moved  to  Hartford,  but 
died  in  Liverpool,  Eng- 
land, in  1729.  He  had 
three  children  —  George, 
The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was  the  ninth  child  of  a  family  of  fifteen  children. 
One  brother  was  Deacon  Thomas  Smith,  who  died 
in  Hartford  in  1882.  Rev.  James  AUwood  Smith, 
who  died  in  LTriionville  in  this  state  the  same  year, 
was   also   his   brother;    and   another   was   Doctor 


Marv,   and  William. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNFXTICUT. 


291 


Andrew  Kingsbury  Smith,  surgeon  in  the  United 
States  army  for  many  years  until  he  was  retired 
with  the  rank  of  colonel  in  February,  1S90. 

Charles  B.  Smith  was  educated  at  Lenox,  Mass., 
and  at  Hartford.  As  early  as  December  i,  1833, 
when,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  ke  embarked  in 
business,  becoming  a  member  of  the  firm  of  Smith, 
Hubbard  &  Co.,  at  New  Orleans,  which  was  estab- 
lished as  a  branch  of  the  Hartford  house  in  1S16  — 
the  oldest,  or  one  of  the  oldest  business  houses  in  the 
southwest,  then  known  as  Smith  &  Bigelow.  A 
few  years  after  engaging  in  business  at  New 
Orleans,  his  interest  commenced  in  the  present 
Hartford  firm  of  Smith,  Bourn  &  Co.,  then  T.  Smith 
&  Co. ,  where  he  has  for  many  years  been  the  senior 
partner.  This  firm  is  one  of  the  oldest  engaged  in 
the  saddlery  business  in  the  United  States, —  dating 
from  1794.  The  files  of  Hartford  papers  published 
during  the  early  days  of  the  firm,  contain  their 
advertisement,  in  which  the  location  of  the  estab- 
lishment is  described  as  "six  yards  from  the 
state  house."  In  1S70  Mr.  Smith  withdrew  from 
the  New  Orleans  house  of  Smith  &  Brother,  as  the 
firm  was  then  styled.  He  had  previously  opened  a 
branch  of  the  Hartford  house  in  New  York  city,  at 
No.  10  Old  Slip,  in  1842,  under  the  name  of  T.  Smith 
&  Co.;  afterward  located  at  loi  Maiden  Lane,  also 
on  Beekman  street,  and  afterward  on  Broadway. 
Of  late  years  its  location  has  been  at  No.  40  Warren 
street,  under  the  firm  name  of  C.  B.  Smith  &  Co., 
succeeded  later  by  Smith,  Worthington  &  Co., 
which  firm  is  still  actively  engaged  in  business. 

Mr.  Smith  has  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  to 
whom  he  was  married  November  5,  1S44,  was  Miss 
Frances  M.  Humphrey,  daughter  of  Lemuel  Hum- 
phrey of  Hartford.  After  her  decease  he  married, 
October  3,  1855,  Miss  EUza  A.  Thayer  of  Westfield, 
Mass.,  whose  father  was  Dea.  Lucius  F.  Thaj-er. 
Her  grandfather  was  Dr.  Nathaniel  Thayer.  ^Ir. 
Smith  has  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Frances  Eliza  (Smith) 
Miller,  and  four  grandchildren. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  member  of  the  Asylum  Hill 
Congregational  church.  In  politics  he  is  a  republi- 
can. His  life  has  been  one  of  continued  activity, 
covering  a  business  experience  of  nearly  sixty 
years,  through  periods  of  wonderful  vicissitude  in 
civil  and  financial  affairs.  He  has  been  a  partici- 
pant in,  as  well  as  an  observer  of,  the  financial 
crises  which  have  come  to  the  commercial  world 
from  one  cause  or  another  within  the  last  half 
century,  but  has  maintained  an  unimpaired  credit 
for  himself  and  his  firm,  which  is  still  strong  and 
solid  financially,  as  it  is  high  in  honorable  reputa- 
tion among  the  commercial  houses  of  the  country. 
It  cannot  be  regarded  as  adulatory  to  say  that 
wherever  Mr.  Smith  is  known  his  name  is  a 
synonym  for  personal  integrity,  rectitude  of  motive 
and  action,  and  honorable  citizenship. 


JAY  H.  HART,  Waterbury:  Manufacturer. 

Mr.  Hart  was  born  in  Berkshire  county,  Mass., 
Dec.  II,  1847,  and  educated  in  the  common  schools 
and  at  the  South  Berkshire  Institute.  He  lays 
claim  to  the  fact  that  the 
town  of  Hartford  was 
named  from  one  of  his 
ancestors  who  first  had  a 
ferry  or  fording  place  on 
the  Connecticut  River, 
near  the  present  site  of 
the  bridge,  which  was 
called  "  Hart's  ford,"  and 
finally  became  the  name 
of  the  town  and  city. 
Mr.  Hart  is  a  manufac- 
turer and  has  lived  in 
Great  Barrington,  Mass., 
New  Haven,  Bridgeport, 
and  Waterbury,  Conn.,  and  is  now  connected  with 
the  Piatt  Brothers  &  Company,  and  secretary  of  the 
Patent  Button  Company.  He  is  a  republican,  and 
has  been  tax  collector  of  the  city  of  Waterbury  for 
four  years,  and  a  member  of  the  board  of  fire  com- 
missioners and  common  council.  He  is  connected 
with  the  Congregational  church,  the  Waterbury 
Club,  and  the  Masonic  and  Odd  Fellows  fraternities. 
His  wife  was  Bertha  L.  Piatt,  and  he  has  six  chil- 
dren. He  is  recognized  as  one  of  the  pushing, 
go-ahead  men  of  the  "  Brass  City." 


M.    B.  DUNBAR,  Torrington:  Treasurer  L'l'nion 

Hardware  Company. 

Marcene  B.  Dunbar  has  made  his  way  from  the 
bench  to  the  position  which  he  now  occupies.  He 
learned  the  trade  of  wood  turning  and  was  advanced 
step  by  step  in  the  com- 
pany, the  past  eighteen 
years  having  been  spent 
in  its  employ.  Mr.  Dun- 
bar was  born  in  Torring- 
ton, April  17,  1850,  and 
received  a  common  school 
education,  completing  a 
thorough  training  at  the 
Eastman  Business  Col- 
lege in  1867.  In  1872  he 
spent  the  year  in  Chicago. 
Mr.  Dunbar  is  a  democrat 
in  politics  and  holds  the 
position  of  town  auditor. 

He  is  a  member  of  Trinity  Church,  Seneca  Lodge, 
No.  55,  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
I.  O.  O.  F.  of  Connecticut;  has  recently  been 
elected  one  of  the  Grand  Officers  of  the  Royal 
Arcanum  for  Connecticut.  He  is  also  treasurer  of 
the  Torrington  Club.     The  Union  Hardware  Com- 


M.   B.    DUNBAR. 


292 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


panj'  of  which  he  is  the  treasurer,  emplo3's  a  force  of 
250  hands,  being  one  of  the  leading  manufacturing 
industries  at  Torrington.«  Mr.  Dunbar  has  a  wife 
and  three  children,  one  son  and  two  daughters.  Mrs. 
Dunbar  prior  to  her  marriage  was  Miss  Helen  D. 
Smith.  Treasurer  Dunbar  is  an  able  business 
man,  and  is  regarded  with  genuine  favor  in  the 
community  where  he  resides. 


A.    N.    BELDING. 


A.  N.  BELDING,  Rockville:  Secretary  Belding 
Bros.  &  Co.,  and  Manager  the  Rockville  Mills. 
Alvah  Norton  Belding,  one  of   the  best  known 
manufacturers  in  the   state,  was  born  in  Ashfield, 
Mass.,    March    27,    1838.      His   education    was    in 
the  common  schools  and 
in   the   high    school.     At 
seventeen   years    of    age 
he  removed  to  Michigan, 
where     he    cleared    wild 
land     and    founded     the 
town  of  Belding.    In  com- 
pany   with    his    brother, 
Hiram  H.,  he  began  the 
sale  of   sewing-silk   from 
house  to  house,  the  ma- 
terial  being  supplied  by 
another    brother    in    the 
east,  Milo  M.     The  bus- 
iness    soon     became     so 
large  that  it  required  several  teams  and  controlled 
a  great  part  of  the  jobbing  trade  of  the  section. 
Three  years  after  they  started  a  house  in  Chicago, 
Milo  M.,  joining  them.    In  1863  the  brothers  formed 
a  partnership  with  E.  K.  Rose  of  Rockville  for  the 
manufacture  of  silk,  renting  the  first  floor  of  what 
was  then  the  Glasgow  Thread  Company's  mill  in 
Rockville.     This  partnership  came  to  an  end  in  a 
few   years,   and   afterwards   the  Belding  Brothers 
bought  the  mill,  and  have  since  run  it,  in  connec- 
tion with  other  manufacturing  concerns  in  Belding, 
Mich.,  Montreal,  Northampton,  and  San  Francisco. 
Mr.  Belding  has  not  been  an  active  politician,  but 
was  once  elected  representative  to  the  lower  house 
in  the  Connecticut  legislature  in  1882,  being  elected 
by  the  largest  proportionate  vote  of  electors  ever 
given  in  his  town.     He  is  a  republican.     He  was 
married  January  6,   1870,  to  Lizzie  S.  Merrick  of 
Shelburne  Falls,  Mass.,  and  has   two  children,  a 
son  and  a  daughter.     Mr.  Belding's  wide  interest 
in  manufacturing  and  business  afl^airs  can  best  be 
understood  by  a  glance  at  the  various  ofificial  posi- 
tions he  holds.     He  is  secretary  of  the  Belding  Bros. 
&  Co.  Silk  MiU;  a  director  in  the  Belding,  Paul  & 
Co.  Silk  Mill  of  Montreal;  director  in  the  Carlson  & 
Courier  Silk  Manufacturing  Company,  San  Fran- 
cisco, Cal. ;  president  of  the  Belding  Manufacturing 
Company,  refrigerators,  Belding,  Mich.;  president 


of  the  Belding  Land  and  Improvement  Company, 
Belding,  Mich. ;  director  in  the  Miller  Casket  Com- 
pany, Belding,  Mich. ;  director  in  the  Hall  Brothers 
Manufacturing  Company,  furniture,  Belding, 
Mich. ;  director  in  the  Belding  Savings  Bank,  Beld- 
ing, Mich.;  director  in  the  St.  Lawrence  Fiber 
Pulp  Company,  Governeur,  N.  Y. ;  director  in  the 
Rockville  National  Bank,  and  People's  Savings 
Bank  of  Rockville;  director  in  the  American  Mills 
Company,  woolens,  Rockville;  and  a  stockholder 
in  several  other  companies.  Despite  his  various 
interests,  he  finds  time  to  devote  himself  to  the 
welfare  of  the  city  in  which  he  resides,  and  is  one 
of  its  most  popular  citizens.  He  is  a  typical,  ener- 
getic New  England  business  man,  who  has  the 
rare  ability  to  do  a  great  many  things,  and  do 
them  all  well.  An  instance  showing  the  pluck  of 
the  Belding  Brothers  in  their  enterprises  is  that  of 
the  attempt  to  bore  an  artesian  well  in  the  vicinity 
of  their  mill  in  Northampton.  After  a  depth  of 
3,700  feet  had  been  reached  through  the  sandstone, 
and  $32,000  had  been  expended,  the  firm  aban- 
doned the  attempt,  for  the  first  time  in  its  business 
career  having  been  baffled.  Mr.  Belding  is  also 
interested  with  his  brothers  in  the  development  of 
the  new  south,  owning  75,000  acres  of  land  in 
North  Carolina  and  Tennessee,  teeming  with  almost 
inexhaustible  wealth  in  timber  and  minerals.  The 
record  of  the  Belding  Brothers  is  certainly  a  re- 
markable one,  and  one  of  the  leading  spirits  of  the 
firm  is  Alvah  N.  Belding,  the  subject  of  this  sketch. 


HON.    JOHN   G.    ROOT,   Hartford:    President 
Farmers  and  Mechanics  National  Bank. 
John  G.  Root  is  a  native  of  Westfield,  Mass., 
where  he  was  born  April  20,  1835.     He  came  to 
Hartford  in  1855,  and  has  resided  in  the  city  con- 
tinuously since  that  time. 
His  first  financial  experi- 
ence  was   with     the    old 
Bank  of  Hartford  County, 
now    the    American   Na- 
tional Bank,  with   which 
he  was  first  officially  con- 
nected  as   cashier,  being 
elected  to  that  position  in 
1871,     and     retaining    it 
until  1883,  when  he  was 
chosen   president    of   the 
Farmers    and   Mechanics 
National  Bank,  which  re- 
lation  still  contmues.    He 
time   treasurer   of  the  Hartford  Trust 
He  is  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  Me- 
chanics Savings  Bank,  a  director  in  the  Orient  In- 
surance Company  and  several  other  corporations, 
and  prominently  connected  with/civic  and  mihtary 


J-  ' 

was   for 
Company 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


293 


organizations   in    Hartford.      During  the  war   he 
held  the  rank  of  captain  in  the  Twenty-second  Con- 
necticut regiment,  and  is  now  one  of  the  leading 
members  of  Robert   O.   Tyler  Post  of  the  Grand 
Army  and  a  trustee  of  the  Post  fund.     He  is  con- 
nected with  the  highest  orders  of  the  Masonic  fra- 
ternity in  the  state,  and  has  held  the  office  of  grand 
treasurer  of  the  grand  lodge  for  a  number  of  years. 
He  delivered  the  oration  in  Cedar  Hill  cemetery 
when  the  handsome  monument  in  honor  of  Thomas 
H.  Seymour  was  dedicated  a  few  years  ago,  which 
effort  reflected  permanent  credit  upon  him  as  an 
author    and   orator.      For   years   he   has   held   an 
honorable  place  in  the  First  Company  Governor's 
Foot  Guard,  and  is  an  influential  member  of  the 
Veteran   Association.      In    all    these    positions   of 
civil   and   military   comradeship   he   has  been  the 
ideal  representative  of  good  feeling  and  manliness. 
He  was  elected  to  the  mayoralty  of  Hartford  in 
1888,  and  proved  himself  an  able  and  conscientious 
chief  magistrate  of  the  municipality.     His  adminis- 
tration was  one  of  marked  success,  and  the  review 
of  his  career  as  mayor  increases  the  great  public 
respect  which  has  been  felt  for  him  since  his  resi- 
dence in  the  city.    His  uprightness  of  character  and 
frankness  of  intercourse  with  men  secure  for  him 
the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  townsmen  in  a 
very  eminent  degree.  , 


upright  mercantile  course,  and  partly  from  a  large 
interest  in  Iowa  lands,  of  which,  in  1855,  he  pur- 
chased some  nine  hundred  acres.     Mr.  Allen  is  a 
republican,  having  joined  that  party  in   1856.     He 
was  in  earlier   years  a  democrat,  but  joined  the 
American  party  in  1855,  and  was  by  them  sent  to 
the  general  assembly  of  that  year.     He  was  again 
elected  to  the  legislature  in  1889,  by  the  republi- 
cans, and  served  on  the  appropriations  committee. 
He  has  held  various  offices  of  trust  in  New  Hart- 
ford, has  been  grand  juror,  is  now  and  has  been 
for  twelve  years  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  board  of  reUef.     He  was  the  last 
captain  in  his  native  town  in  the  old  state  militia, 
holding  his  commission  until  the  disbanding  of  the 
organization,  about  1844.     He  has  the  esteem  and 
respect  of  all  parties  in  the  town,  with  whose  inter- 
ests he  has  been  identified  for  nearly  fifty  years. 
In  May,  1846,  Mr   Allen  married   Miss  Eveline  U. 
Case  of  North  Canton.     They  have  no  children. 


SAMUEL   ALLEN,   New   Hartford:   Justice  of 

the  Peace. 

Mr.  Allen  is  a  native  of  Barkhamsted,  where  he 
was  born  March  15,  1823.     He  was  the  third  son  of 
Joel  and  Rosanna  Case  Allen,  whose  children  were 
eight  in  number.     He  re- 
ceived   his   education    in 
the  district  schools  of  his 
native      town,      finishing 
with  a  few  terms  at  the 
North   Canton  academy. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  removed  to  Pine  Mead- 
ow —  which     has    since 
been    his     home  —  and 
worked  for   six   years   in 
the  rule  shop  of  H.  Cha- 
pin.     In   1850  he  formed 
a     partnership    with    his 
brother,  Philemon  Allen, 
in  a  brass  foundry,  and  two  years  later  he  bought 
out  his  brother's  interest.     In  1867  he  sold  his  foun- 
dry business,  and  associated  himself  with  another 
brother,  Anson  J.  Allen,  in  mercantile  business  in 
Pine  Meadow.    For  twenty-one  years  Mr.  Allen  re- 
tained an  interest  in  this  store  as  senior  partner. 
In  1887  he  retired  from  business  on  a  handsome 
competency,  gained  partly  from  his  successful  and 


SAMUEL    ALLEX. 


E.  C.    DENNIS,   Stafford    Springs:    Flour  and 
Grain  Merchant. 

Ebenezer   C.    Dennis    was    born    in    Hardwick, 
Worcester   County,  Mass.,  July  26,  1834,   and  re- 
ceived a  public  school  education.      He  represented 
the  Twenty-fourth   sena- 
torial district  during   the 
sessionsof  1881,1882, 1883, 
and  1884,  serving  as  chair- 
man of  the  committee  on 
claims  during  a  portion  of 
the  time.      His  senatorial 
career  was  marked  by  the 
strictest   devotion   to   the 
interests  of  the  state,  and 
was   creditable    in   every    ,  , 
sense  of  the  word.      Ex- 
Senator  Dennis  formerly 
resided  in  Worcester.   For 
twenty-four  years  he  was 
engaged  in  the  wholesale  hide  and  leather  business, 
but  a  number  of  years  he  has  been  at  the   head  of 
an  extensive  flour  and  grain  trade.     Mr.  Dennis  is 
a  republican  in  pohtics,  and  has  held  the  office  of 
assessor   at   Stafford   for   several   years,   is    chair- 
man of  the  board   of   selectmen,  and   has   been   a 
director  of  the  Stafford  National  Bank  for  many 
years.     He   has  also  been  warden  of  the  borough 
of  Stafford,  and  has  taken  a  prominent  part  in  local 
affairs.      He  is   a   bank   director,    and   a   man   of 
thorough  business  training.     He  is  a  member  of  the 
Business  Men's  Club  and  of  the  Grange.     His  reh- 
gious    associations   are   with    the   Congregational 
church.      The  ex-senator's  family  consists  of  a  wife 
and  one  son.     The  former  was  Miss  Sophronia  M. 
Fuller  prior  to  her  marriage. 


C.    DENNIS. 


294 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


FREDERICK     JESUP     BANKS,     Bridgeport: 
Cashier  City  National  Bank. 

Frederick  J.  Banks  has  always  resided  in  Bridge- 
port, where  he  was  born,  July  20,  1S54.  He  was 
educated  in  Strong's  Military  Institute,  where  he 
received  ample  prepara- 
tion for  the  business 
career  which  he  has  since 
developed.  His  first  start 
in  business  life  was  as 
bookkeeper  and  teller  for 
the  banking  firm  of  Hatch 
&  Watson  for  three  years. 
His  faithfulness  gained 
him  promotion  to  a  posi- 
tion in  the  City  National 
Bank  in  1874  as  a  book- 
keeper, from  which  he 
was  advanced  to  be  the 
receiving  teller,  and  later 
for  ten  years  the  courteous  and  very  efficient  pay- 
ing teller.  He  now  fills  the  honorable  and  very 
responsible  position  of  cashier,  most  acceptably  to 
the  institution,  and  to  the  gratification  of  his  many 
friends.  Mr.  Banks  married,  January  23,  1S89, 
Miss  Julia  L.  Whitehouse  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  and 
their  beautiful  and  hospitable  home  is  on  Chnton 
avenue.  Mr.  Banks  has  never  sought  public 
honors  or  distinctions;  he  is,  however,  the  trusted 
treasurer  of  the  Bridgeport  hospital,  and  is  deeply 
interested  in  its  welfare  —  as  of  everything  that 
tends  to  promote  the  social,  moral,  and  charitable 
interests  of  his  native  city.  He  is  a  member  of  St. 
John's  Episcopal  church  of  Bridgeport. 


HENRY  R.  ADKINS;  Winsted:   Harness-maker. 
Henry    R.    Adkins   has   spent  most    of    his   hfe 
in  the  ^business  of  harness-making.     He  is  a  well- 
known  resident  in  his  section  of  the  state.  He  com- 
menced  life    in    the    old 
town   of    Plymouth,    and 
afterwards     removed    to 
New   Hartford.      Thence 
he  transferred   his  inter- 
ests to  Winsted,  where  he 
has  since  resided.     He  is 
a   member   of    the    First 
Congregational  church  of 
that  place,  and  a  man  of 
exemplary  life  and  char- 
acter.    His  wife,   who  is 
still  living,  was  Miss  Ruth 
H.  K.  ADKINS.  Ann  Baker  prior  to  mar- 

riage. Both  of  the  child- 
ren, the  fruit  of  this  union,  are  dead.  Mr.  Adkins 
was  born  in  the  town  of  Plymouth,  January  30, 
1815,  and  received  a  common  school  education. 


GEORGE   H.    CLOWES,   Waterbury:  Manufac- 
turer of  Sheet  Brass  and  Copper,  Seamless  Brass 
and  Copper  Tubing,  Brazed  Tubing,  etc. 
George  H.   Clowes  was  born  in  Clinton,  Oneida 
county,   N.  Y.,  June  17,   1842,  at  which  place  his 
father,    the   Rev.    Timothy    Clowes,    LL.D.,   was 
principal   of   the    Clinton 
Liberal  Institute.    A  year 
later  his   parents   moved 
to   Philadelphia    and    re- 
sided   there    about    four 
years.      From    that    city 
they  went  to  Hempstead, 
L.  I.,  where  they  resided 
until  he  was  about  eleven 
years    of    age.       During 
this     time     he     attended 
school  at  the  Hempstead 
Seminary,  and  later  on  at 
G.  H.  ci.uwEs.  Jamaica       Academy      at 

Jamaica,  L.  I.  At  the 
age  of  eleven  he  was  sent  to  Thetford  Academy, 
Thetford,  Vt.,  and  remained  there  until  he  became 
fifteen  j-ears  of  age.  He  then  went  to  De  Pere, 
Wisconsin,  and  spent  one  year  in  the  banking 
office  of  his  brother  there.  Subsequently  he  at- 
tended St.  Lawrence  University  at  Appleton,  Wis- 
consin. His  father  died  in  1847,  and  a  few  years 
later  his  mother  removed  to  Brooklyn,  which  city 
was  chiefly  his  home  up  to  the  year  1S75. 

Shortly  after  the  commencement  of  the  war  he 
took  a  course  of  military  instructions  under  Col. 
Tompkins,  who  was  appointed  by  the  U.  S.  Gov- 
ernment to  fit  officers  for  positions  in  the  army. 
Having  passed  a  creditable  examination  before  the 
board  of  the  U.S.  Government  examining  officers, 
he  received  the  appointment  of  adjutant  of  the 
McClellan  infantry,  then  under  the  command  of  an 
experienced  French  officer  (Col.  Levy).  After 
spending  several  months  and  considerable  money 
in  helping  to  raise  the  regiment  to  the  number  of 
600  men,  there  was  an  order  from  the  war  depart- 
ment to  stop  recruiting  and  to  consolidate  all 
incomplete  regiments.  His  regiment  was  consol- 
idated with  one  of  about  400  men,  and  the  whole 
staff"  of  the  larger  contingent  thrown  out;  owing 
entirely,  as  is  believed,  to  political  influence.  The 
young  adjutant  became  somewhat  chagrined  at 
the  treatment  he  had  received  and  determined  to 
let  army  matters  alone.  On  the  second  call  for 
troops,  however,  he  joined  the  47th  regiment,  N. 
Y.  N.  G.,  and  shouldered  a  musket.  Shortly  after 
joining  the  regiment  he  was  appointed  sergeant- 
major  and  held  the  position  until  mustered  out  of 
the  three  months  service  for  which  the  regiment 
was  mi:stered  in.  In  the  spring  of  1863  he  ac- 
cepted a  position  as  paj-master's  clerk  on  board 
the  U.  S.   gunboat  I-'/a))ibcaii,  doing  dut}-  off  the 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


295 


coast  of  North  and  South  Carohna,  Georgia,  and 
Florida,  during  a  period  of  about  one  j^ear  and  a 
half.  Shortly  after  the  evacuation  of  Charleston 
he  was  transferred  to  a  similar  position  on  the 
United  States  store  ship  Home,  and  had  charge  of 
the  accounts  and  naval  stores  on  board  that  vessel 
and  several  smaller  ones,  and  held  this  position 
until  all  were  ordered  home  in  the  summer  of  1864. 
After  settling  his  accounts  with  the  government, 
he  became  engaged  in  the  large  manufacturing  hat 
house  of  Gardner  &  Co.,  New  York,  where  he 
remained  two  years,  at  first  as  a  bookkeeper  and 
subsequently  as  salesman.  This  position  he  gave 
up  to  accept  one  with  the  Middlefield  Fire  and 
Building  Stone  Co. ,  whose  works  and  office  were 
situated  at  1269  Broadway,  New  York.  After  re- 
maining about  two  years  with  this  company,  he  re- 
ceived an  offer  of  the  appointment  of  paymaster's 
clerk  on  the  U.  S.  ^^xTLt)0^.\.  Jnanita,  ordered  to  the 
European  station,  which  position  he  accepted,  and 
went  on  board  the  vessel  twenty-four  hours  after 
the  appointment.  The  vessel  sailed  for  the  Euro- 
pean station  July,  1S69,  and  did  not  return  to  the 
United  States  until  July,  1872.  His  next  pos- 
ition was  with  the  New  York  Loan  Indemity 
Co.  as  loan  and  discount  clerk.  During  the  two 
years  he  was  with  this  company  he  influenced 
to  it  deposits  to  the  amount  of  upwards  of  a 
quarter  of  a  million  of  dollars,  more,  it  is  be- 
lieved, than  its  president,  secretary,  and  nineteen 
directors  combined.  January  i,  1875,  he  became 
head  bookkeeper  of  Brown  &  Brothers  and  held 
that  position  up  to  the  time  of  change  in  manage- 
ment, when  Franklin  Farrel  assumed  control  of  the 
company,  at  which  time  he  was  reappointed  office 
manager  and  assistant  treasurer,  and  remained  in 
such  position  until  they  made  an  assignment  in 
January,  1886.  After  the  assignment  Mr.  Clowes 
remained  several  months  with  the  trustees  of  the 
company  or  up  to  the  time  when  he  purchased  that 
portion  known  as  their  seamless  tube,  brazed  tube, 
and  boiler  business.  After  building  this  part  of  the 
business  up  to  what  was  generally  considered  a 
great  success  and  outgrowing  the  occupied  prem- 
ises, the  present  partners  (Randolph  &  Clowes)  pur- 
chased the  old  rolling  mill  of  Brown  &  Brothers, 
and  the  remainder  of  the  property.  The  past  two 
years  have  been  devoted  to  getting  that  part  of  the 
plant  in  a  good  condition  for  doing  a  successful 
business,  and  the  proprietors  have  good  reason  to 
feel  satisfaction  and  pride  in  the  results  they  have 
achieved.  They  started  in  April,  18S6,  with  about 
50  men  and  one  clerk,  with  a  small  office  about 
fourteen  feet  square;  they  now  employ  nearly  400 
men  and  have  three  depots,  one  in  New  York,  one 
in  Chicago,  and  one  in  Boston.  It  is  understood 
that  they  paid  the  trustees  of  Brown  &  Brothers  for 
the  property  they  bought  of  them,   in  all,  about 


$125,000,  and  have  expended  in  improving  the 
property  about  $275,000  more,  making  the  cost  of 
the  plant  to  them  about  $400,000.  Had  the  busi- 
ness not  been  made  a  success  the  original  cost  of 
the  property  would  have  been  considered  large; 
but,  having  made  a  success,  the  additional  expen- 
diture for  putting  the  property  in  good  shape  has 
given  it  a  value  more  than  double  the  amount 
actually  expended  on  and  for  it.  From  starting 
with  about  200  customers  on  their  books,  they  now 
have  nearly  3,000,  a  remarkable  result  to  have  ac- 
complished in  so  brief  a  period.  Although  Mr. 
Randolph  has  been  more  than  liberal  in  his  assist- 
ance in  furnishing  the  large  capital  necessary 
($800,000)  to  carry  on  the  business,  yet  he  has  given 
no  time  to  the  management  of  the  business;  and, 
beyond  his  financial  aid,  Mr.  Clowes  has  had  no 
assistance  whatever.  It  is  owing  entirely  to  his 
energy,  great  executive  ability  and  perseverance, 
that  Randolph  &  Clowes  to-day  stand  second  to 
none  in  their  line.  This  success  is  all  the  more 
marked  and  creditable,  from  the  fact  that  he  has 
succeeded  where  others  had  failed  who  were  sup- 
ported by  a  large  coterie  of  encouraging  and 
admiring  friends. 


F.    S.    CROSSFIELD,  Hartford:  Physician  and 

Surgeon. 

Dr.  Fred  S.  Crossfield  was  born  in  Keene,  N.  H., 
July  29,  1854,  and  received  an  academic  education, 
completing  his  general  studies  at  the  Keene  High 
School  and  Dean  Acad- 
emy in  Franklin.  He 
pursued  a  thorough  med- 
ical course  in  New  York 
and  has  been  engaged  in 
practice  in  Hartford  for 
thirteen  years.  He  is  the 
medical  director  of  the 
National  Life  Association 
and  belongs  to  the  City, 
Hartford  County,  and 
State  Medical  Societies, 
and  is  also  a  member  of 
the  American  Medical  As- 
sociation.   He  is  assistant 

surgeon  on  the  Putnam  Phalanx  staff,  and  is  con- 
nected with  the  Order  of  Red  Men.  Dr.  Cross- 
field  is  one  of  the  vestrymen  of  Christ  church.  In 
politics  he  is  a  republican.  His  wife,  who  is  still 
living,  was  MissL.  I.  Hill,  daughter  of  Hon.  E.  B. 
Hill  of  Glastonbur}-,  prior  to  her  marriage.  There 
are  no  children  in  the  family.  Dr.  Crossfield  occu- 
pies a  prominent  position  professionalh^  in  this  city 
and  is  regarded  with  the  most  genuine  esteem  by 
his  associates.  He  is  equally  honored  as  a 
citizen. 


F.    S.    CROSSFIELD. 


296 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


S.  W.   HAUGHTON,  Bozrah:  Farmer. 

Mr.  Haughtonwas  born  in  Utica,  N.  Y.,  Septem- 
ber 30,  1831,  and  was  educated  at  Christ  Chm-ch 
Hall,  Pomfret,  Conn.  He  has  followed  farming 
for  the  greater  part  of 
his  life,  and  has  resided 
in  Boston,  Buffalo,  and 
Bozrah,  being  assistant 
postmaster  in  the  latter 
town  during  the  Cleve- 
land administration.  He 
is  of  the  democratic  po- 
litical faith,  and  religious- 
ly connected  with  the 
Episcopal  church.  His 
wife  was  Harriet  W. 
Smith,  and  she  is  still 
living.  They  have  no 
children.  Mr.  Haughton 
is  a  gentleman  of  excellent  ability  and  earnest 
convictions.  He  is  careful  and  methodical  in  all 
business  affairs,  and  his  Hfe  thus  far  has  been  one 
of  great  usefulness.  He  is  highly  esteemed  by 
his  townsmen  and  all  who  enjoy  his  acquaintance. 


S.    W.    HAUGHTON. 


GEORGE    E.   ELLIOT,  Clinton:  Merchant. 

Mr.  Elliot  was  born  in  Killingworth  (now  Clin- 
ton) April  17,  1819,  and  comes  of  noted  ancestry. 
His  father  was  Ely  A.  Elliot  and  his  mother  Susan 
M.  Pratt  of  Old  Saybrook, 
and  he  is  the  direct  de- 
scendant in  the  seventh 
generation  from  John 
Eliot  of  Roxbury,  Mass., 
well  known  as  the  ' '  Apos- 
tle to  the  Indians,"  and 
the  first  to  translate  the 
Bible  into  the  native 
tongue  of  the  American 
aborigines.  The  subject 
of  this  sketch  was  edu- 
cated in  the  public  schools 
and  at  Amherst,  Mass., 
Academy,  and  has  been  a 
successful  merchant  in  Clinton  for  many  years. 
He  has  been  justice  of  the  peace,  judge  of  probate, 
and  postmaster,  but  at  present  holds  no  pubUc  of- 
fice except  that  of  member  of  the  board  of  school 
visitors,  which  he  has  held  from  1844  to  the  present 
time.  He  was  one  of  the  original  trustees  of  the 
famous  Morgan  school  of  Clinton,  and  is  its  secre- 
tary and  treasurer.  He  was  a  member  of  the  lower 
house  of  the  Connecticut  legislature  in  1853.  He  is 
connected  with  the  LTnion  Manufacturing  Company, 
and  with  the  Clinton  Paper  Company.  In  politics 
he  is  a  democrat.  He  is  connected  with  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  Clinton,  and  is  influential  in 


G.    E.    ELLIOT. 


its  work.  His  wife,  who  was  Cornelia  C.  Red- 
field,  is  living,  and  they  have  four  children.  Judge 
Elliot  is  very  well  known  in  that  stretch  of  towns 
on  the  Sound  line,  and  has  also  an  extensive  ac- 
quaintance in  all  parts  of  the  state.  He  is  univers- 
ally esteemed  for  his  upright  character,  and  for  his 
earnest  interest  in  educational  affairs. 


JOSEPH    HUTCHINS. 


JOSEPH  HUTCHINS,  Plainfield. 

One  of  the  most  respected  and  honored  citizens 
of  the  ancient  town  of  Plainfield,  in  Windham 
county,  is  Joseph  Hutchins,  the  subject  of  this 
sketch.  He  is  a  native  of 
the  town,  and  was  born 
March  4,  1820.  During 
his  youth  he  attended  the 
district  school,  and  com- 
pleted his  education  at 
Plainfield  academy,  one 
of  the  oldest  and  most 
reputable  institutions  of 
its  class  in  the  state.  He 
became  a  farmer,  from 
the  active  pursuits  of 
which  avocation,however, 
he  retired  some  years 
ago.  At  the  present  time 
he  is  a  director  of  the  Uncas  National  Bank  of 
Norwich,  agent  of  the  Plainfield  Town  Deposit 
fund,  and  trustee  of  the  David  Gallup  fund  of  that 
town.  He  is  also  a  trustee  of  the  Chelsea  Savings 
Bank  of  Norwich,  of  the  Ecclesiastical  Society 
fund  of  Plainfield,  and  of  various  personal  estates. 
In  1858  and  1875  he  was  a  member  of  the  Connec- 
ticut house  of  representatives,  a  legislative  experi- 
ence repeated  in  1885.  He  was  elected  to  the  state 
senate  from  the  Seventeenth  district  in  the  fall  of 
1886,  and  in  the  session  which  followed  he  was  ap- 
pointed on  the  committees  on  banks  and  on  consti- 
tutional amendments,  being  the  senate  chairman  of 
both.  He  has  held  many  local  offices,  including 
first  selectman,  and  has  enjoyed  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  his  townsmen  through  an  uninterrupted 
business  career  covering  over  half  a  century.  Sena- 
tor Hutchins  was  originally  a  whig,  but  became  a 
republican  when  the  latter  party  was  organized, 
and  has  remained  a  consistent  member  of  it  ever 
since.  He  married  Lucy  R.  Woodward,  daughter 
of  Lemuel  Woodward  of  Plainfield,  and  she  is  still 
living.  They  have  one  daughter,  born  May  22, 
1853;  she  is  the  wife  of  Mr.  Joseph  C.  Noj^es  of 
Cincinnati,  Ohio,  where  they  now  reside.  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Hutchins  have  spent  considerable  time  in 
Cincinnati  since  that  city  became  the  home  of  their 
daughter. 

The  church  membership  of  Mr.  Hutchins  is,  and 
has  long  been,  with  the  old  First  Congregational 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


297 


Society  of  Plainfield.  He  has  no  membership  with 
clubs  or  fraternities.  His  early  life  was  full  of 
business  and  social  activity,  but  for  the  last  few 
years  he  has  been  quietly  enjoying  the  fruits  of  his 
success,  and  devoting  his  time  to  the  intelligent 
direction  and  management  of  his  own  affairs  and 
of  various  accepted  trusts. 


JOHN    G.    BAIRD,  Ellington  :    Congregational 

Clergyman. 

Rev.  John  G.  Baird  was  born  in  Milford,  Conn., 
November  27,  1826.  He  was  educated  at  the  Mil- 
ford  High  school,  graduated  at  Yale  College  in 
1852,  and  at  the  Andover 
Theological  Seminary. 
His  life  has  been  spent  in 
ministerial  and  educa- 
tional work.  He  taught 
in  Ellington  from  '52  to 
'54;  was  a  student  at  An- 
dover from  '54  to  '57;  was 
pastor  of  the  Second  Con- 
gregational church  in 
Saybrook  from  'sg  to  '65; 
was  in  educational  work 
in  New  Haven  from  '65 
to  '78;  resided  in  Hart- 
ford, in  same  occupation, 
from  '78  to  '83;  resigned  his  position  in  the  office  of 
the  state  board  of  education  in  '83,  and  removed  to 
Ellington  in  1884,  where  he  has  since  resided.  His 
wife  was  Miss  Eliza  Hall  of  Ellington.  They  have 
no  children.  Mr.  Baird  is  a  republican,  but  has 
never  held  any  elective  office.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  First  church  in  Hartford. 


J- 


SETH  BARNES,  Bristol:  Clock-Maker. 

Seth  Barnes  was  born  in  Norfolk,  March  13,  1846, 
and  was  educated  in  the  common  schools  at  Tor- 
rington,  where  his  early  years  were  passed.  His 
father  died  in  1853,  and 
at  the  age  of  fourteen  he 
commenced  work  on  a 
farm,  where  he  remained 
for  three  years.  He  then 
engaged  in  the  employ  of 
the  Seth  Thomas  Clock 
Company.  On  the  13th 
of  March,  1866,  when  he 
was  twenty  j'ears  of  age, 
he  entered  the  employ  of 
the  E.  Ingraham  Clock 
Company  at  Bristol, where 
he  has  since  remained. 
He  has   been   an    active 

and  influential  citizen  of  the  place,  and  has  been  a 
member  of  the  High  school  committee  since  1887, 
and  of  the  building  committee,  which  has  had  the 


SETH    BARNES. 


erection  of  the  High  school  in  charge,  the  structure 
costing  $30,000.  He  was  a  inember  of  the  Bristol 
fire  department  for  fifteen  years,  serving  as  assist- 
ant chief  engineer  during  the  last  two  years  of  the 
time.  Mr.  Barnes  is  a  past  master  of  Franklin 
Lodge,  No.  56,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Bristol,  and  is  a 
prominent  representative  of  the  order.  He  holds 
the  office  of  a  trial  justice  of  the  peace.  He  is  a 
republican  in  politics,  and  has  been  a  member  of 
the  town  committee  for  a  number  of  years.  His 
wife,  who  was  Miss  Margaret  E.  Phetzing  prior  to 
marriage,  died  in  June,  1890,  leaving  two  sons, 
Arthur  S.  and  Fred  H.  Barnes.  The  former  is  a 
member  of  the  junior  class  in  Yale,  while  the  latter 
is  studying  at  Bristol.  Mr.  Barnes  has  taken  an 
active  interest  in  education,  and  has  served  as  com- 
mittee of  his  district  for  a  number  of  terms,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  place  which  he  has  held  on  the  High 
school  committee.  He  is  a  public-spirited  citizen, 
and  is  held  in  high  esteem  in  Bristol. 


GEORGE    AUSTIN    FAY,   Meriden:    Attorney- 

at-Law. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Marlboro', 
Mass.,  Aug.  29,  183S.  His  early  life  was  spent  at 
home  upon  the  farm,  and  afterwards  at  the  bench 
in  the  manufacture  of 
shoes.  He  received  his 
education  in  the  common 
schools  of  his  native  town, 
graduating  finally  at  the 
Marlboro'  High  school. 
In  1859  he  left  his  native 
place  and  went  to  Meri- 
den, Conn.,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  During  his 
early  residence  in  Meri- 
den he  was  employed  as 
a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the 
Adams'      Express     Com-  g.    a.   fay. 

pany,  and  was  at  the  same 

time  the  Western  Union  telegraph  operator  at  that 
place.  Two  years  later,  in  May,  1861,  he  entered 
the  law  department  of  Yale  University,  where,  in 
1S62,  he  was  graduated  as  LL.B.  After  his  gradua- 
tion he  entered  the  office  of  Hon.  O.  H.  Piatt,  now 
United  States  senator,  where  he  i-emained  a  year. 
In  May,  1S63,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Connecticut 
bar  as  an  attorney-at-law,  since  which  time  he  has 
practiced  in  that  profession.  In  1865  he  married 
Jennie  M.  Curtis,  only  daughter  of  Alfred  P.  Cur- 
tis of  Mei'iden.  In  1871  he  was  elected  by  the  re- 
publicans to  the  state  senate  from  the  Sixth  sena- 
torial district,  where  he  served  as  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  incorporations,  and  also  as  chairman 
of  the  committee  on  elections,  to  determine  who 
was  elected  governor  of  the  state.      The   canvass 


298 


AN  ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


for  state  officers  during  the  preceding  campaign 
had  been  an  exceedingly  exciting  one,  and  resulted, 
as  will  be  remembered,  in  a  declaration  of  the 
election  of  Hon.  James  E.  English  of  New  Haven, 
on  the  face  of  the  returns,  by  a  majority  of  thirty- 
nine  votes.  On  account  of  alleged  frauds  in  the 
vote  of  the  Fourth  Ward  of  New  Haven,  the  elec- 
tion of  Mr.  English  was  contested  and  an  investi- 
gation instituted,  with  the  result  of  unseating  him, 
and  awarding  the  gubernatorial  office  to  Hon. 
Marshall  Jewell,  who  was  duly  inaugurated  gov- 
ernor of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Fay  has  a  very  proper 
sense  of  gratification  still,  that  he  was  able  to  par- 
ticipate officiall}'  in  the  action  of  the  committee  by 
and  before  whom  this  important  investigation  was 
conducted.  Since  that  legislative  term  he  has  not 
taken  any  active  part  in  politics,  beyond  casting  his 
vote  for  the  candidates  of  the  republican  party, 
feeling  obliged  to  devote  his  time  wholly  to  his 
profession.  Mr.  Fay  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic 
fraternity. 

REV.  S.  H.  HOWE,  D.D.,  Norwich:  Pastor 
of  Park  Congregational  Church. 
Rev.  Samuel  Henry  Howe  was  born  in  Fleming 
county,  Ky.,  December  18,  1837.  He  graduated 
from  Hanover  College  in  Illinois  in  1861.  He  taught 
Greek  and  mathematics 
for  two  years  previous  to 
his  graduation  in  McNair's 
academy  in  Louisiana. 
He  pursued  a  course  of 
theological  studies  at 
Princeton,  graduating 
from  the  Theological  Sem- 
inar)^ there  in  1864.  In 
1865  he  was  ordained  as 
a  Presbyterian  minister, 
and  has  occupied  four 
pastorates  in  the  Presby- 
terian church.  His  first 
field  was  at  Vincennes, 
Ind.,  where  he  remained  for  two  years.  In  1S67 
he  was  settled  at  Independence,  Mo.,  occttpying  the 
pastorate  there  until  1869.  In  1870  he  removed  to 
Cortland,  N.  Y. ,  and  in  1872  he  accepted  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  church  in  Georgetown,  D.  C,  and 
continued  his  pulpit  ministrations  there  until  18S3. 
In  1877  he  received  the  degree  of  D.D.,  his  scholar- 
ship and  attainments  entitling  him  to  that  recogni- 
tion. He  became  the  pastor  of  the  Park  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Norwich  in  November,  1883,  and 
has  since  remained  there.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
New  London  association,  and  has  one  of  the  largest 
churches  in  eastern  Connecticut.  The  membership 
is  about  300,  and  the  cost  of  the  church  edifice  was 
$125,000.  Dr.  Howe  was  married  in  1S73,  and  has 
a  familv  of  four  children. 


DAN  A.  MILLER,  Bristol:  General  Manager 
Burner  Department,  Bristol  Brass  and  Clock 
Company. 

Dan  A.  Miller  was  born  in  that  part  of  the  town 
of  Farmington  which  is  now  known  as  Avon, 
December  5,  1823,  and  received  a  common  school 
and  academic  education, 
completing  his  studies  in 
the  old  Hartford  academy. 
He  is  an  accountant  by 
profession,  and  in  1867, 
also  in  1871,  represented 
the  town  of  Southington 
in  the  general  assembly, 
serving  on  the  democratic 
side.  He  has  held  various 
offices  in  Bristol,  includ- 
ing member  of  the  board 
of  selectmen,  board  of  re- 
D.  A.  MILLER.  jjg£^  ^j^^  assessor,  and  is 

at  present  a  notary  public. 
Mr.  Miller  is  a  past  worshipful  master  of  Franklin 
Lodge,  No.  56,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Bristol  and  is  held 
in  high  esteem  in  the  fraternity.  He  has  been 
identified  with  the  settlement  of  diff^erent  estates  in 
Bristol  and  is  an  honored  business  man  in  the  com- 
munity. He  was  married  in  1847,  November  26th, 
to  Miss  Sarah  M.  Bishop,  who  is  still  living.  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Miller  have  three  sons.  Their  home  is  at 
Forestville. 


ANDREW     J.     GARDINER,     Damelsonville  : 
Cotton  Manufacturer. 

Andrew  J.  Gardiner,  whose  name  is  quite  familiar 
to  a  large  number  of  cotton  manufacturers  and 
business  men  in  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  and 
Massachusetts,  was  born 
in  Windham,  Ct.,  January 
18,  1832,  and  received  his 
education  in  the  common 
schools.  The  activity  that 
has  characterized  his  life 
from  boyhood  up  has 
placed  him  in  the  front 
ranks  in  his  line  of  busi- 
ness. He  earned  his  first 
money  in  the  cotton  mill 
at  the  age  of  thirteen 
years.  Mr.  Gardiner  in 
1850  entered  the  emplo}^- 
ment  of  Paul  Whitin  8c 
.Son  of  Whitinsville,  Mass.,  the  well-known  and  ex- 
tensive builders  of  cotton  machinery;  and  by  force 
of  his  ability  and  character  soon  rose  to  prominent 
positions  in  their  employ,  and  remained  with  them 
upwards  of  twenty-five  years.  In  1879,  on  the  or- 
ganization of  the  Danielsonville  Cotton  Companj', 
Mr.  Gardiner  was  engaged  as  the  resident  agent. 


GARUIXER 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


299 


and  the  excellent  success  of  that  company  during 
the  eleven  succeeding  years  is  due  in  no  small  de- 
gree to  his  practical  skill  and  business  experience 
as  a  manufacturer.  Mr.  Gardiner  is  one  of  the 
stockholders  originally  forming  this  company, 
which  interest  he  still  retains.  He  is  also  president 
of  the  Suffolk  Manufacturing  Company,  a  large 
corporation  in  Boston,  Mass. 

Mr.  Gardiner  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church,  and  in  politics  a  staunch  republican.  His 
activity  in  business  has  always  prompted  him  to 
decline  all  political  honors.  He  takes  great  interest 
in  all  improvements  in  the  locahty  where  he  resides, 
and  is  a  gentleman  of  excellent  judgment  and 
valuable  opinions  and  views  respecting  financial 
affairs.  He  married  Miss  Annie  F.  Andruss,  and 
they  have  three  sons.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternitv. 


KE.\RDSLEV. 


town  clerk,  to  which  he  has  been  elected  thirty  con 
secutive  times.  He  has  been  entrusted  with  the 
settlement  of  many  estates,  and  earnestly  seeks  to 
deserve  the  character  of  an  honest,  upright  man. 
He  married,  early  in  Hfe,  Mar>',  youngest  daughter 
of  Dea.  Ephraim  Wells  Beach,  who  is  now  living, 
and  from  whom  was  born  one  son,  Morris  Beach 
Beardsley,  now  serving  his  fifteenth  year  as  judge 
of  probate  for  the  district  of  Bridgeport,  and  two 
daughters,  one  unmarried  and  the  other  the  wife  of 
Lewis  B.  Curtis,  of  the  firm  of  Curtis  &  Curtis, 
manufacturers  at  Bridgeport.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  church,  and  in  politics  is,  and 
ever  has  been,  an  unswerving  democrat. 


SAMUEL  GREGORY  BEARDSLEY,  Trimbull: 
Town  Clerk  and  Justice  of  the  Peace. 
Samuel  G.   Beardsley  was   born  at  Long  Hill, 
Trumbull,  December  7,  1S24,  where  his  home  has 
ever  since  been.     His  father,  Samuel  Beardsley, 
Esq.,  was  confessedly  one 
of    the   ablest   and    most 
prominent  men  his  native 
town  ever  produced,  hav- 
ing been  twice  represent- 
ative, once  state  senator, 
sheriff,  and  commissioner 
of  Fairfield  county,  trial 
justice   for    many   years, 
largely  employed   in   the 
settlement  of  estates,  hav- 
ing acted  as  executor  or 
administrator    of    more 
than    one    hundred,    and 
was  universally  respected 
and  esteemed.     The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  ed- 
ticated  in  the  common  schools  of  his  own,  and  the 
academies   of   adjoining   towns  ;    was  admitted    a 
member  of  Yale  College,  but  was  compelled  to  dis- 
continue  study   through   failure   of   sight;    taught 
school  several  terms,  engaged  in  the  manufacture 
of  cotton  in  partnership  with  the  late  Alonzo  Sher- 
man for  six  years,  and  afterward,  on  the  death  of 
his  only  brother,   assisted  his  father  in   farming, 
which  has  since  been  his  chief  occupation.     He  has 
held   numerous   town   offices  ;    was   a   member  of 
the  general  assembly  of  1865,  and  of  the  centennial 
senate   of   1876,   defeating   for   the   latter  position 
Hon.   David  B.  Plumb,  a  distinguished  citizen  of 
Shelton,  whose  father,  Noah  Plumb,  Esq.,  was  also 
beaten  for  the  same  office  by  his  father  just  forty 
years  before  ;  and  now  holds  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace,  which  he  has  held  since  i860,  and  of 


EARL    MARTIN. 


HON.   EARL  MARTIN,  Damelsonville:  Attor- 

ney-at-Law. 

Judge  Earl  Martin  was  born  in  Chaplin,  Wind- 
ham county,  in  1S20,  and  received  a  common  school 
education,  the  ordinary  training  of  the  school  being 
supplemented  by  instruc- 
tion under  private  tutors. 
He  studied  law  with  the 
late  J.  D.  Richmond,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1847.  Two  years  after- 
wards he  located  at  Dan- 
ielsonville,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  His  entire 
business  life  has  been  de- 
voted to  the  law,  which 
he  has  practiced  honestly 
and  conscientiously.  In 
1872  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  from  the  town 
of  Killingly  by  the  democrats,  and  in  1S74  he  was 
advanced  to  the  superior  court  bench,  occupying 
the  position  for  eight  years.  The  Judge  was  for 
years  the  contemporary  of  Judge  Carpenter  of  the 
supreme  court  at  Danielsonville,'.the  two  men  being 
considered  the  leading  lawyers  of  that  part  of 
Windham  county.  Both  were  connected  with  the 
higher  courts  of  the  state  at  the  same  time,  consti- 
tuting an  interesting  incident  in  the  life  of  each  of 
them.  Judge  Martin  has  also  held  the  office  of 
judge  of  probate  in  the  Danielsonville  district,  and 
is  regarded  with  profound  respect  and  esteem  in 
the  community  where  he  resides.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Episcopal  church,  and  has  been  connected 
with  the  democratic  paily  since  1841.  His  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  C.  J.  ChampUn  of 
Niantic  prior  to  her  marriage.  There  are  no  child- 
ren in  the  family.  The  career  of  Judge  Martin  on 
the  superior  court  bench  was  one  of  honor  and 
of  strict  personal  devotion  to  the  duties  of  the 
office. 


300 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


CHARLES    F.    MARTIN,    Elliott    (Pomfret)  : 
Merchant. 

Charles  F.  Martin  was  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  in  18S7,  his  colleagues  from  Wind- 
ham county  including  Messrs.  Milton  A.  Shumway, 
now  of  the  senate,  Marvin 
H.  Sanger,  and  C.  S. 
Burlingame  of  Canter- 
bury, and  J.  Griffin  Martin 
of  Windham.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  National 
Guard  from  1876  until 
1881 ,  being  connected  with 
Company  F  of  the  Third 
Regiment.  He  has  held 
various  town  offices  and 
is  at  present  a  grand 
juror.  In  politics  Mr. 
Martin  is  a  republican. 
He  is  a  member  of  the 
Unitarian  Society  of  Brooklyn  and  belongs  to  the 
Knights  of  Pythias,  Royal  Arcanum,  and  Masonic 
orders.  He  was  married  in  1882,  his  wife  being 
Miss  Catharine  C.  Elliott.  There  are  two  children. 
Mr.  Martin  was  born  in  Brooklyn  March  3,  1S57, 
and  received  a  common  school  education.  Since 
1876  he  has  been  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits. 

[Mr.  Martin  died  at  his  home  in  Pomfret,  on  the 
24th  of  March,  1891,  after  the  above  sketch  had 
been  prepared.  —  Ed.] 


C.    F.    MARTIN. 


DAVID  HENRY  MILLER,  Georgetown  (Red- 
ding):   Vice-president  and  Secretary  Gilbert   & 
Bennett  Manufacturing  Company. 
Mr.  Miller  was  born  in  London,  August  12,  1831, 
and  received  a  private  school  education.     At  the 
age  of  fourteen  he  removed  to  New  York,  remain- 
ing in  the  metropolis  for 
ten  years.     He  then  be- 
came a  resident  of  Con- 
necticut and  has  since  re- 
tained his  citizenship  here. 
Major  Miller  has  had  con- 
siderable military  experi- 
ence.      He     served     five 
years  in   the   New   York 
State     Militia,     being     a 
member  of  the  Washing- 
ton Greys,  Eighth  Regi- 
ment.    He  was  captain  in 
Company  E,  Eighth  Regi- 
ment, Connecticut  Militia, 
and  was  the  major  of  the  Twenty-third  Connecticut 
during  the  war  under  Colonel  Holmes  of  Waterbury. 
He  is  an   old  member  of  James  E.   Moore   Post, 
G.  A.  R.,  of  Danbury.     Major  Miller  is  a  member 
of  Ark  Lodge,  No.  39,  F.  and  A.  M.  of  Georgetown, 


I^LEK. 


Crusade  Commandery,  Knights  Templar,  and 
Pjrramid  Temple.  He  is  also  connected  with  the 
Fairfield  County  Historical  Society,  and  the  Army 
and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut.  For  the  past 
twenty-two  years  he  has  been  the  treasurer  of  Ark 
Lodge.  Mr.  Miller  is  a  justice  of  the  peace,  notary 
public,  and  treasurer  of  the  school  district  at 
Georgetown.  He  is  an  Episcopalian  and  a  repub- 
lican. In  1S81  he  was  a  member  of  the  general 
assembly,  representing  the  town  of  Redding  in  the 
house,  and  made  many  friends  in  that  body.  His 
wife,  whose  maiden  name  was  Catherine  Welling, 
and  nine  children  constitute  the  family. 


W.    L.    C.A.MP. 


WILLIAM    L.    CAMP,    West    Winsted  :     Mer- 
chant. 

William  Lewis  Camp  was  born  in  Michigan  in 
1846.  His  father  was  Seth  Lewis,  a  Michigan 
pioneer  settler.  When  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
had  reached  the  age  of 
six  years  his  parents  con- 
sented to  his  adoption  by 
Moses  Camp,  a  relative, 
then  at  the  head  of  the 
best  known  and  most  suc- 
cessful mercantile  firm  in 
Litchfield  County.  After 
a  few  terms  in  the  public 
school  of  the  village  the 
boy  was  given  a  brief 
course  of  study  at  the 
Winchester  Institute, 
then  under  the  direction 
of  the  Rev.  Ira  Pettibone, 
and  at  the  South  Berkshire  Institute,  New  Marl- 
boro', Mass.;  and,  though  he  attained  good  stand- 
ing in  his  classes,  it  soon  became  evident  that  in 
business,  rather  than  books,  lay  his  future  success. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he  became  a  clerk  in  the  store 
of  M.  &  C.  J.  Camp  &  Co.,  a  few  years  later  being 
admitted  to  membership  in  the  firm.  From  that 
time  until  Camp's  block  was  burned  out,  in  January, 
1889,  Mr.  Camp  was  one  of  the  principals  in  the 
mercantile  business  at  the  same  "old  stand,  '  the 
firm  name  changing  successively  to  Woodford  & 
Camp  and  Camp  &  Clark.  The  new  Camp's  block, 
which  rose,  phoenix-like,  from  the  ashes  of  its 
predecessor,  is  owned  by  Mr.  Camp,  and  is 
said  by  insurance  inspectors  to  be  one  of  the  most 
substantially  built  brick  blocks  in  the  state.  Mr. 
Camp  has  recently  taken  on  the  business  harness 
again,  being  now  proprietor  of  the  "  Broadway 
Shoe  Store,"  one  of  the  model  establishments  of  its 
kind  in  the  state.  He  does  not  allow  his  business 
aft'airs  to  monopolize  all  his  time,  however,  and  in- 
terests himself  only  with  its  general  features,  leav- 
ing the  details  to  his  son,  Lewis  ]M.  Camp.     Mr. 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


301 


Camp  is  the  owner  of  some  of  the  choicest  building 
sites  within  the  borough  Hmits,  and  has  also  a  choice 
tract  of  frontage  on  the  west  shore  of  Highland 
Lake,  where  his  summer  cottage  is  charmingly 
ensconsed  among  the  forest  trees. 

Mr.  Camp  has  four  sons  and  one  daughter,  and 
a  pleasant  home  on  Hinsdale  avenue,  his  wife  being 
one  of  Winsted's  most  popular  ladies  —  formerly 
Miss  Nellie  Brown  of  Des  Moines,  Iowa.  He  is  a 
trustee  of  the  Winsted  Savings  Bank,  member  of 
the  board  of  burgesses  of  the  borough,  promi- 
nently identified  with  the  board  of  trade,  treasurer 
of  the  Winchester  Memorial  Park  Association,  and 
a  member  of  the  board  of  trustees  of  the  Gilbert 
fund  (about  $1,200,000  left  by  the  late  William  L. 
Gilbert  for  free  High  school  and  Home  for  Friend- 
less Children).  In  politics  Mr.  Camp  is  a  repub- 
lican, though  not  a  strenuous  partisan. 


E.    F.    BIGELOW. 


EDWARD  F.  BIGELOW,  Portland:  Editor  and 
Publisher. 

Edward  Fuller  Bigelow,  editor  and  proprietor  of 
the  Middlesex  Coun/y  Record,  the  Obser7>er, 
and  the  Colchester  Advocate,  has  demonstrated 
that  new  enterprises  in 
newspaper  fields  in  Con- 
necticut need  not  of  neces- 
sity prove  unfruitful.  In 
addition  to  the  three  pa- 
pers which  he  controls 
and  manages,  he  has  a 
large  printing  and  job 
office  at  Portland  that  is 
meeting  with  gratifying 
success.  The  energy 
shown  by  Mr.  Bigelow  in 
his  work  has  entitled  him 
to  the  success  that  has 
crowned    his    way.      He 

was  the  pioneer  in  newspaper  enterprises  in  Port- 
land. Associated  with  him  was  the  late  William 
A.  Chapman,  who,  like  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
possessed  the  instincts  of  the  born  newspaper  man. 
The  Observer,  which  is  one  of  Mr.  Bigelow 's  ideas, 
is  the  only  paper  of  the  character  issued,  being  de- 
voted especially  to  natural  history.  It  has  met 
with  remarkable  success,  many  scientific  people, 
naturalists,  and  microscopists  in  particular  being 
interested  in  it.  The  Colchester  Advocate  is  also 
a  popular  publication,  and  has  a  successful  patron- 
age. Mr.  Bigelow  is  a  member  of  the  board  of 
education,  and  is  connected  with  the  Episcopal 
church  in  Portland.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican. 
He  belongs  to  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Work- 
men, the  Odd  Fellows  lodge,  and  the  Order  of 
LTnited  American  Mechanics.  He  was  born  at 
Colchester,  January  14,  i860,  and  was  educated  at 


Bacon  academy.  From  the  age  of  sixteen  until 
twenty-six  he  was  engaged  in  teaching,  principally 
in  Colchester  and  Portland.  He  has  a  wife  and 
three  children.  The  former  was  Miss  Mary  A. 
Pelton  of  Portland  prior  to  her  marriage  with  Mr. 
Bigelow. 

REV.   ABRAM  J.    QUICK,    South    Coventry: 

Congregational  Clergyman. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  South 
Branch,  N.  J.,  March  11,  1832.  He  w^as  educated 
at  Williams  College  and  Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary, and  has  been  en- 
gaged in  the  gospel  min- 
istry, with  pastorates  in 
New  York,  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  Connecticut. 
His  wife,  w^ho  was  Miss 
Frances  Merritt  prior  to 
marriage,  is  a  native  of 
Boston.  The  family  in- 
cludes four  children,  tw^o 
sons  and  two  daughters. 
The  elder  son  is  a  me- 
chanical engineer  with 
the    West    End     Electric 

A 

Railway    Co.    of    Boston; 

the   second  son   is   civil   engineer 

Providence;    the   daughters   are    students    at   Mt. 

Holyoke  Seminary.     Mr.  Quick  is  a  conscientious 

Christian   gentleman,    devoted    to   his   work,    and 

highly  esteemed  by  his  associates  in  the  ministry 

as  well  as  the  community  in  which  he  labors.     His 

political  affiHations  are  with  the  republican  party. 


J.    QUICK. 

for  the   city  of 


E.  S.  GREELEY,  New  Haven:  Manufacturer  and 
Importer  of  Railway  and  Electrical  Supplies. 
Gen.  Edwin  Seneca  Greeley  was  in  the  miUtary 
service  of  the  United  States  Government  from  Au- 
gust, 1 861,  until  September,  1865,  receiving  the 
rank  of  brigadier-general 
United  States  Volunteers. 
He  is  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  Army  and 
Navy  Club  of  Connecti- 
cut, and  is  regarded  with 
universal  admiration  by 
the  veterans  of  the  war. 
While  not  a  native  of  Con- 
necticut, he  has  spent 
thirty-five  years  in  New 
Haven,  and  is  one  of  the 
best-known  representa- 
tives of  that  municipal- 
ity. He  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  city  government,  serving  in  the  board  of 
aldermen,  and  is  the  president  of  the  New  Haven 
Republican  League.     He  is  a  director  in  the  Yale 


E.    S.    GREELEY. 


302 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


National  Bank,  C.  Cowles  &  Co.,  The  Edgewood 
Company,  and  in  the  New  Haven  Palladium  Com- 
pany. Gen.  Greeley  is  the  president  of  the  E.  S. 
Greeley  &  Co.  corporation ,  which  controls  extensive 
lines  of  railroad  and  electrical  supplies.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Church  of  the  Redeemer,  and  is 
prominently  identified  with  the  best  interests  of  the 
city.  Gen.  Greeley  was  born  at  Nashua,  N.  H., 
May  20,  1832,  and  received  a  district  school  educa- 
tion. He  learned  the  trade  of  a  machinist.  The 
family  of  Gen.  Greeley  consists  of  his  wife  and  one 
child.  The  former,  prior  to  marriage,  was  Eliza- 
beth Anthony  Corey  of  Taunton,  Mass. 


JAMES  T.  MORGAN,  Winsted:  General  Mana- 
ger Morgan  Silver  Plate  Company. 
James  T.  Morgan  was  born  at  Haddam  Neck, 
July  24,  1839,  and  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation, preparing  him  for  a  successful  business  life. 
The  father  of  Mr.  Morgan 
was  engaged  in  the  black- 
smith business,  and  he 
was  made  familiar  with 
the  trade.  At  the  age  of 
seventeen,  however,  he 
entered  the  employ  of  L. 
Boardman  &  Sons  in  East 
Haddam,  manufacturers 
of  silver-plated  ware,  and 
learned  that  trade.  He 
was  ultimately  advanced 
to  the  position  of  superin- 
tendent in  one  of  the  com- 
pany's establishments,  re- 
maining there  until  1S70.  From  East  Haddam  Mr. 
Morgan  removed  to  Winsted,  engaging  with  the 
Strong  Manufacturing  Company  of  that  place.  In 
1S71  he  was  made  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors,  and  superintendent  of  the  hardware  de- 
partment in  1874.  In  1887  he  disposed  of  his  in- 
terest and  organized  the  Morgan  Silver  Plate  Com- 
pany for  the  manufacture  of  undertakers"  supplies, 
and  has  been  the  general  manager  from  the  outset. 
Mr.  Morgan  has  been  one  of  the  best-known 
fanciers  in  Litchfield  county,  and  was  the  originator 
and  manufacturer  of  the  celebrated  phosphorated 
poultry  food.  At  the  age  of  twenty-six  he  married 
Miss  Ellen  V.  Mitcheh,  of  Moodus,  Conn.,  and, 
besides  his  wife,  the  family  consists  of  two  sons. 
Mr.  Morgan  is  a  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church  at  Winsted,  and  is  held  in  high  regard 
in  the  community  where  he  resides.  In  politics  he 
has  always  been  a  republican.  Among  the  frater- 
nal and  benevolent  orders  to  which  he  belongs  are 
the  Odd  Fellows,  the  Royal  Arcanum,  the  United 
Workmen,  and  the  New  England  Order  of  Protec- 
tion. 


ERASTUS    BRAINERD,    Portland  :    President 
Brainerd  Quarry  Company. 

Erastus  Brainerd  was  born  in  Portland  (formerly 
Chatham),  July  27,  1819,  and  was  educated  in  the 
schools  of  that  town,  afterward  at  the  High  School 
in  Boston,  and  prepared 
for  West  Point  with  Rev. 
L.  H.  Corson  of  Wind- 
ham, Conn.  He  has  re- 
sided in  his  native  town 
all  his  life,  and  since  1845 
has  been  the  manager  of 
the  well-known  Brainerd 
Quarry  Co.  in  that  town, 
carrying  on  a  large  busi- 
ness in  Portland  brown 
stone,  shipping  from  that 
point  to  all  parts  of  the 
country.  He  is  president 
of  the  company,  and  has 
cared  for  its  interests  until  it  has  assumed  exten- 
sive proportions,  and  is  one  of  the  best  known 
quarries  in  the  country.  Mr.  Brainerd,  although 
deeply  interested  in  politics,  has  declined  political 
honors,  except  that  he  was  a  presidential  elector  in 
1880,  casting  his  electoral  vote  for  Garfield  and 
Arthur,  in  accordance  with  his  party  principles, 
which  were  formerly  with  the  whigs,  but  afterwards 
with  the  republicans.  He  is  a  prominent  member 
of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  Portland. 
His  wife  was  Emily  H.  Churchill,  and  he  has  one 
daughter.  Mr.  Brainerd  is  regarded  as  one  of  the 
influential  and  forceful  business  men  of  Middlesex 
county,  and  would  have  been  honored  frequently 
in  political  life,  but  has  made  it  a  rule  to  decline. 


ERASTUS    BRAINERD. 


JASON  C.  FENN,  Terryville:  Clerk  and  Trustee. 
Mr.   Fenn  has  always  lived  in  Terryville  ;  was 
born  there  October  27,  1838,  in  the  hotise  he  now 
owns,  and  which  has  been  in  the  family  over  one 
hundred    years.      He  at- 
tended the  common  school 
and    academy   as   a    boy 
and  youth.     For  the  past 
twenty-five  years  his  time 
has  been  spent  principally 
in  clerking  ;  and  he  is  now, 
as   for    the    past    twenty 
years,  with  W.   H.   Scott 
&  Co.     He  married  Mary 
O.   Johnson,  daughter  of 
the   late  Capt.   Augustus 
S.    Johnson,    and    grand- 
daughter of  Benoni  John- 
J.    C.    FENN.  **  ,      .  ■' 

son,  a  revolutionary  pen- 
sioner of  Harwinton.  He  is  a  member  and  deacon 
of  the  Congregational  church  ;  has  always  been  a 
republican  ;  served  as  republican  town  committee  a 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


303 


number  of  3'ears,  and  represented  the  town  of  Ply- 
mouth in  the  House  in  1S80.  He  has  had  experi- 
ence as  constable,  justice,  member  board  of  health, 
and  notary  public,  and  for  a  number  of  years  se- 
lectman ;  and  to  him  the  town  is  indebted  for  the 
invention  and  erection  of  the  best  bridges  for  the 
money  in  the  state,  as  they  are  built  of  old  railroad 
iron,  which  combine  cheapness  with  strength  and 
beauty.  He  divides  his  time  between  service  for 
the  firm  with  which  he  has  been  so  long,  and  labor 
in  the  settlement  of  estates,— adding  sundry  pub- 
lic duties,  he  now  being  notary  pubhc,  selectman, 
health  officer,  and  clerk  of  board  of  health.  He 
also  holds  a  number  of  estates  either  as  trustee, 
guardian,  or  administrator,  has  been  appointed  to 
serve  as  commissioner  on  various  estates,  and  has 
assisted  on  many  soldiers'  and  widows'  pensions. 


orders.  He  has  practiced  medicine  in  Glastonbury 
and  Durham,  and  in  New  York  city  during  the 
time  he  was  connected  with  the  Eclectic  ]Medical 
College,  where  he  held  the  chair  of  Chemistry.  At 
present  he  is  permanently  located  in  Durham. 


E.  A.  MARKHAM. 


ERNEST     ARTHUR     MARKHAM,     Durham; 
Physician. 

Dr.  Markham  is  a  native  of  Windsor,  Vermont, 
the  son  of  Ohver  and  Sarah  Ann  (Clark)  Markham 
of  Middletown.  He  was  born  October  16,  1S53. 
Dr.  Markham  is  of  the 
eighth  generation  from 
Daniel  Markham,  who 
emigrated  from  England 
to  America  in  1665  and 
settled  in  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  but  in  1677  re- 
moved to  Middletown, 
Conn. ,  where  five  genera- 
tions of  his  descendants 
in  a  direct  line  to  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  were 
born. 

Dr.    ]\Iarkham   was    in 
his   boyhood    a  pupil    at 

the  Wadsworth  Street  School  in  Hartford,  also 
in  the  Hartford  PubUc  High  School;  and  gradu- 
ated from  the  Middletown  High  School  in  1871. 
He  studied  at  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown, 
which  institution  conferred  upon  him  the  degree 
of  A.B.  at  graduation  in  1S75,  and  A.M.  in  1S85. 
He  was  also  a  student  in  the  Eclectic  Medical 
College  of  New  York  city,  graduating  therefrom 
in  1877;  and  took  a  non-resident  course  in  the 
Illinois  Western  University,  graduating  as  Ph.D. 
He  married,  April  21,  1876,  Miss  Annie  Dering 
Brown,  daughter  of  Addison  Brown  of  Sag  Har- 
bor, L.  I.  They  have  two  sons  and  one  daughter. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Church  of  the  Epiphany,  of 
which  he  has  been  a  vestryman  since  1884.  Politi- 
cally he  favors  the  democrats.  Society  wise  he  is 
associated  with  the  New  York  City  Eclectic  Medi- 
cal Society,  Royal  Arcanum,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  and  various  local 


DWIGHT    LOO.MIS. 


HON.  DWIGHT  LOOMIS,  Rockville:  Supreme 
Court  Judge. 

Judge  D wight  Loomis  of  the  Supreme  Court  in 
this  state  was  born  in  the  town  of  Columbia  July 
27,  1 82 1,  and  received  a  common  school  and  aca- 
demic education,  complet- 
ing his  classical  course  at 
the  Monson  and  Amherst 
academies.     He  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  in  Tol- 
land county  and  immed- 
iately won  distinction  in 
his  chosen  profession.     In 
1851    he   represented   the 
town   of    Vernon    in   the 
general  assembly  and  was 
elected  to  the   senate   in 
1857  from  the  old  twenty- 
first    district.       His    col- 
leagues in  the  senate  in- 
cluded  the   Hon.   Ehsha   Carpenter,   who   is   now 
associated  with  him  on  the  supreme  court  bench, 
and  the  late  Governor  James  E.  EngUsh,  who  sub- 
sequently served  with  him  in  the  national  congress. 
In  1859  Judge  Loomis  was  elected  by  the  republi- 
cans of  the  first  congressional  district  and  was  re- 
elected April  I,  1 86 1,  thereby  serving  through  one 
of  the  most  important  epochs  in  the  history  of  the 
country.     His  colleagues  during  the  first  term  in 
congress  were  the  Hons.  John  Woodruff  of  New 
Haven,  A.   A.  Burnham  of  Windham,  and  O.   S. 
Ferry   of   Norwalk.      Congressman   Ferry   took   a 
prominent  part  in   the   war   and  was   afterwards 
elected  a  United  States  senator.  .  His  place  in  the 
congressional  delegation  of  1861  was  taken  bj-  the 
late  George  C.  Woodruff  of  Litchfield,  father  of 
Railroad  Commissioner  George  M.  Woodruff.     Ex- 
Governor  English  represented  the  second  district 
and  Congressman  Burnham  the  third.     The  work 
of  the  thirty-seventh  congress  was  of  incalculable 
importance  and  Judge  Loomis  as  the  representative 
of  one  of  the  staunchest  of  Union  states  was  not 
without  a  most  creditable  part  in  it.     During  the 
spring  of  1864  he  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the 
superior  court  and  has  been  on  the  bench  since  that 
time.     He  was  advanced  to  the  supreme  court  in 
1875.     In  June,  1S91,  after  twenty-seven  years  of 
judicial  service,  he  retired  from  the  Supreme  Court 
bench,   being   within   two   months   of   the   age   at 
which   he   would   be   thereby   disquaUfied   for   re- 
appointment.    He  returns  to  the  general  practice 


304 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


of  law,  and  will  also  occupy  a  position  as  instructor 
in  the  Yale  University  Law  School.  Judge  Loomis 
has  been  an  able  and  conscientious  expounder 
of  the  laws  of  the  state,  and  his  opinions  have 
been  characterized  by  great  force  and  accuracy 
of  judgment.  His  career  altogether  has  been  one 
of  eminence  and  honor  to  the  state.  He  is  a  promi- 
nent member  of  the  Congregational  church  and 
deeply  interested  in  its  prosperity  and  success. 
Judge  Loomis  was  married  on  the  26th  of  Novem- 
ber, 1848,  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Bill,  who  died  June  i, 
1864.  He  was  again  married  on  the  28th  of  Maj', 
1866,  to  Jennie  E.  Kendall,  who  died  March  6,  1876. 
One  child,  a  daughter  by  the  last  marriage,  is  living. 


J.    H.    }{.\RLOW. 


J.  H.  BARLOW,  Shelton:  Superintendent  Pack- 
ing and  Shipping  Department  of  the  Shelton 
Company. 

John  Henry  Barlow,  who  has  held  the  highest 
position  in  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Connecticut,  F.  and 
A.  M.,  was  born  in  Ridgefield,  November  7,  1832, 
and  received  a  common 
school  education.  In  1849 
he  removed  to  Birming- 
ham, and  remained  there 
until  1889,  when  he  trans- 
ferred his  residence  to 
Shelton.  He  was  the 
borough  clerk  for  ten 
years  at  Birmingham,  and 
is  at  present  chairman  of 
the  board  of  relief  in  the 
town  of  Huntington.  Mr. 
Barlow  holds  the  place  of 
superintendent  of  the 
Packing  and  Shipping 
Department  in  the  Shelton  Company,  which  is 
engaged  in  the  manufacture  of  tacks  and  bolts, 
and  is  a  man  of  superior  business  ability.  He  is  a 
member  and  associated  with  the  vestry  of  the 
Episcopal  church,  and  is  held  in  high  regard  by  the 
community  where  he  resides.  For  thirty  years  he 
has  been  the  secretary  of  the  Odd  Fellows  lodge  in 
Birmingham,  but  his  highest  honors  in  this  direc- 
tion have  been  attained  in  the  Masonic  fraternity. 
He  is  one  of  the  past  masters  of  King  Hiram 
Lodge,  No.  12,  of  Birmingham,  and  has  held  the 
exalted  office  of  grand  master  of  the  Grand  Lodge 
of  the  state,  entitling  him  to  permanent  member- 
ship in  this  important  and  influential  body.  At 
the  last  meeting  of  the  Grand  Lodge  in  Hartford 
Mr.  Barlow  was  present  as  one  of  the  representa- 
tives of  King  Hiram  Lodge,  and  served  on  one  of 
the  special  committees  during  the  conclave.  In 
politics  he  is  a  republican,  though  originally  and  for 
many  years  connected  with  the  democratic  party. 
He  has  been  twice  married.     His  first  wife,  who 


was  Miss  Emeline  Gilbert,  died  in  1875,  after  a 
married  life  of  fourteen  years.  Mr.  Barlow's  second 
marriage  occurred  in  Ansonia,  May  29,  1877,  the 
bride  being  Miss  Lina  Ells.  He  has  one  daughter, 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  and  one  son,  nineteen. 
The  second  wife  is  also  living. 


D.    S.    CALHOUN. 


HON.    D.    S.    CALHOUN,    Hartford:     Judge, 
Court  of  Common  Pleas. 

David  Samuel  Calhoun,  who  has  occupied  the 
judgeship  of  the  Hartford  County  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  since  1876,  was  born  in  Coventry,  Sept.  11, 
1827,  and  graduated  from 
Yale  College  in  1848,  be- 
ing a  classmate  of  Judge 
Shipman  of  the  LTnited 
.States  court.  After  grad- 
uating he  taught  school 
in  Ravena,  O.,  for  one 
year.  Subsequently  he 
studied  law  in  the  office 
of  the  late  Chief-Justice 
Seymour,  in  Litchfield, 
and  settled  in  Manches- 
ter in  1852.  In  1856  he 
was  elected  to  the  senate 
from  the  old  Second  dis- 
trict, his  colleagues  that  year  including  the  late 
Governor  James  E.  English;  Orris  S.  Ferry,  who 
subsequently  represented  Connecticut  in  the  United 
States  senate;  Gideon  H.  HoUister,  the  historian  of 
Connecticut;  and  Lucius  J.  Hendee,  for  years 
the  president  of  the  ^tna  Insurance  Companj-. 
In  1862  Judge  Calhoun  was  again  elected  to  the 
senate  from  the  Second  district;  United  States 
vSenator  Piatt,  and  ex-State  Comptroller  John  B. 
Wright  of  Clinton,  associate  members.  The  Judge 
was  then  as  now  a  republican  of  the  sincerest  and 
clearest  convictions.  He  occupied  the  probate 
judgeship  in  Manchester  for  twelve  years.  In  1870 
he  removed  to  Hartford,  and  has  since  been  a  resi- 
dent of  this  city.  He  was  formerly  in  partnership 
with  the  late  Mahlon  R.  West,  the  firm  being  West  & 
Calhoun.  In  1876  Judge  Calhoun  was  advanced  to 
the  bench,  being  elected  judge  of  the  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas  in  this  county.  He  is  the  vice-president 
for  Connecticut  of  the  Scotch-Irish  Society  of 
America,  and  is  a  member  of  Manchester  Lodge, 
No.  73,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Manchester.  He  is  an 
attendant  at  the  Pearl  Street  Congregational 
church.  The  father  of  Judge  Calhoun,  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Geo.  A.  Calhoun  of  Coventry,  was  one  of 
the  best  known  Congregational  divines  in  the  state 
in  his  da}'.  Judge  Calhoian  and  wife,  in  company 
with  his  sons,  J.  G.  and  David  Calhoun,  spent  the 
summer  of  1888  in  Europe,  traveling  in  Great  Brit- 
ain and  on  the  continent.     The  young  gentlemen 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


305 


made  an  extensive  bicycle  tour.  The  Judge  is  a 
man  of  the  most  dehghtful  culture  and  companion- 
ship, and  is  held  in  universal  honor  in  this  city.  He 
has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife,  Harriet  A. 
Gilbert  of  Coventry,  died  in  1868.  In  1870  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Eliza  J.  Scott  of  Manchester,  who  is  now 
living.  There  are  besides  the  sons  two  daughters 
in  the  family.  The  professional  life  of  Judge  Cal- 
houn has  been  one  of  marked  distinction.  As  judge 
of  the  court  of  common  pleas  his  opinions  have 
but  seldom  been  controverted.  For  years  he  has 
been  one  of  the  most  polished  and  scholarly  men 
on  the  bench  in  this  state. 


E.    E.    MARVIN. 


EDWIN  E.  MARVIN,  Hartford:  Clerk  United 

States  Circuit  and  District  Courts. 

Edwin  E.  Marvin  was  born  in  Tolland,  October 
8,  1833,  and  was  educated  in  the  schools  in  Tolland 
and  at  Suffield.  His  profession  is  that  of  a  lawyer. 
He  enlisted'  in  the  Fifth 
regiinent,  Connecticut 
volunteers,  and  was  cap- 
tain of  Company  F  in 
that  regiment,  which  was 
the  first  company  from 
Tolland  county  in  the 
war  of  the  rebellion  which 
repulsed  a  rebel  charge 
and  captured  rebel  pris- 
oners. He  served  during 
the  campaigns  of  1S61  and 
1862,  and  resigned  for 
disability  and  came  home 
early  in  1S63.  He  after- 
wards wrote  the  history  of  the  regiment,  which 
was  highl)^  appreciated  by  its  members.  He  has 
at  various  times  resided  in  Tolland,  Colchester, 
Rockville,  and  Hartford,  engaged  in  the  practice 
of  the  law.  He  was  for  many  years  the  secretary 
of  the  Tolland  County  Agricultm-al  Society,  has 
been  grand  juror,  justice  of  the  peace,  and  United 
States  commissioner.  He  is  now  clerk  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  and  District  courts  for  Con- 
necticut, United  States  commissioner,  and  E.xtradi- 
tion  commissioner  for  the  state,  occupying  those 
positions  with  a  great  deal  of  ability,  hearing  many 
of  the  criminal  cases  coming  before  the  United 
States  courts  in  this  state  upon  the  preliminary 
hearing,  and  acting  as  Examiner  and  Master  in 
Chancery  in  the  majority  of  civil  cases.  He  is  a 
dignified  gentleman,  of  fine  personal  appearance, 
and  has  a  host  of  friends.  He  has  always  been  a 
democrat  in  politics.  He  says  he  is  devoted  to  all 
churches,  alike,  which  make  it  their  business  to 
teach  virtue  and  rebuke  wrong  ;  and  is  a  regular 
attendant  at  Trinity  church  in  Hartford.  His  wife 
was  Cynthia  Waldo,  daughter  of  the  late  Judge 
Waldo.     They  have  one  son. 

20 


J.    JENNINGS. 


WILLIAM  JESUP  JENNINGS,  Redding:    Pas- 
tor Congregational  Church. 

William  J.  Jennings  was  born  at  New  Canaan, 
Conn.,  April  7,  1822.  His  father  was  a  farmer  of 
limited  means,  and  soon  after  the  birth  of  his  son 
removed    to     his     native  ^^ 

place.  Green's  Farms,  now 
a  parish  in  the  town  of 
Westport.  There  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  spent 
his  early  life,  helping  his 
father  when  old  enough 
during  summer  on  the 
farm.  He  prepared  for 
college  at  the  Green's 
Farms  academy  under 
the  tuition  of  that  emi- 
nent instructor,  Mr.  Eben- 
ezer  B.  Adams.  He  was 
graduated  from  Yale  Col- 
lege in  1843.  The  next  two  years  were  spent  in 
teaching  in  the  academy  at  Miller's  Place,  L.  I. 
In  1S48  he  was  graduated  from  Yale  Divinity 
school.  In  August,  1849,  he  commenced  preaching 
in  the  new  Congregational  church  at  Black  Rock, 
Conn.  The  church  was  soon  formed,  and  April  10, 
1850,  he  was  ordained  its  pastor.  It  being  deemed 
expedient  that  he  should  remove  from  such  close 
proximity  to  the  sea,  he  was  dismissed  October  6, 
1857,  and  immediately  went  to  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y., 
and  was  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church 
in  that  village  December  i,  1857.  In  May,  1862, 
having  been  released  from  his  pastoral  ofhce  he 
commenced  ministerial  labors  with  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  North  Coventry,  Conn.,  of  which 
he  was  installed  pastor  September  3,  1862.  Novem- 
ber 5.  1879,  he  was  dismissed  and  at  once  removed 
to  Redding,  Conn.,  and  was  installed  pastor  of  its 
Congregational  church  December  17,  1S79,  and  still 
occupies  that  office. 

March  26,  1850,  he  was  tmited  in  marriage  with 
Miss  Miranda  Dimon  Greene  of  Miller's  Place,  L.  I., 
who  was  graduated  at  Mount  Holyoke  Female 
Seminary  in  1848.  She  is  still  the  light  and  joy  of 
his  home.  Of  their  eight  children  five  are  still  liv- 
ing. Of  these  the  three  sons  were  graduated  at 
Yale  College,  two  of  them  in  the  academic  depart- 
ment, and  the  other  in  the  Sheffield  Scientific 
school.  The  oldest,  John  J.,  is  a  lawyer  in  Bristol, 
Conn.,  one  is  the  principal  of  the  large  Union 
school  in  Huntington,  L.  I.,  and  the  other  is  con- 
nected with  the  L^nited  States  Geological  Survey, 
and  has  his  residence  in  Washington,  D.  C.  One 
of  the  daughters  is  a  graduate  of  Mount  Holyoke 
Female  Seminary,  and  one  passed  two  years  in 
that  institution. 

While  he  was  at  Seneca  Falls,  N.  Y.,  he  was  one 
of  the  commissioners  of  At\burn  Theological  Semi- 


3o6 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


nary.  For  several  years  he  was  one  of  the  trustees 
of  the  Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  He  was 
acting  school  visitor  in  the  town  of  Coventry  seven- 
teen years,  and  has  occupied  the  same  position  in 
Redding  ten  years.  He  is  now  one  of  the  directors 
of  the  Missionary  Society  of  Connecticut  and  one 
of  the  trustees  of  the  Fund  for  Ministers. 


E.   F.  JONES. 


EDWARD  F.  JONES,  Branford:  Secretary  and 
Treasurer  of  the  Branford  Lock  Works. 
Edward  F.  Jones  was  born  in  New  Jersey  in 
1821,  and  resided  in  New  York  city  from  1844  to 
1868,  where  for  fifteen  years  he  was  connected  with 
one  of  the  largest  jobbing 
or  wholesale  boot  and 
shoe  houses  in  the  city, — 
removing  thence  to  Bran- 
ford, of  which  town  he  has 
since  been  continuously  a 
resident.  He  was 
chosen  by  the  republicans 
to  represent  the  town  in 
the  general  assembly  of 
the  state  in  1S78,  when  he 
was  appointed  and  served 
on  the  committee  on  in- 
surance and  on  special 
railroad  committee,  en- 
joying the  distinction  of  being  the  first  republican 
representative  ever  elected  in  Branford.  In  1878  and 
also  in  1880,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  republican 
state  conventions,  and  he  has  been  frequently  on  the 
republican  state  central  committee  from  his  district. 
He  was  on  the  electoral  ticket  at  the  last  presiden- 
tial election.  In  1880  he  was  chosen  state  senator 
from  the  sixth  district,  occupying  the  seat  during 
the  sessions  of  1881  and  1882,  and  serving  as  chair- 
man of  the  school  fund  and  contested  elections  com- 
mittees. He  has  held  from  time  to  time  the  local 
offices  of  auditor  and  member  of  the  board  of  re- 
lief of  Branford.  He  has  been  one  of  the  New 
Haven  County  auditors,  and  was  one  of  the  incor- 
porators of  the  Guilford  Savings  Bank,  as  well  as  a 
trustee  of  that  institution.  Mr.  Jones  has  been 
long  and  actively  in  politics,  and  a  leader  among 
the  republicans  of  the  state.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Republican  League  Club  of  New  Haven.  His 
legislative  career  has  been  highly  creditable,  and 
has  won  for  him  the  hearty  esteem  and  approval  of 
his  associates  and  constituents. 

Mr.  Jones's  business  connections  are  with  the 
Branford  Lock  Works,  of  which  he  is  secretary 
and  treasurer,  having  held  the  former  position  for 
more  than  twenty  years.  This  company  represents 
the  most  important  industry  of  Branford,  its  works 
being  quite  extensive  and  giving  employment  to  a 
large  number  of  operatives. 


CHARLES  E.   BRAYTON,   Stonington:  Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon. 

Charles  Erskine  Bray  ton  was  born  in  Stonington, 
February  11,  1851,  and  was  educated  in  the  College 
of  Physicians  and  Surgeons,  New  York  city.  The 
most  of  his  life  has  been 
spent  at  Stonington ,  where 
he  has  engaged  in  the 
practice  of  medicine  and 
surgery  since  1873.  In 
1 88 1  he  founded  the  drug 
firm  of  Dr.  C.  E.  Brayton 
&  Co.  He  is  connected 
with  a  number  of  socie- 
ties, including  the  Royal 
Arcanum,  in  which  he 
holds  the  position  of  medi- 
cal examiner,  the  Knights 
of  Columbus,  and  the 
Royal  Society  of  Good 
Fellows.  He  has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of 
burgesses  and  the  health  committee  of  the  borough 
since  18S5.  Dr.  Brayton  is  a  democrat  in  politics, 
and  a  member  of  the  Second  Congregational  church. 
He  is  unmarried. 


E.     BRAYTON. 


JOHN  B.  LEWIS,  M.D.,  Hartford:  Surgeon 
and  Adjuster  Travelers  Insurance  Company. 
John  B.  Lewis,  M.D.,  whose  personal  record  in 
the  military  service  of  the  government  throughout 
the  late  war  of  the  rebellion  is  one  of  distinguished 
honor  and  efficiency, 
comes  of  patriotic  and 
soldierly  stock.  His  father 
(John)  was  a  teacher  at 
West  Point,  his  grand- 
father (Benjamin)  a  soldier 
in  the  war  of  1S12-14,  and 
his  great-gran  d  f  a  t  h  e  r 
(Eleazur)  a  soldier  in  the 
war  of  the  revolution. 
John  B.  Lewis  was  born 
in  Suffolk  County,  N.  Y., 
March  10,  1832.  He  was 
educated  at  Powellton 
vSeminar\',  at  Newburg, 
and  afterward  pursued  his  professional 
studies  in  New  York  city  at  the  University  Medical 
College,  where  he  was  graduated  March  10,  1853, 
on  his  twenty-first  birthday.  Shortly  thereafter  he 
located  in  Vernon,  Conn.,  having  formed  a  busi- 
ness partnership  with  Dr.  Alden  Skinner,  and  here 
for  several  years  he  had  a  full  share  of  that  labo- 
rious practice  of  medicine  and  surgery  which  falls 
to  the  lot  of  a  country  doctor. 

At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and 
when  the  jaresident's  call  for  volunteers  occasioned 


¥ 


J.    B.    LEWIS. 


N.    Y, 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


307 


the  organization  of  Connecticut  troops,  he  was 
offered  a  surgeonry  by  Governor  Buckingham,  and 
later  he  accepted  an  appointment  as  surgeon  of  the 
Fifth  Connecticut'  Infantry,  with  rank  from  date  of 
commission,  July  3,  1861.  He  at  once  reported  for 
duty  with  his  regiment,  which  was  then  in  camp  at 
Hartford,  and  with  the  regiment  left  for  the  seat  of 
war.  The  next  spring  he  was  commissioned  by  the 
president,  brigade  surgeon  U.  S.  V.,  and  ordered 
to  report  to  Major-General  Banks,  department  of  the 
Shenandoah,  and  was  assigned  to  the  second  brig- 
ade, Shields'  division.  Soon  afterward  he  was 
promoted  to  be  medical  director  of  the  division,  and 
remained  in  service  in  that  capacity  up  to  the  time 
when  the  division  was  incorporated  with  General 
McClellan's  army  at  Harrison's  Landing,  when  he 
was  assigned  to  temporary  duty.  The  invasion  of 
Maryland  by  General  Lee  occurred  soon  afterward, 
and,  September  15,  1862,  while  in  charge  of  a  field 
hospital,  he  received  orders  to  proceed  without 
delay  to  the  headquarters  of  General  McClellan  and 
report  to  Surgeon  Letterman,  where,  during  Sep- 
tember 17th  and  iSth,  he  was  on  duty  at  the  battle 
of  Antietam. 

This  terminated  his  field  service.  A  few  days 
later  he  was  assigned  as  surgeon  in  charge  of  United 
States  general  hospital  No.  6,  at  Frederick,  Md., 
and  was  in  charge  of  this  hospital  until  its  discon- 
tinuance in  February  following.  By  command  of 
Major-General  Schenck,  middle  department,  Feb- 
ruary 18,  1863,  he  was  assigned  surgeon  in  charge 
of  U.  S.  general  hospital  at  Cumberland,  Md., 
upon  which  duty  he  remained  until  after  the  close 
of  the  war.  While  in  charge  of  this  hospital  he 
also  served  a  while  as  medical  director  of  the  de- 
partment of  West  Virginia,  and  in  such  official 
position,  in  company  with  Major-General  Crook 
commanding,  visited  and  inspected  the  military 
posts  and  hospitals  within  the  department. 

In  his  field  service  Doctor  Lewis  was  present  in 
thirteen  skirmishes  and  battles,  and  during  the 
same  period  was  many  times  in  charge  of  field 
hospitals.  He  was  subsequently  commissioned 
brevet  lieutenant-colonel  United  States  volunteers. 
He  was  retained  in  service  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  in  order  that  he  might  have  charge  of  the  sale 
of  the  large  property  belonging  to  the  government 
which  had  been  used  for  hospital  purposes  at  Cum- 
berland; and  when  he  had  completed  these  duties 
he  forwarded  a  written  request  to  be  mustered  out 
"  at  the  earliest  date  consistent  with  the  interests 
of  the  service."  By  special  orders  from  the  War 
Department  October  7,  1865,  he  was  "honorably 
discharged  out  of  the  service  of  the  United  States." 

In  the  latter  part  of  1865  he  returned  to  Rock- 
ville.  Conn.,  and  resumed  the  general  practice  of 
his  profession,  remaining  there  about  three  years, 
when  he  removed  to  Hartford  with  his  family,  and 


soon  afterward  went  to  Europe.  On  his  return  in 
i86g,  he  entered  the  service  of  The  Travelers  In- 
surance Company  of  Hartford,  as  medical  director 
for  that  company  and  in  charge  of  its  claims  de- 
partment. His  time  has  ever  since  been  occupied 
with  the  duties  of  that  position  to  such  an  extent 
that  he  has  wholly  withdrawn  from  the  general 
practice  of  his  profession. 

Doctor  Lewis  was  married,  in  1S55,  to  ]\Iiss  Mary 
K.  Mann,  daughter  of  Hon.  J.  N.  E.  Mann  of  Ded- 
ham,  Mass.  They  have  three  children,  a  son  and 
two  daughters.  The  former.  Dr.  William  J.  Lewis, 
is  also  connected  with  the  Travelers  Insurance 
Company  as  its  consulting  surgeon. 


LEWIS  A.  CORBIN,  Rockville:  Contractor  and 
Builder. 

Lewis  A.  Corbin  was  born  in  Dudley,  Mass., 
September  18,  1822,  where  the  first  eighteen  years  of 
his  life  were  spent  as  a  poor  boy,  managing  a  part 
of  the  time  to  get  a  few 
months'  training  each 
year  in  the  district  school. 
At  eighteen  years  of  age 
he  struck  out  into  the 
world  for  work,  "going 
west  "  as  far  as  New  York 
state,  and  meeting  no  suc- 
cess until  he  encountered 
a  job  in  Warrensburgh  at 
nine  dollars  per  month 
for  sixteen  hours'  work 
per  day.  He  relinquished 
this  munificent  contract 
after  a  single  winter,  to 
undertake  an  apprenticeship  at  the  stone  cutter's 
trade  in  Cranston,  R.  I.  In  due  time  he  became 
master  of  this  trade,  and  returned  to  his  native 
town  to  practice  it  in  connection  with  building 
operations.  In  the  fall  of  1846  he  went  to  Rock- 
ville, in  this  state,  where  he  found  employment  on 
the  Rock  mill.  Subsequently  he  became  a  master 
builder,  and  successively  erected  the  American,  the 
New  England,  the  Leeds,  and  the  Hockanum  mills 
in  Rockville,  and  the  Windermere  in  Ellington.  In 
1 85 1  he  went  to  California,  but  after  two  years  re- 
turned to  Rockville,  and  soon  afterwards  associated 
himself  with  Cyrus  White,  first  in  the  perfection 
of  an  envelope  machine,  and  afterwards  in  the 
manufacture  of  envelopes,  under  the  firm  name  of 
White  &  Corbin,  afterwards  incorporated  as  "The 
White,  Corbin  &  Co.,"  of  whose  stock  he  is  a  one- 
third  owner. 

Mr.  Corbin  has  held  the  offices  of  first  selectman 
and  assessor  of  the  town  of  Vernon,  is  a  member 
of  the  Methodist  church  in  Rockville,  and  in  poli- 
tics is  classed  as  a  "  teinperance  republican."     He 


A.    CORBIN. 


308 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


married  Miss  Mary  H.  Upham,  who,  with  their 
three  children,  is  still  living.  He  is  a  man  of  eco- 
nomical habits,  in  a  lifelong  practice  of  which  he 
has  risen  from  a  penniless  boy  to  a  man  of  large 
and  increasing  fortune. 


WATSON    GIBBONS,    H.vktland  ;     A    Retired 
Farmer  and  Merchant. 

Watson  Gibbons  of  East  Hartland  was  born  in 
Granville,  Mass.,  February  iS,  1812,  and  received 
a  common  school  education.  He  has  held  the 
offices  of  judge  of  pro- 
bate, selectman,  town 
clerk  and  treasurer,  and 
is  a  republican  in  politics. 
In  1 881  he  was  a  member 
of  the  general  assembly. 
He  is  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  church, 
and  of  St.  Mark's  Lodge, 
F.  and  A.  M.  Mr.  Gib- 
bons has  been  married 
twice.  His  first  wife  was 
Miss  EHzabeth  C.  Par- 
sons, daughter  of  Oliver 
Parsons  of  Granville.  The 
maiden  name  of  his  present  wife  was  Almira  H. 
Colton,  of  Granby.  At  the  time  of  her  marriage 
with  Mr.  Gibbons  she  was  the  widow  of  Darius 
Emmons  of  Hartland.  There  are  no  children  in 
the  family.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  has  de- 
voted nearly  fifty-five  years  of  his  life  to  mercan- 
tile pursuits. 


WATSON    GIBBONS. 


REV.    CHARLES    NELSON     NICHOLS,    An- 
dover:  Baptist  Clergyman. 

Rev.  C.  N.  Nichols  was  born  in  Trumbull,  this 
state,  August  15,  1832.  He  received  his  education 
in  the  common  schools,  and  at  a  select  school  in 
Bridgeport.  After  engag- 
ing in  mercantile  and  me- 
chanical pursuits,  he  en- 
tered upon  the  work  of 
the  gospel  ministrj'-  in  con- 
nection with  the  Baptist 
denomination.  May,  1S58. 
He  was  ordained  in  New 
Hartford,  September, 
1862.  He  has  held  pas- 
torates in  New  Hartford, 
Cromwell,  Old  Lyme, 
Colchester,  Tarififville, 
and  other  places  in  this 
state;  and  on  Martha's 
Vineyard  and  at  Chatham,  Mass.  His  present 
field  of  labor  is  Andover,  Conn.  He  has  been  suc- 
cessful in  his  calling;  precious  revivals  have  fol- 


C.    N.    NICHOLS. 


lowed  his  labors;  and  he  is  still  preaching  faith- 
fully the  same  old  gospel.  Nearly  all  of  his  life 
thus  far  has  been  spent  in  this  state,  which  he  ar- 
dently loves.  He  is  also  well  known  as  an  earnest 
and  zealous  temperance  advocate,  and  a  frequent 
contributor  to  the  temperance  and  religious  press. 
In  politics  Mr.  Nichols  is  a  strong  prohibitionist. 
He  served  as  postmaster  for  a  time  during  the 
present  administration  of  President  Harrison.  In 
January,  1868,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Sarah  A. 
Dibble  of  Old  Lyme.  She  is  still  living.  They 
have  had  no  children. 

Mr.  Nichols  has  a  wide  circle  of  acquaintances 
and  friends  throughout  the  state,  and  is  highly  re- 
spected and  esteemed,  and  prizes  very  much  the 
love  and  companionship  of  those  among  whom  he 
has  so  long  lived  and  labored.  Mr.  Nichols  is  one 
of  the  oldest  Baptist  pastors  in  this  state,  so  far  as 
it  relates  to  ministerial  service  in  Connecticut. 


HON.  ROBERT  J.  VANCE,  New  Britain: 
Journalist;  Editor  "  New  Britain  Herald." 
Hon.  Robert  Johnston  Vance  of  New  Britain, 
who  represented  the  first  Connecticut  district  in 
the  fiftieth  congress,  is  a  leading  member  of  the 
democratic  party  in  this 
state.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  Connecticut  delega- 
tion in  the  national  demo- 
cratic convention  at  St. 
Louis  in  188S,  and  was 
president  of  the  state 
deinocratic  convention  at 
New  Haven  during  the 
same  year.  At  the  state 
convention,  which  was 
held  in  Hartford,  Septem- 
ber 16,  1890,  Mr.  Vance 
made  one  of  the  ablest 
speeches  in  that  body, 
eliciting  enthusiastic  approval  from  the  delegates. 
The  ex-congressman  began  his  political  career  as 
the  city  clei'k  of  New  Britain,  occupying  the  position 
from  1S78  until  1887.  In  1S86  he  represented  New 
Britain  in  the  legislature  with  decided  ability  and 
success.  For  the  past  ten  years  he  has  been  a 
member  of  the  democratic  state  central  committee 
and  is  at  present  chairman  of  its  executive  board. 
This  fact  alone  indicates  the  sense  of  confidence 
and  trust  which  is  felt  in  his  ability  and  leadership. 
Mr.  Vance  is  the  editor  and  associate  proprietor  of 
the  New  Britahi  Herald,  and  is  one  of  the  ablest 
newspaper  men  in  the  state.  He  was  the  staff  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Sun  in  Washington 
during  the  winter  of  1889-90.  Aside  from  his  edi- 
torial work  he  is  actively  connected  with  business 
interests  in  New  Britain,  occupying  the  presidency 


R.    J.    VANCE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


309 


of  the  New  Britain  Electric  Light  Company  and 
directorship  in  other  business  concerns.  He  is  a 
member  of  Harmony  Lodge,  No.  20,  F.  and  A.  M., 
of  New  Britain,  and  is  also  a  member  of  the  order 
of  Odd  Fellows  in  that  city.  The  family  of  Mr. 
Vance  consists  of  a  wife  and  one  child.  The  former 
was  Miss  Matilda  O'Conor  prior  to  her  marriage. 
The  ex-congressman  was  born  in  New  York  city 
March  15,  1S54,  and  is  now  in  the  very  prime  of 
manhood.  He  was  educated  in  the  New  Britain 
High  school  and  has  traveled  extensively,  spending 
considerable  time  in  Europe.  He  is  a  gentleman 
of  the  most  delightful  personality  and  is  the  posses- 
sor of  hosts  of  friends  in  this  state. 


HON.    W.   H.   H.   COMvSTOCK,    New    London: 

Retired  Merchant. 

William  H.  H.  Comstock  was  born  in  that  por- 
tion of  Lyme  that  is  now  known  as  East  Lyme, 
March  20,  1819,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  and 
select  schools  of  that  pe- 
riod. He  engaged  in  mer- 
cantile business  early  in 
life  and  has  spent  much 
of  his  active  career  in 
New  London.  Prior  to 
his  removal  to  that  city 
he  was  treasurer  and 
postmaster  in  East  Lyme. 
In  1848  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  from  East 
Lyme,  and  the  year  after 
he  was  appointed  pay- 
master-general     on      the 

staff  of  Gov.  Clark  Bissellof  Norwalk  and  w^as  con- 
firmed by  the  senate.  In  1854  he  represented  the 
old  ninth  district  in  the  state  senate,  his  associates 
in  that  body  including  the  late  LTnited  States  Sen- 
ator James  Dixon  of  this  city,  Hon.  Henry  B.  Har- 
rison of  New  Haven  and  Hon.  Wm.  T.  Minor  of 
Stamford,  both  of  whom  became  governors  of  the 
state,  John  Boyd  of  Winsted,  Chauncey  Rowe  of 
Farmington,  and  Clark  Greenman  of  Stonington. 
In  1859  Major  Comstock  was  returned  to  the  house 
from  East  Lyme,  Augustus  Brandegee  of  New 
London,  Jeremiah  Halsey  and  ex-Judge  James  A. 
Hovey  of  Norwich,  and  the  late  Daniel  Chadwick 
of  Lyme  being  associate  members  from  New  Lon- 
don county  that  year.  The  Major  is  a  member 
of  the  New  London  board  of  trade,  a  director  in 
the  New  London  City  Bank,  and  is  connected  with 
the  Sons  of  the  Revolution  in  that  city.  While  he 
was  a  member  of  the  state  senate  in  1S54  he  was 
associated  with  the  corporation  of  Yale  College, 
being  one  of  the  six  senators  entitled  to  that  dis- 
tinction.     The    wife    of    Major  Comstock,  whose 


H.  COMSTOCK. 


maiden  name  was  Miss  Eliza  A.  Smith,  daughter 
of  Doct.  John  L.  and  Fanny  Smith,  died  December 
4,  1S76.  One  daughter,  Mary  C,  wife  of  C.  J. 
Viets,  is  living.  Gen.  Comstock  is  a  member  of 
the  First  Baptist  church  in  New  London.  His  po- 
litical affiliations  are  with  the  republican  party. 


LEW    .A.LLEN. 


LEWIS  A.   LIPSETTE,  Meriden:  Journalist. 

Lewis  Allen  Lipsette,  editor  of  The  Meriden 
Journal,  was  born  in  New  York  city  February  18, 
1852,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  of  the 
metropolis.  For  the  past 
fifteen  years  he  has  been 
engaged  in  journalism  in 
this  state  and  is  one  of  the 
most  successful  news- 
paper representatives  in 
the  commonwealth.  Mr. 
Lipsette,  or  "  Lew  Allen," 
as  he  is  universally  known 
in  newspaper  circles,  was 
the  city  editor  of  The 
New  Ha7>en  Union  up 
to  four  years  ago,  when, 
with  Francis  Atwater, 
who  had  for  j-ears  been 

in  the  newspaper  and  job  printing  business,  T.  L. 
Reilly,  who  had  been  the  city  editor  of  The  Meri- 
den Reptiblican,  and  Frank  E.  Sands,  who  had 
recently  graduated  from  the  Sheffield  Scientific 
school,  he  organized  "  The  Journal  Publishing 
Company  "  of  Meriden  and  started  The  Meriden 
Daily  Journal.  It  was  a  pronounced  newspaper 
success  from  the  start.  The  company  now  own 
their  own  building,  a  fine  web-perfecting  press, 
stereotyping  equipment,  job  printing  department, 
electrotype  plant,  and  book  bindery,  all  fully  fitted 
to  turn  out  the  best  class  of  work  ;  and  The  Jour- 
nal all  the  while  is  growing  in  popular  favor  as  a 
well-conducted  and  profitable  newspaper,  second 
to  none  in  any  city  of  the  size  of  Meriden.  Of  this 
newspaper  Mr.  Allen  has  acted  as  editor,  Mr. 
Reilly  has  had  charge  of  the  city  news,  Mr.  Sands 
has  been  treasurer,  and  Mr.  Atwater  general 
manager,  especially  of  the  several  mechanical  de- 
partments, for  which  his  long  experience  so  well 
fitted  him.  The  company  have  not  far  from  fifty 
employes  at  present. 

]\Ir.  Lipsette  has  been  a  member  of  the  cit}-  coun- 
cil in  ^leriden,  and  is  an  independent  in  politics. 
He  was  in  the  Connecticut  National  Guard  for  five 
years,  serving  in  Company  I  of  the  Second  Regi- 
ment. He  is  connected  with  the  Episcopal  church 
in  Meriden  and  is  a  member  of  the  Roj-al  Arcanum. 
During  the  time  that  he  was  connected  with  The 
Neiu  Haven  Uftion  he  was  one  of  the  best  known 
state   correspondents   of    New   York   and    Boston 


3IO 


AX    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


papers.  He  has  been  one  of  the  leading  members 
of  the  Connecticut  Press  Association,  and  his  news- 
paper success  has  been  exceedingly  gratifying  to 
his  friends  in  the  profession  throughout  the  state. 


CHARLES    E.  HILL,    Stamford:    Retired  Mer- 
chant. 

Charles  Edwin  Hill  was  born  in  Great  Falls, 
Strafford  County,  New  Hampshire,  Feb.  27,  1S27, 
and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools.  When  a 
child  he  lived  in  York 
County,  Maine,  and  his 
youth  and  early  manhood 
were  spent  there  in  woolen 
manufacturing.  He  be- 
gun business  on  his  own 
account  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia  in  connec- 
tion with  United  States 
ex- Senator  Chase  of 
Rhode  Island,  as  a  dry- 
goods  commission  mer- 
chant.    Subsequently   he 

entered  the   China   trade 
c.    K.    HU.I..  ^        ,^     ,      .  ,  p 

m  New  \  ork  city,  and  for 

twenty  years,  including  the  war  period,  was  at  the 
head  of  a  large  bt:siness  in  teas  and  other  China 
products,  during  which  time  he  was  a  stockholder 
and  director  in  various  banking,  transportation,  and 
manufacturing  corporations.  In  1S80  at  the  in- 
stance of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York, 
he  was  appointed  chief  special  agent  of  the  L^nited 
States  census  bureau  to  gather  the  statistics  of  the 
manufacturing  industries  of  that  city  and  continued 
in  that  great  work  for  over  two  years.  In  1S76  he 
came  to  this  state  and  settled  in  Stamford.  He  has 
been  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  press  on  topics  of 
pohtical  and  social  importance.  In  religion  Mr. 
Hill  is  a  Quaker,  still  adhering  to  the  fundamental 
doctrines  of  that  sect,  though  worshiping  with 
other  Christian  denominations,  chiefly  with  Metho- 
dists. In  politics,  from  the  inception  of  the  repub- 
lican party  till  the  present  time,  an  unflinching  de- 
votee of  its  principles  and  an  earnest  worker  for 
its  success.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
lower  house  of  the  Connecticut  legislature  for  1889, 
and  served  as  chairman  of  the  insurance  committee 
on  the  part  of  the  house,  and  also  as  a  member  of 
the  committee  on  education.  His  term  of  .service 
was  notable  for  the  active  part  he  took  in  the  stir- 
ring debates  of  that  session.  He  made  notable 
speeches  on  the  petition  of  the  Housatonic  Railroad 
for  authority  to  build  a  parallel  railroad  from  New 
York  to  New  Haven,  upon  the  resolution  granting 
commutation  of  death  sentence  to  John  H.  Swift, 
upon  the  resolutions  in  honor  of  John  Bright,  and 
took  an  active  part  in  the  movement  to  secure  the 


act  which  made  it  possible  for  the  policy-holders  of 
the  Phcenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  to 
defeat  the  designs  of  McFarland  of  Philadelphia, 
which  he  regards  as  one  of  the  most  important  leg- 
islative acts  of  the  session,  carried  as  it  was,  over 
the  veto  of  the  executive.  Mr.  Hill  was  mentioned 
in  connection  with  the  republican  candidacy  for 
lieutenant-governor  in  1890,  but  would  not  allow 
the  use  of  his  name.  His  career  has  been  one  of 
activity  and  honor,  and  he  retains  the  good  will  and 
esteem  of  a  large  number  of  citizens  of  the  state. 


O.    E.    MINER. 


ing   in    1858.     He 
Bellevue  Hospital 


also 
Dr. 


ORRIN  E.  MINER,  Noank  (Groton)  :  Physician 
and  Druggist. 

Dr.  Orrin  E.  Miner  is  one  of  the  best-known 
physicians  in  his  section  of  the  state.  He  was  born 
at  North  Stonington,  September  29,  1834,  and  re- 
ceived a  classical  educa- 
tion at  Greenwich,  R.  I. 
At  the  age  of  sixteen  he 
began  teaching,  but  in 
1855  gave  up  that  profes- 
sion for  the  stud}-  of  medi- 
cine. After  reading  medi- 
cine in  the  office  of  Dr.  L. 
W.  Kinney  of  North  Ston- 
ington, he  continued  the 
study  at  Castleton  Medi- 
cal College  in  Vermont 
and  in  the  medical  depart- 
ment of  the  University  of 
New  York  city,  graduat- 
received  a  diploma  from 
Miner  located  at  Groton 
soon  after  his  graduation,  and  has  remained  in 
practice  there  since.  He  also  has  a  large  practice 
at  Mystic  Island  and  at  Fisher's  Island  during  the 
fashionable  season  at  these  places.  He  is  the 
senior  member  of  the  drug  firm  of  O.  E.  Miner  & 
Son  at  Noank,  which  was  originally  established  in 
■S67.  The  son,  O.  E.  Miner,  Jr.,  was  admitted  to 
tne  partnership  in  1874.  Dr.  Miner  was  postmaster 
from  1S69  until  1886,  and  has  been  a  notary  public 
since  i860.  He  has  also  been  a  commissioner  of 
the  superior  court,  and  is  the  medical  examiner. 
He  has  always  been  identified  with  the  republican 
part}'.  The  Doctor  is  a  member  of  Relief  Lodge, 
No.  71,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Mystic  Bridge,  and  is  an 
influential  representative  of  the  order  in  southeast- 
ern Connecticut.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and 
two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter.  The  latter 
is  a  member  of  the  senior  class  at  ]\It.  Holyoke 
College,  and  the  son  is  a  railway  postal  clerk  on 
the  Providence  &  New  London  road.  Mrs.  ISIiner 
was  INIiss  Abbie  J.  Latham,  daughter  of  James  A. 
Latham,  Esq.,  of  Noank.  The  marriage  occurred 
in  1859. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    CONNECTICUT. 


311 


CHARLES  B.  POMEROY,  Windham:  Farmer. 
Charles  B.  Pomeroy  of  Willimantic  (town  of 
Windham),  sheriff  of  Windham  county,  was  born 
at  Somers,  May  15,  1832,  and  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  that 
locaHty.  Most  of  his  hfe 
has  been  spent  in  farm- 
ing. He  has  occupied 
important  pubHc  posi- 
tions, serving  on  the  board 
of  selectmen,  and  repre- 
senting his  town  in  the 
general  assembly.  In 
1 886  he  received  the  re- 
publican nomination  for 
sheriff  in  Windham 
County,  and  was  elected 
by     a    plurality    of    936.  c.  b.  pomerov. 

This   fact    expresses    the 

popularity  of  the  man  in  the  county  of  which  he 
has  been  for  years  a  resident.  He  is  an  able  and 
efficient  officer,  and  his  public  career  has  been 
thoroughly  satisfactory.  Sheriff  Pomero}^  is  a 
member  of  St.  Johns  Commandery,  Knights  Tem- 
plar of  Willimantic,  and  also  of  the  order  of  Odd 
Fellows.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  six 
children.  Mrs.  Pomeroy  was  Miss  Mary  E.  Pal- 
mer before  luarriage.  Sheriff  Pomeroy  and  family 
are  connected  with  the  Congregational  church  in 
Willimantic. 


JOSEPH  KELLOGG  WHEELER,  Hartford: 
Grand  Secretary  of  the  Masonic  Grand  Bodies  of 
Connecticut. 

Mr.  Wheeler  was  born  in  Bloomfield,  Conn.,  on 
the  27th  of  August,  1834,  and  was  christened  Jo- 
seph Kellogg,  the  last  name  indicating  the  line  of 
descent  on  his  mother's 
side.  It  is  through  the 
Kellogg  family  his  gene- 
alogy is  traced  to  Samuel 
Kellogg,  one  of  three 
brothers  who  came  to  this 
country  from  Scotland,  in 
1660.  Their  names  were 
Josei^h  Kellogg  and  Sam- 
uel Kellogg,  who  located 
in  Hatfield,  Mass.,  and 
Daniel  Kellogg,  who  lo- 
cated in  Norwalk,  Conn. 
His  ancestors  on  the 
Wheeler  .side  were  among 
the  early  settlers  in  Keene,  N.  H.,  the  record  going 
back  to  Abraham  Wheeler,  who  was  born  about 
the  year  1700,  of  English  or  Welsh  parents,  sup- 
posed to  be  Welsh,  as  Wheeler  is  a  very  common 
name  in  Wales.  He  was  raised  a  farmer's  son  in 
the  town  of  West  Hartford,  being  early  accustomed 


J- 


WHEELER. 


to  the  labors  which  came  naturally  to  one  in  his 
position.  He  received  a  common  school  education 
only,  with  the  addition  of  two  terms  in  an  academy 
located  in  his  native  town,  and  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen was  employed  as  teacher  of  a  district  school  in 
the  vicinity  of  his  home.  In  1854  he  engaged  as 
clerk  in  the  grocery  business  in  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford, and  finally  entered  the  business  for  himself, 
which  he  conducted  for  many  years,  until  the  du- 
ties of  the  office  of  grand  secretary  absorbed  so 
much  of  his  time  that  he  was  obliged  to  relinqviish 
all  business. 

He  was  made  a  Master  Mason  in  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  4,  of  Hartford,  May  30,  i860.  He  was 
exalted  as  a  Royal  Arch  Mason  in  Pythagoras 
Chapter,  No.  17,  of  Hartford,  May  9,  1862  ;  received 
the  degrees  of  the  Cryptic  Rite  in  Wolcott  Coun- 
cil, No.  I,  Hartford,  April  3,  1863,  and  was  knighted 
in  Washington  Commandery,  No.  1,  of  Hartford, 
July  28,  1863.  He  received  the  degrees  of  the 
Scottish  Rite  to  the  thirty-second  in  Rhode 
Island,  September  28,  1863,  and  was  created  a 
grand  inspector  general,  33°,  in  Boston,  Mass., 
May  18,  1865.  He  was  elected  master  of  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  4,  Hartford,  January  3,  1866,  and  held 
the  office  two  years,  those  years  being  marked  with 
great  prosperity.  He  was  elected  high  priest  of 
Pythagoras  Chapter,  No.  17,  January  3,  1868,  and 
served  two  years  ;  elected  thrice  illustrious  master 
of  Wolcott  Council,  No.  i,  January  4,  1872,  and 
eminent  commander  of  Washington  Commandery, 
No.  I,  January  2,  1877,  having  filled  the  subordi- 
nate offices  in  those  bodies.  He  was  one  of  the 
original  members  of  Charter  Oak  Lodge  of  Perfec- 
tion, which  was  organized  at  Hartford  in  1870,  and 
for  ten  years  or  more  was  its  presiding  officer,  and 
helped  to  constitute  Hartford  Council,  Princes  of  Je- 
rusalem, and  Cyrus  Goodell  Chapter  of  Rose-Croix, 
serving  as  presiding  officer  over  each.  In  the 
grand  bodies  of  Connecticut  he  holds  the  following 
official  positions:  He  is  grand  secretary  of  the 
Grand  Lodge,  having  been  first  elected  May  S, 
1S67  ;  grand  secretarj'  of  the  Grand  Chapter,  to 
which  office  he  was  first  elected  May  7,  1867;  grand 
recorder  of  the  Grand  Council,  his  first  election  be- 
ing May  7,  1867,  and  grand  recorder  of  the  Grand 
Commandery,  his  first  election  being  March  21, 
1882. 

In  all  these  positions  of  labor  and  responsibility 
he  proved  himself  to  be  the  right  man  in  the 
right  place,  and  his  services  have  been  produc- 
tive of  the  best  results  in  all  the  depart- 
ments where  his  thought  and  energy  have  been  ap- 
plied. He  is  an  enthusiastic  craftsman,  and  loves 
freemasonry  for  its  truths,  principles,  and  symbol- 
isms, not  less  than  for  its  social  feature  and  practi- 
cal helpfulness.  His  conservative  opinions,  his 
generally  correct  judgments,  his  catholicity  of  sen- 


;i2 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


timent,  and  his  devotion  to  the  best  principles  rep- 
resented by  the  Masonic  system  and  organization, 
have  given  him  a  justly -earned  and  widely-extended 
reputation  among  intelligent  brethren.  Mr.  Whee- 
ler was  a  member  of  the  city  council  of  Hartford  in 
1873-4  ;  belongs  to  the  Windsor  Avenue  Congrega- 
tional church;  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  sons 
of  the  American  Revolution,  his  great-grandfather, 
Daniel  Kellogg,  having  served  in  the  war,  enlisting 
first  in  the  fall  of  1775  under  Captain  Bulkeley  of 
Colchester;  and  acts  with  the  republican  party.  He 
is  married,  and  has  three  children. 


W.    HODGE. 


GEORGE  WASHINGTON   HODGE,  Windsor: 
Paper  Manufacturer. 

George  W.  Hodge  was  born  at  Seymour,  Conn., 
July  5,  1845.  He  received  his  education  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institution  at  Suffield,  and  a 
further  preparation  at 
Eastman's  Business  Col- 
lege at  Poughkeepsie,  N. 
Y.  He  learned  the  busi- 
ness of  tissue  paper  man- 
ufacturing in  the  mills  of 
his  father  at  Rainbow,  to 
which  place  his  father's 
family  removed  from  Sey- 
mour in  1S53.  He  was 
married  to  Miss  Jennie  A. 
Clark  of  Tivoli,  N.  Y., 
in  August,  1865,  and  ad- 
mitted into  partnership 
with  his  father  in  1866, 
continuing  business  as  a  firm  until  1874,  wh'en  he 
sold  his  interest  and  was  out  of  business  until  1S76. 
He  then  purchased  a  one-third  interest  with  House 
&  Co.,  manufacturers  of  press  paper;  in  18S2  he 
further  purchased  the  interest  of  one  of  his  part- 
ners, and  in  1889  the  interest  of  the  remaining 
partner,  and  is  now  conducting  the  business  per- 
sonally, though  under  the  old  name  of  House 
&Co. 

In  1 88 1  Mr.  Hodge  represented  the  town  of 
Windsor  in  part  in  the  house  of  repi'esentatives.  In 
1SS5  he  was  elected  selectman,  and  served  for  five 
consecutive  years.  In  1889  he  was  elected  to  the 
state  senate  from  the  third  senatorial  district.  At 
present  he  holds  no  public  ofiice.  He  has  always 
belonged  to  the  repiiblican  party,  and  as  their  can- 
didate was  elected  to  both  branches  of  the  legisla- 
ture as  above  specified.  He  joined  the  Baptist 
church  when  a  lad  of  twelve  years,  and  has  been 
connected  with  that  body  ever  since.  He  was  one 
of  the  leading  agencies  in  the  organization  of  the 
church,  and  in  building  the  house  of  worship  and 
parsonage  at  Rainbow.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
fraternity,  having  been  a  member  since  1866. 


OLIVER  GILDERSLEEVE. 


OLIVER    GILDERSLEEVE,    Portland:     Ship 
Builder. 

Oliver  Gildersleeve,  son  of  Henry  and  Emily  F. 
Gildersleeve,  was  born  on  the  6th  of  March,  1844, 
in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Portland  now  called  Gil- 
dersleeve. He  received 
his  education  at  the  Hart- 
ford High  school,  and  at 
the  age  of  seventeen  en- 
tered his  father's  ship- 
yard, where  he  .soon  ac- 
quired the  art  of  practical 
shipbuilding,  and  to-day 
is  the  fifth  generation  of 
shipbuilders  in  that  place. 
At  the  age  of  twenty-one 
he  became  a  partner, 
since  which  time  he  has 
largely  increased  the  busi- 
ness, having  added  a  ma- 
rine railway,  capable  of  hauling  vessels  of  eight 
hundred  tons  burden,  and  built  a  large  ice-house, 
provided  with  steam  machinery  and  the  necessary 
appliances  for  gathering  ice  from  Connecticut  river 
for  shipment  to  New  York  and  southern  ports.  In 
18S1  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm  of  S.  Gilder- 
sleeve &  Co.,  shipping  and  commission  merchants, 
84  South  street.  New  York,  he  being  the  active 
managing  owner  of  the  fleet  of  vessels  controlled 
by  that  house,  and  principally  then  owned  by  the 
Gildersleeve  family.  As  a  young  man  he  was  very 
desirous  of  seeing  the  world,  and  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven  had  visited  the  principal  cities  of  his 
own  country,  Europe,  and  Canada.  Possessing  an 
excellent  memory,  he  acquired  a  fund  of  informa- 
tion, which  has  been  utilized  to  good  advantage  in 
his  business.  In  works  of  charity  and  benevolence 
he  has  fully  sustained  the  reputation  of  the  Gilder- 
sleeve family.  He  is  senior  warden  of  Trinity 
Episcopal  church  of  Portland,  and  has  variously 
officiated  as  lay-reader,  Sunday-school  sui^erintend- 
ent,  and  teacher.  He  is  a  trustee  of  the  Gilder- 
sleeve high  school  fund,  also  of  the  Freestone  Sav- 
ings Bank,  and  has  served  three  years  on  the  dis- 
trict school  committee,  also  as  one  of  the  building 
committee  in  the  erection,  in  1890,  of  the.  elegant 
new  school  building  in  district  No.  i  ;  was  also  for 
many  years  a  prominent  debater  and  officer  in  the 
Portland  Ij'ceum.  In  1887,  in  connection  with  the 
late  Horace  Wilcox  of  Meriden,  he  established  the 
Gildersleeve  &  Cromwell  Ferry,  and  has  ever  since 
been  the  president  of  the  company.  In  1889,  in 
connection  with  Wheeler  &  Parks  of  Boston,  he  or- 
ganized the  Portland  Water  Company  and  built 
its  works,  which,  with  its  twelve  miles  of  piping, 
now  supplies  the  citizens  of  Portland  with  the 
purest  and  best  of  water.  He  has  been  president 
of  the  Water  Company  ever  since  its  organization. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


313 


On  the  8th  of  November,  1S71,  he  married  Mary 
Ellen,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Alfred  Hall  of  Port- 
land ;  by  her  he  has  had  eight  children  :  Alfred, 
born  August  23,  1872  ;  Walter,  born  August  23, 
1874  ;  Louis,  born  September  22,  1877  ;  Emily  Hall, 
born  June  9,  1879,  died  August  12,  1880  ;  EHzabeth 
Jarvis,  born  June  6,  1882,  died  January  18,  1883  ; 
Charles,  born  December  11,  1884;  Nelson,  born 
September  14,  1SS7,  and  Oliver,  Jr.,  born  March  9, 
1 8go. 


fe'i'--- 


JAMES    I'HELPS. 


HON.    JAMES   PHELPS,    Essex:    Judge   of   the 

Superior  Court. 

James  Phelps  was  born  in  Colebrook,  in  the 
county  of  Litchfield,  in  1822.  He  is  a  son  of  Dr. 
Lancelot  Phelps,  who  was  for  many  years  a  promi- 
nent citizen  of  the  state 
and  one  of  its  representa- 
tives in  congress  in  the 
administrations  of  Jack- 
son and  Van  Buren. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch 
received  a  thorough  aca- 
demic education,  and 
entered  Washington,  now 
Trinity,  College,  but  sick- 
ness prevented  the  com- 
pletion of  his  course.  He 
acquired  a  legal  education 
in  the  law  department  of 
Yale  College,  and  in  the 
offices  of  the  Hon.  Isaac  Toucey  and  the  Hon. 
Samuel  Ingham,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  at 
Middletown,  in  October,  1S44,  and  practiced  his 
profession  at  Essex  where  he  has  resided  during  all 
his  professional  life. 

Besides  holding  other  prominent  local  positions, 
he  was  a  member  of  the  state  house  of  representa- 
tives in  1853,  1854,  and  1S56,  and  of  the  state  sen- 
ate in  185S  and  1859.  He  was  elected  by  the  gen- 
eral assembly  in  1863,  a  judge  of  the  Superior 
court  for  the  regular  term  of  eight  years,  and  Avas 
re-elected  in  1871;  and  in  1S73  was  elected  a  judge 
of  the  Supreme  court  of  errors,  which  office  he  re- 
signed in  1875  on  his  election  to  the  forty-fourth 
congress  of  the  United  States  from  the  second  con- 
gressional district,  composed  of  the  counties  of 
New  Haven  and  Middlesex.  He  was  re-elected  to 
the  forty-fifth,  forty-sixth,  and  forty-seventh  con- 
gresses, and  declined  further  congressional  service. 
While  in  that  body  he  was  placed  on  several  of  its 
most  important  committees,  including  waj-s  and 
means,  foreign  affairs,  reform  in  the  civil  service, 
investigation  of  the  Louisiana  election,  etc.;  and  in 
the  contest  in  the  special  session  of  the  forty-sixth 
congress,  between  the  executive  and  the  legislative 
departments  of  the  government  respecting  the  ap- 
pointment and  service  of  deputy  U.  S.   marshals, 


and  the  stationing  of  U.  S.  soldiers  at  the  polls 
while  elections  were  being  held,  he  was  selected  as 
one  of  the  joint  committee  of  democratic  senators 
and  representatives  to  consider  and  recommend 
suitable  legislation  with  reference  to  those  im- 
portant questions. 

Soon  after  his  retirement  from  congress  he  was 
again  appointed  a  judge  of  the  Superior  court  and 
is  still  discharging  the  duties  of  that  position. 

September  30,  1845,  he  married  Lydia  A., 
daughter  of  Hon.  Samuel  Ingham,  who  still  sur- 
vives. They  have  had  two  sons,  viz  :  Samuel 
Ingham  Phelps  and  James  Lancelot  Phelps.  The 
former  died  at  Chattanooga,  Tennessee,  January 
10,  1S91. 

Judge  Phelps  has  been  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church  in  Essex,  to 
which  his  liberal  support  and  benefactions  are  well 
known. 

EMIL   C.    MARGGRAFF,  Watertown. 

Emil  C.  ]\Iarggraff  is  a  native  of  Germany,  and 
was  born  May  25,  1841,  in  Landstuhl,  in  the  Bava- 
rian Palatinate,  a  locality  celebrated  in  history  as 
the  birthplace  of  Francis 
of  Sickingen,  the  valiant 
knight  who  assisted  Mar- 
tin Luther  in  the  Reform- 
ation. Mr.  Marggraff 
caine  to  America  when  a 
boy  of  twelve  years.  He 
attended  General  Rus- 
sell's military  school  in 
New  Haven,  and  acquired 
a  thorough  elementary 
education  with  a  good 
knowledge  of  English  lit- 
erature and  the  sciences. 
At   the   breaking   out    of 

the  war  of  the  rebeUion  on  the  T6th  of  April,  1S61, 
he  enlisted  in  Company  E,  First  regiment  Connec- 
ticut Volunteer  Infantry,  for  three  months,  under 
the  first  call  of  President  Lincoln  for  75,000  volun- 
teers. He  served  the  full  term  and  was  mustered 
out  July  30,  1861.  Shortly  afterward  he  again  en- 
listed, joining  Company  B,  First  Connecticut  Vol- 
unteer Cavalry,  for  three  years.  He  went  through 
numerous  engagements,  and  was  severely  wounded 
at  the  battle  of  Winchester,  September  19,  1S64. 
After  the  close  of  the  war  he  became  editor  of  a 
German  newspaper,  but  resigned  his  position  when 
the  paper  changed  its  politics  from  republicanism  to 
democracy.  In  186S  became  to  Watertown,  where 
he  engaged  in  the  harness  business.  Mr.  ]\Iarg- 
graff  has  followed  literary  and  musical  pursuits 
quite  extensively,  being  the  author  of  several  musi- 
cal compositions,  and  having  written  and  published 
several  war  stories,  under  the  title  of  "  Reminis- 


E.    C.    MARGGRAFF. 


3H 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


cences  of  a  German  Officer."  In  1S69  he  was 
married  to  Miss  Sarah  Button,  bj'  whom  he  has 
three  children  Hving.  He  is  a  staunch  repubhcan 
in  pohtics,  and  has  been  chairman  of  the  repubhcan 
town  committee  of  Watertown  for  the  past  seven 
years.  He  has  also  been  a  member  of  the  school 
committee  for  three  years. 

Mr.  Marggraff  is  known  to  be  highly  educated  in 
music,  having  studied  harmony  and  counterpoint 
under  some  of  the  most  eminent  and  successful  in- 
structors and  masters.  He  is  thoroughly  literary 
and  musical  in  his  tastes,  and  devotes  all  his  leisure 
time  to  the  further  study  of  his  favorite  topics. 


BENJAMIN    NOYES. 


HON.  BENJAMIN  NOYES,  New  Haven. 

Mr.  Noyes  was  born  in  New  Canaan,  Conn.,  and 

is  now  a  little  past  sixty-eight  years  of  age.     He  was 

the  son  of  Dr.   S.   S.  Noyes  of  New  Canaan,  who 

was  great-great-grandson 

of  the  Rev.  Joseph  Noyes, 

whose  ministerial  services 

continued  with  the  Center 

church  in  New  Haven  for 

forty-five   years;   and  his 

tablet   forms   one   of   the 

now    ornamenting 


seven 

the  inside  walls  of  the 
church.  Mr.  Noyes  came 
to  New  Haven  into  the 
college  book  store  of  Gen- 
eral Howe  in  very  earh^ 
youth,  and  when  seven- 
teen years  of  age  became 
half  owner  in  the  establishment;  and  a  few  years 
after  became  sole  owner,  up  to  1847,  when  he  sold 
it  all  out  by  dividing  it  up  and  putting  it  into  the 
hands  of  others.  He  then  devoted  himself  to  the 
study  of  life  insurance  in  New  York  for  one  year, 
and  prepared  the  charter  of  the  American  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company,  which  was  organized 
with  Professor  Benjamin  Silliman  as  president  and 
Mr.  Noyes  secretary,  in  1848.  Mr.  Noyes,  as  a  re- 
sult of  his  reading  and  studies,  believing  that  the 
average  longevity  of  man  was  increasing  in  the 
United  States,  succeeded  in  inducing  the  directors 
to  reduce  the  then  standard  rates  of  premiums  for 
life  instirance.  The  company  thrived  about 
twenty-eight  years,  and  accumulated  a  fund  of 
more  than  one  million  dollars,  over  and  above  all 
losses  and  expenses,  and  built  the  insurance  build- 
ing. In  1857  the  legislature  of  Connecticut,  with- 
out his  solicitation,  appointed  him  a  bank  commis- 
sioner for  three  years,  which  office  he  held  the  full 
term  under  Governor  Buckingham.  In  discharging 
these  duties  Mr.  Noyes  examined  personally  every 
bank  and  savings  bank  in  the  state,  and  made  a 
personal  balance  sheet  each  year  of  each  one  of 


them,  and  reported  the  same  to  the  legislature. 
During  this  period  the  country  was  carried  into  the 
suspension  of  specie  payments,  and  his  recommen- 
dations to  the  legislature  and  the  banks  were  so 
uniformly  complied  with  by  both,  that  the  banks 
were  enabled  to  reduce  their  circulation  from 
twelve  million  of  dollars  down  to  about  four  mil- 
lions without  disaster  to  the  banks  or  the  public. 
Mr.  Noyes  was  appointed  the  first  insurance  com- 
missioner of  the  state  by  Gov.  Buckingham  for 
three  years,  and  was  re-appointed  by  Gov.  English 
for  the  same  term.  Full  annual  reports  of  the  ad- 
ministration of  nine  years  of  official  life  as  bank 
and  insurance  commissioner  by  Mr.  Noyes  to  the  leg- 
islature were  presented  and  printed  every  year, 
which  are  now  much  sought  after  as  valuable  con- 
tributions to  banking  and  insurance.  During  the 
period  of  Mr.  Noyes'  public  life  he  was  active  in 
the  affairs  of  men,  and  was  the  author  of  many 
charters,  among  them  the  following:  Four  insur- 
ance charters,  three  railroad  charters,  and  three 
bank  charters,  all  of  which  were  organized  and  went 
into  business.  He  re-insured  three  life  insurance 
companies  by  combining  them  with  his  own.  Among 
other  things,  he  wrote  the  charter  and  constructed 
the  Fair  Haven  Water  Company,  and  built  four 
large  reservoirs.  He  was  a  member  of  the  board 
of  education  for  several  years,  and  participated  in 
legislation  in  Washington,  Albany,  Massachusetts, 
and  Connecticut;  and  at  the  breaking  out  of  the 
war  of  the  rebellion,  after  the  banks  in  Hartford 
and  New  Haven  had  dechned  to  advance  any 
money  to  Governor  Buckingham,  towards  sending 
into  the  field  the  first  two  regiments,  under  the 
requisition  of  President  Lincoln,  Mr.  Noyes  in  less 
than  one  hour  raised  the  necessary  amount,  to  wit: 
$200,000;  bj'  his  own  insurance  companj-,  $50,000, 
from  Mechanics  Bank,  $50,000,  and  from  Elm  City 
Bank,  $100,000,  which  money  was  immediately  sup- 
plied to  Governor  Buckingham,  and  the  regiments 
were  at  once  gotten  up,  equipped,  and  sent  to  the 
war  without  the  delay  of  calling  the  Connecticut 
legislature  together.  The  accumulations  of  the  in- 
surance company  under  the  management  of  Mr. 
Noyes,  after  paying  losses  and  expenses,  was 
largely  devoted  towards  the  erection  of  stores, 
factories,  and  houses,  and  assisting  with  cash, 
enterprises,  to  large  amounts  of  money,  which 
neither  private  capital  nor  banks  would  suppty; 
and  it  is  a  fact  worthy  of  mention  that  not  one  dol- 
lar of  principal  or  interest  thus  loaned  or  invested 
during  twenty-eight  years  of  uninterrupted  man- 
agement was  lost,  and  it  contributed  largely  to  the 
growth  and  advancement  of  the  city  of  New 
Haven.  Mr.  Noyes  is  now  engaged  in  writing  and 
printing  a  volume  of  400  pages,  octavo,  e.Kcmplify- 
ing  constitution,  laws,  and  legislation,  under  a  re- 
publican form  of  government,  to  the  end  that  the 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


15 


people  shall  better  understand  how  to  protect  and 
enforce  their  rights,  including  an  expose  of  the 
scandal  of  state  requisitions  as  practiced  by  the 
governors  of  most  of  the  states,  as  he  says,  without 
the  authority  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

In  early  life  Mr.  Noyes  married  Miss  Bates  of 
Sharon,  Conn.,  and  they  had  five  children.  After 
her  death  he  remained  a  widower  six  years,  and 
then  married  Miss  Maryland  Virginia  Gardner, 
daughter  of  Ira  Gardner  of  Gardnerville,  N.  Y. 
Their  beautiful  daughter,  Birdie,  died  at  five  years 
of  age,  of  malignant  diphtheria.  Four  of  the  first 
children  are  now  living,  and  three  of  them  are 
married. 


FRANCIS  RUSSELL  CHILDS,  Hartford:  Pro- 
fessor of  Latin  and  Greek. 

Professor  Childs  was  born  in  East  Hartford, 
April  ig,  1S49,  and  is  one  of  the  best-known  edt:ca- 
tors  in  the  capital  city.  He  prepared  for  college  at 
the  Hartford  PubHc  High 
school,  entered  Yale  in 
the  class  of  '69,  graduat- 
ing with  honors,  having 
an  oration  stand.  He  was 
also  salutatorian  of  his 
class  in  the  High  school. 
After  graduating  at  Yale 
he  took  a  post  graduate 
course  of  two  years.  He 
was  principal  of  the 
Thompsonville  High 
school  for  one  year,  and 
for  a  short  time  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  West  Middle 
District  school  of  Hartford, 
teacher  in  the  Hartford  Public  High  school,  his 
alma  mate}-,  and  continued  in  that  service  until 
the  fall  of  1890.  For  a  number  of  years  he  had 
charge  of  the  senior  class,  and  was  instructor  in 
Latin  and  Greek  in  the  preparatory  course  for  col- 
lege. His  success  in  instilling  into  the  minds  of 
his  pupils  a  love  for  the  classics  and  thorough 
scholarship  is  one  of  the  traditions  of  the  school, 
and  his  "  boys  "  in  college  have  uniformly  made 
that  progress  which  can  only  be  made  upon  sound 
foundation  principles  of  study.  Professor  Childs 
has  hosts  of  friends  in  the  alumni  of  the  Hartford 
Public  High  school,  who  are  all  willing  to  cordially 
testify  as  to  his  conscientious  work  as  a  teacher. 
He  has  also  been  secretary  of  the  alumni  associa- 
tions of  the  school  since  its  formation.  While  a 
resident  of  East  Hartford  he  was  school  visitor  for 
some  fifteen  years,  and  for  the  most  of  the  time 
was  secretary  of  the  board.  Professor  Childs  mar- 
ried Adele  Amelie  Dunham  of  Windsor  ;  she  died 


In  1S70  he  became  a 


November,  1886,  leaving  one  child,  a  son.  He  has 
for  the  most  part  been  connected  with  the  democratic 
party,  so  far  as  politics  go,  but  has  not  taken  any 
especially  active  part.     He  is  a  Congregationahst. 


RALPH  I.  CRISSEY,  Norfolk:  Farmer. 

Mr.  Crissey  is  a  native  of  Norfolk,  and  has  spent 
almost  his  entire  life  there.  He  was  born  Febru- 
ary 4,  1833,  and  educated  in  the  public  schools,  fin- 
ishing at  Norfolk  Acade- 
my. He  has  one  daugh- 
ter, Mrs.  Winthrop  Cone. 
His  present  wife  was 
Miss  Mary  E.  Buell  of  Col- 
chester. He  has  held  near- 
ly all  the  local  offices 
within  the  gift  of  his 
town,  repeatedly,  and 
now  holds  that  of  select- 
man and  justice  of  the 
peace.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  general  assem- 
bly, representing  Norfolk 
in  1867  and  again  in  1883, 
serving  on  the  committee  on  probate  districts,  and 
on  contested  elections.  He  has  always  acted  with 
the  republican  party  and  has  been  their  town 
committee  for  several  years.  For  more  than 
twenty  years  he  has  been  the  business  agent  for 
his  section  of  the  Barnum  Richardson  Company  of 
East  Canaan.  Mr.  Crissey  is  a  member  of  the 
Norfolk  Congregational  church,  and  of  the  Masonic 
fraternitv. 


R.    I.    CRISSEY. 


STEPHEN  WALKLEY,  Southington:  Manufac- 
turer. 

Stephen  Walkley  was  born  at  vSouthington,  June 
27,  1S32.  At  the  age  of  eighteen,  owing  to  his 
father's  financial  reverses,  he  left  Lewis  Academy, 
where  he  was  nearly  fitted 
to  enter  college,  and  en- 
tering a  factory  learned 
the  machinist's  trade.  He 
also  studied  land  survey- 
ing, and  was  appointed 
county  surveyor.  He  en- 
listed as  private  in  Co.  A. , 
7th  Conn.  Vols.,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1862,  and  served 
three  years.  For  most  of 
this  time  he  was  detached 
as  clerk  in  the  adjutant- 
general's  department  at 
the  headquarters  of  Maj. 

Gen.  A.  H.  Terry.  On  the  organization  of  the 
Peck,  Stow  &  Wilcox  Company,  in  1S70,  he  was  ap- 
pointed its  secretar}-.     After   holding  this  position 


STEPHEN  WALKLEY, 


3i6 

three  years,  he  resigned  and  bought  out  the  Soief/i- 
mgton  Reporter,  now  the  Southington  Phcenix. 
In  1876  he  gave  tip  newspaper  work  and  was  ap- 
pointed treasurer  of  the  Peck,  Stow  &  Wilcox 
Companj-,  which  office  he  has  held  ever  since.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  legislature  in  1S75,  and  again 
in  1887  and  1888.  Has  been  a  selectman,  and  for 
fifteen  years  chairman  of  the  board  of  school  visi- 
tors in  his  native  town,  and  for  twenty  years  a  dea- 
con of  the  Plantsville  Congregational  church.  He 
is  now  treasurer  of  the  Peck,  Stow  &  Wilcox  Com- 
pany, and  also  of  the  Southington  &  Plantsville 
Electric  Tramway  Company-. 

In  1855  he  married  Ellen  A.  Hobart,  daughter  of 
John  M.  Hobart  of  Southington,  who  died  in  Octo- 
ber, 1888;  has  reared  three  children,  one  son  and 
two  daughters. 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


WASHINGTON  SMITH. 


WASHINGTON    SMITH,    Canterbury  :    Black- 
smith and  Wagon-maker. 

Washington  Smith  was  born  in  Canterbury,  Jan- 
uary 10,  1S34,  and  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. At  the  age  of  eighteen  he  was  apprenticed 
at  the  blacksmith's  trade, 
and  within  a  year  after 
completing  his  time  he 
purchased  the  business. 
In  1S70  he  was  obliged  to 
give  up  the  more  burden- 
some part  of  the  business 
on  account  of  impaired 
health.  Ten  years  later 
his  son  became  associated 
with  him  under  the  firm 
name  of  W.  Smith  &  Son, 
resuming  the  blacksmith- 
ing  department  in  con- 
nection with  the  branch 
of  wagon-making  which  he  had  carried  on  in  the 
interval  from  1S70.  Mr.  Smith  has  spent  the 
whole  of  his  business  career  in  Canterbury  and  is 
highly  esteemed  in  that  community.  He  has  been 
often  solicited  to  take  office,  but  has  steadily  re- 
sisted the  appeals  of  his  townsmen  in  that  direc- 
tion. On  one  occasion,  however,  he  accepted  the 
position  of  justice  of  the  peace.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Congregational  church,  occupying  the  posi- 
tion of  society's  treasurer  for  twenty  years,  and  is 
also  connected  with  the  Golden  Cross,  Knights  of 
Pythias,  and  Helping  Hand  societies.  He  was 
married  when  twenty- three  years  of  age,  his  wife 
being  Miss  Mary  A.  Brown  of  Jewett  City,  who  is 
still  living.  There  have  been  four  children.  Of 
these,  one  son,  Charles  F.  Smith,  died  in  18S5,  at 
the  age  of  twenty-two;  and  one  daughter,  Mary  E. 
Smith,  died  in  infancy.  A  son,  George  W.  Smith, 
and  a  daughter,  Ruth  K.  Smith,  still  survive. 


NATHAN    TROWBRIDGE    PULSIFER,  Man- 
chester. 

N.  T.  Pulsifer  was  born  in  Newton,  Mass.,  Octo- 
ber 27,  1851,  and  was  educated  at  the  Newton  High 
and  Grammar  schools.  He  has  at  different  periods 
of  his  life  resided  at  New- 
ton, New  York  city,  and 
at  Manchester.  He  has 
followed  the  business  of 
paper-making,  and  is,  in 
addition,  interested  in 
electric  manufacturing. 
He  is  treasurer  of  the 
Oakland  Paper  Company, 
general  manager  of  the 
Mather  Electric  Com- 
pany, and  president  of 
the  Lawson  Valentine 
Company  of  New  York. 
His  energetic  business, 
methods  have  won  for  him  the  esteem  and  confi- 
dence of  his  fellow-townsmen,  who  have  shown 
their  appreciation  of  his  ability  by  electing  him 
president  of  the  Manchester  Board  of  Trade.  He 
is  looked  upon  as  one  of  the  leading  business  men 
in  the  paper  trade  in  the  state.  He  is  connected 
with  the  Congregational  church.  In  politics  he  is  a 
republican,  but  more  interested  in  business  than  in 
politics.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Club, 
the  New  York  Electric  Club,  and  of  the  Connecti- 
cut Sons  of  the  American  Revolution.  His  wife 
was  Almira  Houghton  Valentine,  of  New  York 
city,  and  he  has  two  children. 


N.    T.    rULSIFER. 


EDMUND  WILKINSON,  Greenwich:  Manufac- 
turer. 

Mr.  Wilkinson  was  born  in  that  portion  of  Pom- 
fret  which  was  included  in  Putnam,  when  that 
town  was  incorporated  by  the  legislature  in  1S55, 
the  date  being  October 
12,  181 5,  and  was  educat- 
ed in  Rhode  Island  and 
Massachusetts.  His 
grandfather,  father,  and 
uncles  from  Rhode  Island 
built  at  Putnam,  in  1806, 
the  first  cotton  mill  erect- 
ed in  Connecticut,  and 
Mr.  Wilkinson,  the  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch,  con- 
tinued the  business  until 
1 868.  His  efforts  in  se- 
curing the  incorporation 
of  Putnam,  the  plans  be- 
ing inaugurated  in  1S49,  were  of  great  importance. 
At  first  the  idea  was  strenuously  opposed,  the  op- 
ponents of  the  measure  winning  the  victory  in  four 


EDMUND    WILKINSON. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


317 


different  sessions.  But  in  1S55  Mr.  Wilkinson  and 
liis  associates  bore  away  the  palm.  The  justice  of 
the  cause  has  been  proved  time  and  again  since, 
the  town  of  Putnam  having  become  one  of  the 
most  prominent  centers  of  trade  and  industry  in 
eastern  Connecticut.  Mr.  Wilkinson  was  also  an 
earnest  supporter  of  the  New  York  &  New  Eng- 
land line,  and  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
National  and  Savings  banks  in  the  town.  He  has 
b)een  actively  interested  in  the  Merrick  Thread 
Company,  and  has  spent  a  portion  of  his  life  in 
France  in  connection  with  his  business.  His  wife, 
-\vho  is  not  now  living,  was  Miss  Harriot  Augusta 
Thayer  before  her  marriage.  There  are  four  sons 
living.  Mr.  Wilkinson  is  a  member  of  the  Episco- 
pal church,  and  in  politics  a  republican. 


TRACY    PECK. 


TRACY  PECK,  New  Haven;  Professor  of  the 
Latin  Language  and  Literature  in  Yale  College. 
Tracy  Peck,  twelfth  child  of  Tracy  and  Sally 
{Adams)  Peck,  was  born  in  Bristol,  May  24,  1838. 
His  direct  male  ancestors  since  Paul  Peck,  who 
■came  to  Hartford  with 
Rev.  Thomas  Hooker  in 
1636,  have  lived  and  died 
in  Hartford  county.  He 
prepared  for  college  at 
the  Bristol  Academy,  and 
at  Williston  Seminary, 
East  Hampton,  Mass., 
.and  graduated  at  Yale  in 
1861,  the  valedictorian  of 
his  class.  After  gradua- 
tion he  desired  to  become 
a.  soldier  in  the  civil  war. 
Taut,  dissuaded  by  the 
state  of  his  health,  he 
went  to  Europe,  for  nearly  three  years  residing 
and  studying,  mainly  in  Germany,  Italy,  and 
France.  On  his  retixrn  he  taught  mathematics  and 
Latin,  four  years  as  tutor  in  Yale  and  one  year  in 
the  Chickering  Institute",  Cincinnati,  Ohio.  He 
was  professor  of  Latin  in  Cornell  University  from 
1S71  till  1880,  since  which  time  he  has  held  the  same 
position  at  Yale.  He  has  been  greatly  interested 
in  the  movement  to  restore  to  Latin  its  ancient 
pronunciation,  writing  several  articles  in  its  sup- 
port and  introducing  the  reform  both  at  Cornell  and 
at  Yale.  He  has  contributed  many  papers  to 
various  critical,  educational,  and  philological  peri- 
odicals. With  Professor  C.  L.  Smith  of  Harvard 
College,  he  is  editor-in-chief  of  a  new  series  of  an- 
notated Latin  books  for  college  use,  of  which  series 
four  volumes  have  already  appeared.  Since  1883 
lie  has  been  a  trustee  of  Williston  Seminary.  He 
was  president  of  the  American  Philological  Asso- 
-ciation  for  1885-86.      He  is  a  member  of  the  Con- 


gregational church,  and  in  politics  is  an   indepen- 
dent. 

December  22,  1S70,  in  Plymouth  church,  Brook- 
lyn, N.  Y.,  he  married  Miss  Elizabeth  H.  Hall  of 
Hadleigh,  England,  by  whom  he  has  a  dai:ghter 
(Teresina,  born  Nov.  9,  1872)  and  a  son  (Trac}', 
born  April  i,  1S74). 


REV.  JAMES   M.  PHILIPS,  Axdovek  :    Baptist 

Clergyman. 

James  Monroe  Philips  was  born  at  Griswold, 
Conn.,  February  24,  1818,  and  was  educated  at  the 
Plainfield  Academy  and  Sufheld  Literary  Institute. 
His  younger  days  were 
spent  in  Plainfield.  When 
seventeen  years  of  age  he 
began  teaching  school, 
and  taught  twelve  terms 
with  excellent  success.  In 
1844  he  was  settled  as 
pastor  of  a  Baptist  church 
in  Russell,  Mass.,  where 
he  was  ordained  in  1845. 
He  has  held  pastorates  in 
Noank,  Mystic,  Greene- 
ville,  Niantic,  Clinton, 
Easton,  and  Willington, 
covering  a  period  of  forty 

3'ears,  all  but  three  of  which  were  spent  in  Connec- 
ticut. Since  1885  ^Nlr.  Philips  has  been  Hving  in 
Andover,  as  he  says,  "on  the  invalid  list."  Rev. 
Mr.  Philips  has  been  a  tremendous  worker  in  his 
field,  performing  what  would  now  be  regarded 
almost  as  impossibilities.  He  has  preached  3,800 
sermons,  conducted  as  many  prayer-meetings,  and 
officiated  at  some  300  funerals.  In  the  early  part 
of  his  ministry  it  was  common  to  preach  three 
times  on  Sunday,  frequently  during  the  week  at 
school-houses,  and  almost  invariably  at  funerals. 
In  addition  to  his  duties  in  the  ministry,  he  has 
been  acting  school  visitor  in  Groton,  East  Lyme, 
Russell,  Mass.,  and  a  member  of  the  school  board 
of  Norwich  when  he  was  settled  as  pastor  in 
Greeneville.  He  is  an  earnest  prohibitionist,  and 
even  at  his  advanced  age  takes  a  keen  interest  in 
the  movements  of  the  prohibition  part}'.  He  was 
married  to  Joanna  M.  Fish  of  Voluntown,  Decem- 
ber 9,  1845.  She  died  in  1878,  and  Mr.  Philips  was 
again  married  September  9,  1879,  to  Rosetta  P. 
Adams  of  Colchester,  who  is  still  living.  He  has 
never  had  any  children.  Rev.  Mr.  Philips  is  well 
known  and  sincerely  beloved  by  his  denomination 
in  the  state,  and  has  many  friends  in  all  religious 
connections.  His  ministry  has  been  a  very  able 
and  successful  one.  In  connection  with  his  labors 
there  have  been  precious  and  blessed  revivals  of 
religion.     He  is  a  man  of  intellectual  attainments 


318 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


and  spiritual  power,  and  held  in  the  highest  esteem 
by  his  associates  in  the  ministry:  a  man  of  clear 
judgment  and  fine  executive  ability.  He  has 
served  as  moderator  of  the  Stonington  L'''nion  and 
New  London  Baptist  associations;  also  as  clerk  of 
both  bodies.     His  record  is  a  most  worthy  one. 


CHARLES   PAGE. 


CHARLES  PAGE,  North  Braxford:  Town 
Clerk  and  Congregational  Minister. 
Charles  Page  of  North  Branford  was  born  in  that 
town  ]May  21,  1S39.  He  received  a  thorough  edu- 
cation, pursuing  his  studies  at  the  Guilford  Insti- 
tute, the  Normal  school 
at  New  Britain,  and  at 
the  Yale  Theological  Sem- 
inary. In  1859  he  com- 
menced teaching  in  the 
public  schools,  devoting 
his  attention  to  this  avo- 
cation winters,  and  work- 
ing on  the  farm  during 
the  summer.  This 
method  was  continued 
until  I  S  7  o.  He  was 
chosen  a  member  of  the 
board  of  school  visitors  in 
1862,  and  held  the  posi- 
tion continuously  for  twenty-one  years.  He  was 
chosen  justice  of  the  peace  in  1870,  and  remained 
in  office  until  1887.  In  1S71  he  was  elected  town 
clerk,  treasurer,  and  registrar  of  births,  deaths, 
and  marriages,  and  has  held  these  offices  from  that 
date  until  the  present.  In  1874  he  represented  the 
town  of  North  Branford  in  the  general  assembly, 
his  colleagues  in  the  house  being  the  Hon.  Allen 
Tenny  of  Norwich,  School  Fund  Commissioner 
Jeremiah  Olney  of  Thompson,  E.  S.  Day  of  Col- 
chester, Edwin  A.  Buck  then  of  Ashford,  Colonel 
Charles  M.  Joslyn  of  Hartford,  J.  Dwight  Chaffee 
of  Mansfield,  F.  W.  Bruggerhoff  of  Darien,  ex- 
Congressman  George  M.  Landers  of  New  Britain, 
ex-Senator  T.  M.  Maltbie  of  Granby,  ex-Speaker 
William  C.  Case,  Lynde  Harrison  of  New  Haven 
and  Charles  Durand  of  Derby,  Tilton  E.  Doolittle 
of  New  Haven,  and  ex-School-Fund  Commissioner 
Henry  C.  Miles  of  Milford.  The  experience  in  a 
house  composed  of  such  leaders  of  public  thought 
and  policy  was  invaluable.  Mr.  Page  studied 
theology  at  the  Yale  Theological  Seminary  in  New 
Haven,  1882-1885,  attending  lectures  daily,  and 
reciting  with  the  class.  He  was  licensed  to  preach 
Sept.  30,  1885,  by  the  New  Haven  East  Associa- 
tion, and  has  occupied  pulpits  in  his  locality  as  op- 
portunity has  presented  itself.  In  politics  Mr.  Page 
is  a  republican.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was 
Miss  Elbertine  A.  Dudley  before  marriage.  There 
are  three  children  in  the  family. 


W.    C.    PIKE. 


clerk  of  Sterling. 


WILLIAM  C.  PIKE,  Sterling:  Town  Clerk. 

WilHam  Campbell  Pike  was  born  in  Sterling, 
September  4,  1832,  and  was  educated  at  the  Plain- 
field  academy  and  at  the  Smithville  seminary  in 
Rhode  Island,  preparing 
him  for  an  active  and  in- 
fluential business  life. 
He  has  been  the  town 
treasurer  of  Sterling,  and 
represented  that  town  in 
the  legislature  during  the 
session  of  1887,  serving 
on  the  republican  side  of 
the  house.  He  is  an  ac- 
countant by  avocation, 
and  is  connected  with  the 
Sterling  Dyeing  and  Fin- 
ishing Company.  He 
holds  the  office  of  town 
During  the  time  that  he  held 
the  responsible  position  of  towm  treasurer,  and 
while  holding  the  office  of  town  clerk,  his  duties 
have  been  performed  with  intelligence  and  fidelity, 
and  in  a  way  to  secure  the  approbation  of  the 
entire  town.  He  is  held  in  high  public  esteem 
in  eastern  Connecticut.  Mr.  Pike  is  without  a 
family. 

T.    R.    MARTIN,    Waterbury  :    Superintendent 
Waterbury  Brass  Company. 

Thomas  Richards  Martin  was  born  in  New  York 
city,  April  27,  1S39,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  He  was  advanced  from  the  bench  to 
his  present  position  in 
1S81.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  council  board  in 
Waterbury  from  1883  until 
1889,  and  has  since  been 
a  member  of  the  board  of 
aldermen.  He  has  also 
been  a  polioe  commis- 
sioner since  1884,  and  is 
a  popular  public  official. 
In  politics  Alderman  Mar- 
tin is  a  republican.  He 
served  with  merit  during 
T.  R.  MARTIN.  the  war,  advancing  from 

the  ranks  to  the  captaincy 
of  Company  D,  Fifth  New  York  Volunteers.  He 
enlisted  as  a  member  of  Company  D  of  this  regi- 
ment in  April,  1861,  the  command  being  known  as 
Duryee's  Zouaves,  and  was  mustered  out  in  1863 
on  account  of  expiration  of  term  of  service.  Since 
the  age  of  thirteen  years  Superintendent  Martin 
has  been  dependent  upon  his  own  energies  for  suc- 
cess. He  has  resided  at  Haverstraw.  N.  Y.,  Rah- 
way,  N.  J.,  Brooklyn,  New  York  city,  and  Phila- 
delphia, being  in   the  latter  city   from   1S70  until 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


319 


1874.  For  the  past  sixteen  years  he  has  Hved  in 
Waterbury.  He  is  connected  with  the  Episcopal 
church,  and  is  a  member  of  the  order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows in  Waterbury.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife 
and  two  daughters.  The  former  was  Martha 
M.  Freeman  prior  to  her  marriage  with  Commis- 
sioner Martin. 


DAVID    PLATT. 


DAVID  PLATT,  West  Haven:  Agriculturist. 

David  Piatt  was  born  in  Naugatuck,  Conn.,  De- 
cember 5,  1830,  his  father,  Nathan  Piatt,  having 
moved  from  West  Haven,  his  native  place,  to  that 
town  a  short  time  before. 
In  the  spring  of  1S31  his 
parents  returned  to  West 
Haven,  where  nearly  all 
of  Mr.  Piatt's  life  has  been 
spent,  and  where  he  now 
resides.  He  is  the  fourth 
child  of  a  family  of  ten, 
six  brothers  and  four  sis- 
ters, all  of  whom  are  liv- 
ing. His  ancestors  were 
active  in  the  revolutionary 
war  and  the  war  of  1812. 
An  uncle  of  his  on  his 
mother's  side  built  at  his 
own  expense  the  war-ship  77ie  Wasp,  used  in  the 
latter  war.  In  early  youth  Mr.  Piatt  manifested 
that  energy  and  intelligence  which  have  character- 
ized him  through  hfe.  In  1852,  having  been  at- 
tacked by  the  "gold  fever,"  which  was  then  so 
prevalent,  he  journeyed  to  California  to  try  his 
fortunes  in  mining  there.  After  two  years  he  left 
California  for  home,  carrying  with  him  not  huge 
nuggets  of  gold,  but  a  sum  of  money  sufficient  to 
give  him  a  start  in  life  in  the  east.  In  1856  he 
married  Miss  Melissa  Shenehon  of  New  Haven. 
They  have  three  children,  all  daughters.  He  pur- 
chased in  1857  the  place  in  West  Haven  upon  which 
he  now  resides.  This  place  is  beautifully  located 
on  Long  Island  Sound.  The  lawn  is  well  shaded 
by  fine  elms  and  maples,  and  there  grows  among 
them  a  grand  old  cedar  tree,  dear  to  the  family  be- 
cause that  Mr.  Piatt's  father  in  his  boyhood,  hav- 
ing been  sent  to  clear  a  wood-lot,  spared  a  sturdy 
little  cedar  that  gave  promise  of  being  unusually 
fine,  and  this  is  the  tree  on  his  son's  grounds,  with- 
out doubt  the  largest  cedar  in  Connecticut.  Mr. 
Piatt  is  a  representative  New  Englander,  a  man  of 
sterling  business  integrity,  one  whose  "  word  is  as 
good  as  his  bond,"  of  great  energj'-  and  keen  in- 
sight. Above  all  this,  he  is  emphatically  the  poor 
man's  friend.  No  wayfarer  ever  goes  hungry  from 
his  door,  and  to  many  a  man  endeavoring  to  make 
some  headway  in  the  world  has  he  extended  a  help- 
ing hand.     He  is  himself  what  is  termed  a  "  self- 


made  man,"  having  been  thrown  upon  his  own  re- 
sources in  boyhood,  and  having  made  for  himself, 
if  not  a  fortune,  at  least  a  competency.  He  has 
been  mainly  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  in  that 
pursuit  is  well  known  as  a  practical  and  successful 
man.  He  is  a  very  young  looking  and  appearing 
man  for  his  years,  with  a  shrewd,  intelligent  face, 
lighted  up  by  fine  dark  eyes,  which  seem  to  read 
one's  thoughts,  they  are  so  bright  and  searching, 
although  very  pleasant  in  their  expression.  In 
politics  he  is  a  Jeffersonian  democrat,  and  is  a 
faithful  and  earnest  worker  for  the  success  of  the 
democracy  in  all  its  departments.  He  is  a  public- 
spirited  man,  and  has  served  his  town  in  various 
offices,  having  been  for  many  terms  upon  the  board 
of  selectmen.  He  has  not  represented  his  town  in 
the  state  legislature,  his  party  having  been  in  the 
minority;  but  he  has  had  the  honor  of  the  nomina- 
tion a  number  of  times.  The  republicans  now  have 
a  majority  of  over  one  hundred;  still  in  last  Novem- 
ber's election  Mr.  Piatt  was  a  candidate  for  repre- 
sentative, and  made  a  fine  run,  being  defeated  by 
the  small  number  of  six  votes.  But,  although  he 
has  not  been  an  active  member  of  the  legislature, 
he  and  several  of  his  fellow-townsmen  have  worked 
zealously  in  different  sessions  of  that  body  for 
their  town's  good  in  the  settlement  of  several  legal 
claims  and  disputes,  and  their  efforts  have  met 
with  success. 


FRANK    W.   ETHERIDGE,  Thomaston:   Judge 

of  Probate. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Montville, 
Conn.,  March  31,  1858,  and  was  educated  in  the 
High  school  at  Hartford,  in  which  city  he  resided 
for  several  years,  prior  to 
1880.  In  1880  he  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar  after  a 
thorough  course  of  study 
in  the  office  of  Johnson 
&  Prentice,  and  soon  after 
removed  to  Thomaston , 
where  he  is  now  connected 
with  the  law  firm  of  Brad- 
street  &  Etheridge.  He 
has  been  prominent  in 
public  life  in  Thomaston, 
serving  as  clerk  of  the 
probate  court  from  its  or- 
ganization in  that  district 
in  18S2,  until  he  was  elected  judge  of  that  court  in 
1890.  He  is  a  member  and  secretary  of  the  board 
of  education  and  of  the  board  of  health  of  the  town , 
and  is  a  justice  of  the  peace  and  assistant  town 
clerk.  Judge  Etheridge  is  a  republican,  taking  an 
active  part  in  the  affairs  of  the  party,  and  devoted 
to  its  principles.     He  is  a  member  and  one  of  the 


ETHERIDGE. 


320 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


trustees  of  the  Methodist  church,  and  is  connected 
with  the  fraternal  organizations  in  Thomaston,  be- 
ing a  member  of  Franklin  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  of 
Thomaston,  and  of  Columbia  Encampment  of  the 
same  place.  He  married  Ellen  Mathews,  and  has 
four  children.  Judge  Etheridge  is  looked  upon  as 
one  of  the  rising  young  men  of  the  western  part  of 
the  state. 


W.    R.    G.\RDi\ER. 


WASHINGTON     R.    GARDNER,    Waterford: 
Farmer. 

Mr.  Gardner  was  born  at  Waterford,  March  i, 
1S42.  His  elementary  education  was  acquired  at 
the  district  schools  in  his  native  town,  to  which  in 
later  years  was  super- 
added an  academic  course 
in  the  Bartlett  high  school 
in  New  London.  Mr. 
Gardner  has  descended 
from  choice  New  England 
ancestry,  his  paternal  and 
maternal  progenitors  hav- 
ing been  men  of  note  and 
identiiied  with  the  early 
history  of  the  state.  They 
were  all  residents  of  New 
London  or  Newport  for 
many  generations,  as  is 
determined  by  tracing 
"back  through  the  genealogy  for  over  two  hundred 
years.  His  father,  the  late  Henry  Gardner,  2d, 
was  the  esteemed  postmaster  of  Waterford  for 
thirty  years.  The  present  residence  of  the  widow 
of  Mr.  Henry  Gardner,  known  as  the  "  old  Bulke- 
ley  tavern  stand,"  was  bought  in  1832,  and  has  re- 
mained the  family  homestead  to  this  day.  In  1S61 
Mr.  Gardner  married  the  youngest  daughter 
■of  Gurdon  T.  Chappell,  Esq.,  a  gentleman  of 
note  in  Waterford,  and  who  at  least  once  (in  1S57) 
represented  that  town  in  the  legislature.  The  ma- 
ternal grandfather  of  Mrs.  Gardner,  Griswold 
Avery,  Esq.,  was  evidently  a  prominent  figure  in 
the  early  history  of  Waterford.  He  was  a  justice 
of  the  peace  at  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of  the 
town  in  1801,  and  in  that  capacity  warned  its  first 
town  meeting,  of  which  he  was  appointed  the  mod- 
erator. Afterwards,  in  1806-7,  he  v.'as  elected  rep- 
resentative to  the  general  assembly.  His  son,  Gris- 
wold Avery,  2d,  succeeded  him  in  1808,  and  Charles 
Avery,  a  brother,  in  1815-16-18.  Others  of  the 
family  have  from  time  to  time  held  positions  of 
trust  within  the  gift  of  their  townsmen,  including 
frequent  elections  to  the  legislature.  The  roll  of 
representatives,  as  recorded  at  the  state  capitol, 
discloses  the  interesting  fact  that  during  the  last 
century  Mr.  Gardner's  family  has  been  represented 
by  one  or  another  of  its  members,  in  the  legisla- 
ture, no  less  than  twenty-eight  times.     Mr.  Gard- 


ner is  a  democrat  in  politics,  inherited  from  father 
and  grandfather,  of  the  Jacksonian  type,  and  a  pro- 
nounced advocate  of  temperance.  His  first  elec- 
tion to  the  position  of  a  legislator  was  in  1S82,  when 
his  majority  was  greater  than  the  entire  vote  of  his 
opponent.  His  re-election  the  succeeding  year  was 
a  still  greater  triumph,  inasmuch  as  he  received 
the  total  vote,  not  only  of  his  own  party,  but  of  the 
republicans,  who  at  their  caucus  indorsed  unani- 
mously the  democratic  nominee.  This  action  was 
chiefly  attributable  to  the  satisfactory  record  of  Mr. 
Gardner  on  the  prohibitory  amendment  before  the 
legislature  in  1883,  which  received  his  active  sup- 
port. Mr.  Gardner  is  at  present  a  justice  of  the 
peace  for  the  town  of  Waterford,  and  a  member  of 
the  board  of  relief.  He  carries  on  the  farm  upon 
which  he  resides,  the  homestead  of  Rev.  Gurdon  T. 
Chappell,  deceased,  and  additionally  is  engaged 
more  or  less  as  a  carpenter  and  builder.  He  has 
discharged  the  duties  of  all  public  positions  to 
which  he  has  been  called  with  singular  fidelity,  and 
to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  his  constituents. 


REV.   GEORGE  M.  STONE,  D.D.,  Hartford: 
Pastor  of  Asylum  Avenue  Baptist  Church. 
Dr.  vStone  is  the  son  of  Marvin  E.  and  Hannah 
(West)  Stone,  and  was  born  at  Strongsville,  Ohio, 
December  10,  1834.     He  commenced  a  business  life 
at  an  early  age  in  Cleve- 
land,   but     shortly    after 
united   with    the    Second 
Baptist     church    in    that 
city,    and     changed     his 
plans  for  hfe,  deciding  to 
take    a   course    of    study 
preparatory  to  the  Chris- 
tian ministry.     He  spent 
some  months  at  Williston 
Seminary,   Easthampton, 
Mass.,  in   1854,  and   then 
entered   Madison  (now 
Colgate)     University,    at 
Hamilton,     N.    Y.,    and 
graduated  in  1858.    His  theological  course  was  also 
taken  at  the  Hamilton  Theological  Seminary. 

Dr.  Stone's  first  settlement  was  in  Danbury, 
Conn.,  where  he  was  ordained  in  September,  1S60. 
The  next  year  he  married  Miss  Abbie  B.  Seeley, 
daughter  of  Deacon  Nathan  Seeley  of  the  Danbury 
church.  His  pastorate  in  Danbury  continued  seven 
years  and  was  highly  prosperous,  the  last  year  an 
accession  being  made  to  the  church  of  over  ninety 
members.  A  failure  of  health  at  this  time  led  him 
to  seek  a  change  of  climate,  and  he  removed  to 
Minnesota  in  September,  1867,  becoming  pastor  of 
the  First  Baptist  church  in  Winona,  serving  this 
church  for  two  years.    In  1S70  Dr.  Stone  was  called 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


321 


to  the  charge  of  the  Jefferson  Street  Baptist  church 
in  IMihvaiikee,  Wis.  In  1872  he  received  the  hono- 
rary degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  the  Chicago 
University.  After  a  pastorate  in  Milwaukee  of 
three  and  a  half  years,  he  returned  to  the  East 
and  was  settled  with  the  Baptist  church  in  Tarry- 
town-on-Hudson,  N.  Y.,  in  September,  1873.  Dur- 
ing his  residence  here,  a  beautiful  new  stone  church 
edifice  was  erected.  Dr.  Stone  gave  special  atten- 
tion during  this  pastorate  to  the  public  reading  of 
the  Bible,  occasionally  devoting  a  whole  service  to 
the  simple  reading  of  the  Scripture  without  com- 
ment. In  June,  1S79,  he  accepted  a  call  to  the 
Asylum  Avenue  Baptist  church  in  Hartford,  Conn., 
which  pastorate  he  still  holds  (1S91),  after  a  period 
of  twelve  years.  Dr.  Stone  has  made  three  tours 
to  Europe  ;  the  first  in  1862,  the  second  in  1S82, 
and  again  in  1889,  the  latter  including  a  visit  to 
Turkey,  Italy,  Egypt,  and  Palestine.  In  1884  a 
journey  was  made  by  Dr.  Stone  through  the  Yel- 
lowstone National  Park,  an  account  of  which  was 
given  in  a  series  of  letters  to  the  New  York  Exam- 
mcr.  He  also  went  to  Alaska  in  1886.  Dr.  Stone 
has  lectured  extensively  upon  various  subjects,  no- 
tably his  journeys,  with  stereopticon  views  on 
Alaska,  Constantinople,  and  Palestine.  He  has 
rendered  efficient  service  in  Sunday-school  insti- 
tutes, the  especial  line  in  which  he  is  particularly 
suggestive  and  fresh  being  in  methods  of  Bible 
study.  His  studies  in  the  public  reading  of  the 
Bible,  which  had  been  continued  for  several  years 
previously,  were  gathered  together  in  1S90  in  a  vol- 
ume entitled,  "  The  Public  Uses  of  the  Bible  ;  A 
Study  in  Biblical  Elocution."  This  book,  now  is- 
sued by  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co.,  New  York,  has 
received  the  highest  commendations  from  the  press 
and  from  Christian  ministers  and  teachers.  Dr. 
Stone  has  been  a  prolific  Avriter  for  the  press,  in 
which  branch  of  activity  he  is  still  constantly  en- 
gaged. He  was  elected  chaplain  of  the  house  of 
representatives  of  the  Connecticut  general  assem- 
bly in  1883,  and  re-elected  in  18S4. 

A  recent  notice  in  the  New  York  Herald  makes 
mention  of  Dr.  Stone  in  these  words:  "  A  few 
weeks  since,  one  of  the  most  prominent  churches  in 
that  centre  of  the  great  empire  of  the  West,  Minne- 
apolis, invited  him  to  their  pastorate,  but  he  has 
decided  to  remain  in  his  present  position,  to  the 
great  satisfaction  of  his  church  and  the  entire  state. 
His  counsel  is  eagerly  sought  in  all  local  and  state 
moral  and  educational  and  religious  work,  and  he 
is  ever  at  the  front  in  all  movements  for  the  good 
of  men,  holding  positions  in  all  the  important 
boards  of  the  denomination.  In  the  pulpit  he  is  an 
attractive,  forceful  preacher,  and  his  utterances  are 
always  marked  by  sweetness  of  spirit,  keenness  of 
analysis,  breadth  of  view,  and  the  persuasiveness 
■of  one  who  loves  his  fellow-men." 


C.    M.    LEETE. 


CALVIN  M.  LEETE,  Guilford  :  Farmer. 

Calvin  M.  Leete  of  Leete's  Island,  in  the  town  of 
Guilford,  has  served  three  terms  in  the  legislature 
from  that  town,  representing  that  constituency  in 
the  house  in  1S56,  1862, 
and  1878.  He  is  a  repub- 
lican in  politics,  and  has 
held  the  office  of  registrar 
of  voters  for  twenty-two 
years.  He  is  a  farmer  by 
avocation  and  is  one  of 
the  trustees  of  the  Guil- 
ford Savings  Bank.  With 
the  exception  of  two  years 
in  Meriden  his  life  has 
been  passed  on  Leete's 
Island,  where  he  was 
born  October  18,  1816. 
He  is  at  present  a  mem- 
ber of  the  school  board  in  Guilford  and  belongs  to 
the  Third  Congregational  church  in  that  place. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Lucy  M. 
Leete.  There  is  one  son  in  the  family.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  is  widely  known  throughout  the 
state  on  account  of  his  legislative  associations.  He 
is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  respected  residents  in 
Guilford. 

HON.  CYRUS    G.  BECKWITH,  New  London  : 

Merchant. 

Cyrus  Grosvenor  Beckwith  was  born  at  Water- 
ford,  Conn.,  December  3,  1841.  In  earlj^  boj-hood 
he  studied  in  the  common  schools  of  his  native 
town,  and  graduated  in 
1S58  from  the  Bartlett 
High  school  at  New  Lon- 
don. He  gradually  be- 
came interested  in  mer- 
cantile pursuits,  and  was 
a  commercial  traveler  for 
fourteen  years,  up  to  1880, 
when  he  established  his 
present  business,  the  firm 
now  being  Beckwith  & 
Keefe.  In  1864  he  was 
elected  a  member  of  the 
New  London  court  of 
common   council,    and  in 

1884  elected  again  for  a  term  of  three  years.  In 
1886  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  Ninth  sena- 
torial district  in  the  upper  house  of  the  state  legis- 
lature, serving  on  the  democratic  side.  Mr.  Beck- 
with has  membership  with  the  Free  Masons,  Odd 
Fellows,  and  Red  Men.  He  some  years  ago  mar- 
ried Miss  Augusta  A.  Dart,  and  they  now  have  one 
child.  His  business  and  public  career  have  been 
such  as  to  entitle  him  to  the  respect  and  gratitude 
of  his  fellow-citizens. 


C.    G.    BECKWITH. 


322 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


V.    O.    SMITH. 


PRENTICE  O.  SMITH,  Franklin. 

Prentice  O.  Smith,  born  August  3,  18 17,  in  that 
part  of  Groton  which  is  now  Ledyard,  moved  in 
early  manhood  to  Franklin,  Conn.,  where  he  has 
since  resided.  Having 
learned  the  trade  of  car- 
riage-making, he  carried 
on  the  business  in  part- 
nership with  his  brother 
for  about  twenty  years  in 
Franklin.  He  then  took 
the  general  agency  for 
New  York  city  for  the 
successive  editions  of  the 
atlas  published  by  Mitch- 
ell &  Bradley,  holding 
the  field  to  the  satisfac- 
tion of  all  parties  for  a 
full  quarter  of  a  century. 
He  married,  April  29,  1840,  Miss  Eliza  J.  King  of 
Lebanon,  Goshen  society.  They  have  two  sons 
and  two  daughters. 

Mr.  Smith  was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
legislature  in  1865.  He  has  always  been  active  in 
forwarding  every  measure  which  has  given  fair 
promise  of  benefiting  the  community,  and  has  been 
especially  earnest  in  sustaining  the  local  church. 
A  few  such  men  in  each  of  our  country  towns 
would  soon  arrest  the  decadence  of  which  many 
complain. 

JOHN  N.  LEWIS,  Voluntown:  Accountant. 

Mr.  Lewis  was  born  in  Exeter,  R.  I.,  April  23, 
1847.  He  is  a  son  of  Deacon  James  Lewis,  a 
prosperous  farmer,  and  a  grandson  of  Colonel 
Nathan  B.  Lewis,  a  vete- 
ran of  the  war  of  1 8 1 2 .  In 
his  boyhood  he  worked  on 
the  farm  summers  and 
attended  school  winters, 
receiving  his  education  in 
the  public  schools,  select 
schools,  and  at  Schofield's 
Commercial  college.  Af- 
ter leaving  school  he 
taught  for  several  terms 
with  good  success.  In 
1870  he  was  United  States 
census  gatherer  for  Exe- 
ter, and  in  1872  was  elected 
justice  of  the  peace  by  the  Rhode  Island  legislature. 
In  October  of  that  year  he  came  to  Voluntown, 
where  he  has  been  with  the  firm  of  Ira  G.  Briggs 
&  Co.  and  their  successors,  to  the  present  time. 

He  was  postmaster  of  Voluntown  under  the 
Hayes  and  Garfield  and  Arthur  administrations, 
but  was  removed  by  President  Cleveland.  He  has 
been  a  member  of  the  school  board  of  the  town  for 


J.  n.  lewis. 


many  years,  and  is  now  town  clerk  and  treasurer, 
and  registrar  of  voters.  He  was  elected  to  the 
lower  house  of  the  Connecticut  legislature  for  1889, 
by  99  majority  out  of  203  votes,  and  served  on  the 
committee  on  appropriations.  He  was  returned  to 
the  house  at  the  last  election,  and  is  now  a  mem- 
ber of  that  body,  and  chairman  of  the  committee 
on  unfinished  business.  Mr.  Lewis  is  an  ardent 
republican  and  a  worker  for  the  success  of  the 
party.  He  professes  no  religion,  classifying  him- 
self as  a  materialist.  He  is  a  Mason  and  an  Odd 
Fellow  and  stands  high  in  those  orders.  His  wife 
was  Nietta  Lee  prior  to  marriage,  and  they  have 
one  child.  Mr.  Lewis  is  one  of  the  active  business 
and  political  forces  in  his  part  of  the  state. 


H.    FISHER. 


WILLIAM     HENRY     FISHER,    New    Haven: 
Locomotive  Engineer. 

William  H.  Fisher,  one  of  the  best  known  lay 
preachers  and  workers  in  the  state,  was  born  in 
New  York,  Sept.  25,  1836,  and  when  he  was  eleven 
years  of  age  his  parents 
removed  to  New  Haven. 
His  education  was  in  the 
public  schools  of  New 
York,  and  the  famous 
Lancasterian  school  of 
New  Haven,  under  the 
veteran  educator  John  E. 
Lovell.  He  has  followed 
the  profession  of  a  loco- 
motive engineer,  and  is 
well  known  to  railroad 
men  in  all  parts  of  the 
state.  For  several  years 
he  was  engaged  in  the 
work  of  an  evangelist  in  the  city  of  New  Haven, 
and  his  labors  were  blessed  by  a  great  deal  of  last- 
ing good.  For  the  past  eight  years  he  has  confined 
his  public  efforts  to  speaking  in  connection  with  the 
gospel  temperance  work.  He  is  connected  with  the 
Methodist  church,  and  the  work  in  which  he  has 
been  engaged  is  a  guarantee  that  he  is  an  honor  to 
that  body.  During  the  civil  war  he  was  connected 
with  the  LTnion  League  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  holding  the  highest  office  in  the  council  to 
which  he  belonged  and  preserving,  as  a  memento, 
its  charter.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Knights  of 
Pythias,  Sons  of  Temperance,  O.  U.  A.  M.,  Temple 
of  Honor,  and  Masonic  orders.  He  is  an  engineer 
on  the  New  York,  New  Haven  &  Hartford  Rail- 
road, and  is  also  a  chaplain  in  the  Brotherhood 
of  Locomotive  Engineers.  His  wife  was  Agnes 
Hitchen  Miller,  daughter  of  Doctor  Richard  Miller, 
and  granddaughter  of  Captain  Samuel  Hitchen, 
founder  of  "Wheel  of  Fortune"  Copper  Mine,  in 
Cornwall,  England.  They  have  one  son  and  a 
daughter.     He  is  a  republican. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


323 


REV.     EUGENE    F.    ATWOOD,    Bloomfield  : 

Pastor  of  Congregational  Church. 

Rev.  E.  F.  Atwood  is  a  descendant  of  Dr.  Thomas 
Atwood,  who  came  from  Essex,  England,  in  1640, 
to  Plymouth,  j\Iass.,  and  settled  in  Wethersfield, 
Conn.,  about  1660.  On 
one  line  he  is  a  direct 
descendant  from  Solomon 
Stoddard  of  North  Hamp- 
ton, Mass.,  and  Rev.  John 
Warham,  the  first  pastor 
of  Windsor.  He  was  born 
in  Woodbury  March  14, 
1847.  He  is  married  and 
has  two  children,  a  boy 
and  a  girl.  He  enlisted 
at  fifteen  years  of  age 
from  the  district  school 
July  14,  1862,  in  Company 
A,  Fifteenth  Connecticut 

Volunteers.  He  has  served  two  years  as  state 
chaplain  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  was  also  commander  of 
D.  S.  Cowles  Post,  and  delegate  to  the  national  en- 
campment of  the  G.  A.  R.  in  California. 

After  the  war  he  began  a  course,  preparatory  to 
entering  college,  in  a  private  school  in  Woodbury. 
In  1868  he  entered  Madison  University  (now  Col- 
gate), Hamilton,  N.  Y.  In  1870  he  removed  to 
Oberlin,  Ohio.  After  two  years  in  the  college  he 
entered  the  Theological  Department,  and  graduated 
in  August,  1875.  In  December,  1875,  he  was 
ordained  and  installed  pastor  of  the  Congregational 
church  at  Arcade,  N.  Y.  In  the  summer  of  1877 
the  society  voted  to  tear  down  the  old  church  and 
build  a  new  one  at  a  cost  of  $6,000,  and  granted 
Mr.  Atwood  a  leave  of  absence  for  six  months.  He 
immediately  entered  the  government  employ  as 
assistant  superintendent  of  construction,  and  with 
a  party  he  assisted  in  laying  out  Fort  Keogh  on  the 
Yellowstone  river.  In  the  fall  he  returned,  and, 
finding  some  dissatisfaction  arising  from  his  activity 
in  raising  the  money  for  the  new  church,  he  at  once 
resigned  his  pastorate  to  accept  a  call  to  Rodman, 
N.  Y.  Here  a  great  revival  followed  his  labors, 
and  the  church  was  repaired  at  a  cost  of  $3,000. 
The  Home  Missionary  Society  extended  him  a  call 
to  the  pastorate  of  the  Congregational  church  at 
Deadwood,  Dakota,  and  to  supervise  their  new 
work  in  the  Black  Hills.  In  the  fall  of  1878  he 
accepted  this  call.  Here  he  found  full  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  his  natural  organizing  and  finan- 
cial ability.  He  assisted  in  organizing  and  procur- 
ing pastors  for  nine  churches.  This  association  of 
churches  voted  to  locate  a  college  in  that  region 
and  appointed  Mr.  Atwood  their  financial  agent. 
A  college  charter  was  secured,  the  first  granted  by 
the  territory  of  Dakota.  A  preparatory  school  was 
sustained,  forty  acres  of  land  secured  at  a  value  of 


$8,000,  and  a  building  erected  at  a  cost  of  $3,000 
more.  A  bill  was  introduced  in  the  territorial 
legislature  to  establish  a  Normal  school  in  connec- 
tion with  this  school  at  Spearfish.  The  bill  was  so 
amended  as  to  include  three  other  Normal  schools, 
locating  two  in  North  and  two  in  South  Dakota; 
these  are  now  in  successful  operation. 

The  position  of  county  superintendent  of  schools 
was  offered  Mr.  Atwood,  but  his  health  began  to 
fail  under  his  multiplied  labors,  and  he  was  obliged 
to  resign  his  pastorate  and  to  return  East.  After 
a  few  months'  rest  he  accepted  a  call  to  a  small 
country  church  in  Bridgewater  in  this  state,  where 
he  remained  three  years,  and  then  accepted  a  call 
to  the  church  in  East  Canaan.  A  division  in  the 
society  as  to  location  of  the  church  arose,  and  Mr. 
Atwood  resigned.  Soon  after  one  party  withdrew 
and  formed  the  Plymouth  church  of  North  Canaan. 

After  supplying  a  few  months  in  Harwinton,  he 
accepted  the  call  to  his  present  pastorate  in  Bloom- 
field  in  May,  1887.  Mr.  Atwood  has  taken  much 
interest  in  photographing  the  historic  homes  of  old 
Connecticut,  and  is  at  present  the  accredited  lecturer 
of  the  Connecticut  Historical  Society.  He  is  fre- 
quently called  to  read  papers  pertaining  to  the 
history  of  Connecticut  before  learned  societies  in 
other  states,  and  is  much  in  demand  for  memorial 
and  other  addresses  in  locations  where  he  is  known. 


EDWIN   AYER,  Old  Saybrook  :  Farmer. 

Edwin  Ayer  was  born  in  Saybrook  (now  Old 
Saybrook),  Oct.  15,  1824,  and  is  of  the  seventh  gen- 
eration in  direct  descent  from  John  Eyre  {pro- 
nounced Ayer)^  who  mi- 
grated from  Norwich,  in 
England,  to  Newbury, 
Mass.,  in  1637.  He  re- 
ceived his  education  in 
the  common  schools  of  his 
town,  and  at  the  acade- 
mies of  Saybrook  and  Es- 
sex. He  has  followed 
farming  through  life  to 
some  extent,  and  also 
lumbering;  is  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Saybrook 
Bank  of  Essex. 

In  1849  he  went  with 
the  crowd  to  California  by  way  of  Cape  Horn,  and 
was  absent  about  three  years.  Was  married  in 
October,  1852,  to  Miss  Abbie  M.  Youngs  of  Farm- 
ington,  who  died  in  18S2,  leaving  three  sons  and 
two  daughters;  two  of  the  sons  and  one  daughter 
are  now  residents  of  the  state  of  Washington.  He 
married  for  his  second  wife,  in  1883,  Miss  Carrie  E. 
Youngs,  who  is  now  Hving.  He  held  the  military 
office  of  major  of  the  Sixth  regiment  Conn.  miHtia 


EDWIN    AVER. 


324 


AN  ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


JOHN    ALLEN. 


when  he  left  for  CaHfornia,  and  has  subsequently 
held  various  civil  offices,  such  as  selectman,  asses- 
sor, chairman  of  school  board,  and  justice  of  the 
peace  for  some  twenty-five  years,  and  represented 
his  town  in  the  legislatures  of  1872  and  1S73.  He 
is  now  living  at  his  ancestral  home,  of  which  his 
family  have  held  successive  title  since  its  first  occu- 
pation by  the  English  colonists. 


HON.  JOHN  ALLEN,  Old  Saybrook  :  Senator. 
John  Allen  of   Old  Saybrook,  Middlesex  county. 
Conn.,  was  born  in  Meriden  on  the  6th  day  of  Feb- 
ruary, 1S15.     He  was  the  eldest  of  four  children  of 
Levi  Allen,  a  farmer  and 
prominent  citizen  of  that 
place.     He  is  a  lineal  de- 
scendant of  Roger  Allen 
of  New  Haven,  who  was 
a  contemporary  of   Rev. 
John  Davenport  and  dea- 
con  in   his    church.     His 
grandfathers,     Archelaus 
Allen  and  Aaron  Hall  of 
Wallingford,   were   patri- 
ots of  the  revolution,  and 
served  in  the  war  for  our 
national  independence. 
After    receiving    a    good 
academic  education  he  was  placed  in  the  store  of 
Major  Elisha  A.  Cowles,  in  his  native  town,  where, 
under  the  several  changes  in  the  stjde  of  the  firm, 
he  served  a  clerkship  from  the  age  of  fourteen  to 
twenty.     In  the  spring  of  1836  he  removed  to  New 
York,  and  entered  the  employ  of  Perkins,  Hopkins 
&  White,  wholesale   merchants,  then   extensively 
engaged  in  the  dry-goods  jobbing  business  with  the 
vSouth.     He  remained  with  that  firm  in  confidential 
relations  through  a  period  of   unusual  instabilit}'' 
and  difficulty  in  the  mercantile  affairs  of  the  coun- 
try, during  which  time,  by  active  participation  in 
the  business,  he  gained  valuable  experience  in  lay- 
ing the  foundation  of  his  future  prosperity.     L^pon 
the  re-organization  of  that  firm  in  1842,  he  became 
interested  as  a  partner  with  Perkins  &   Hopkins  ; 
and  upon  a  subsequent  re-organization,  was  of  the 
house  of  Hopkins,  Allen  &  Co.     It  was,  however, 
as  a  member  of  the  last-named  firm,  whose  high 
reputation  was  a  fitting  tribute  to  its  enterprise,  in- 
tegrity, and  success,  that  he  became  prominently 
known  to  the  business  world. 

On  the  loth  day  of  November,  1847,  he  was  mar- 
ried to  Mary  Ann  Phelps,  daughter  of  the  late  Hon. 
Elisha  Phelps  of  Simsbury.  His  intercourse  with 
the  people  of  the  South  made  him  familiar  with 
their  views  and  policy  in  reference  to  the  institution 
of  slavery,  and  perceiving  the  growing  antagonism 
between  free  and  slave-labor,  which  foreshadowed 


serious  difficulty  to  the  country,  he  resolved  to 
withdraw  from  mercantile  business  (then  conducted 
largely  upon  credit),  and  established  a  residence  in 
the  town  of  Old  Saybrook,  where  his  family  now 
resides.  Being  in  active  sympathy  with  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States  in  its  efforts  to  main- 
tain its  integrity  and  suppress  the  rebellion,  he  re- 
ceived an  unsought  nomination  to  represent  the 
nineteenth  senatorial  district  in  the  state  senate  of 
Connecticut,  and  was  elected  thereto  in  1863,  and 
again  in  1S64,  and  in  both  years  was  chairman  of 
the  joint  standing  committee  on  finance,  whose  la- 
bors were  of  the  highest  importance  in  that  critical 
period  of  public  affairs,  when  the  state  was  raising 
money  for  the  war.  The  financial  measures  rec- 
ommended by  that  committee  and  adopted  by  the 
legislature,  not  only  enabled  the  state  to  creditably 
place  its  full  quota  of  men  in  the  field,  but  estab- 
lished a  policy  in  the  revision  of  the  tax  laws  which 
has  met  the  approval  of  the  people  of  the  state  for 
twenty  years,  and  reduced  to  a  minimum  amount 
the  public  debt.  The  present  equitable  method  of 
taxing  railroad  property,  on  the  basis  of  what  it 
will  sell  for,  by  which  the  market  value  of  its  stock 
and  bonds  is  made  the  measure  of  value  of  such 
property  for  purposes  of  taxation,  was  suggested 
by  him. 

On  the  17th  day  of  June,  1864,  Mr.  Allen  intro- 
duced into  the  Connecticut  legislature  the  first  res- 
olution in  favor  of  the  abolition  of  slavery  by  con- 
stitutional amendment.  He  was  one  of  the  dele- 
gates from  Connecticut  to  meet  a  convention  of 
loyal  Southerners  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  third  day 
of  September,  1866,  called  to  give  expression  to  the 
sentiments  of  the  people  in  support  of  congress 
against  the  defection  of  Andrew  Johnson.  He  was 
prominent  in  the  movement  that  arrested  the 
"  peace  flag  "  heresy  at  Saybrook,  or  the  raising  of 
any  flag  not  representing  all  the  states  of  the 
Union.  He  was  one  of  the  fellows  of  the  corpora- 
tion of  Yale  College  while  he  was  senator,  in  the 
years  aforesaid,  the  old  law  being  that  the  six  sen- 
ior senators  were  members  ex  officio  of  that  corpo- 
ration. In  the  Hayes  presidential  campaign  of 
1876,  Mr.  Allen  was  a  republican  presidential  elec- 
tor in  this  state.  In  1867  he  was  elected  president 
of  the  Peoria,  Pekin  &  Jacksonville  Railroad  Com- 
pany, of  the  state  of  Illinois,  which  position  he  held 
in  the  active  administration  of  the  property  for 
twelve  years. 

In  18S3  he  was  again  elected  to  the  state  senate 
from  the  21st  district,  formerly  the  19th,  and  served 
during  the  sessions  of  18S4  and  1885  as  chairman  of 
the  joint  standing  committee  on  railroads.  He  was 
chairman  of  the  legislative  committee  in  charge  of 
the  public  services  at  the  inauguration  of  Warner's 
statue  of  William  A.  Buckingham  in  the  battle-flag 
vestibule  of  the  capitf)!.     For  manj'  years  he  has 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


325 


been  identified  with  the  pubUc  Hbrary  in  Old   Say- 
brook,  and  president  of  the  organization. 

In  matters  of  church  government  he  is  a  Congre- 
gationalist,  in  theology  a  Unitarian,  but  he  attends 
the  Episcopal  church  with  his  excellent  wife.  In 
politics  he  is  a  republican.  He  has  two  sons  and 
four  daughters.  His  second  daughter  is  the  wife 
of  Hon.  William  Hamersley  of  Hartford. 


WILLIAM  WALES  PECK.Woodbridge:  Farmer. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Woodbridge,  June  29,  1832,  where  his  entire  life 
has  been  spent.  He  has  been  a  farmer  from  his 
youth,  but  managed  to 
get  a  good  education  at 
the  common  schools,  and 
at  the  Literary  Institute 
in  Suffield.  He  repre- 
sented Woodbridge  in  the 
legislature  in  1880  and 
1 88 1,  being  elected  by  the 
republicans.  For  seven 
years  he  was  a  selectman 
and  town  agent,  and  for 
ten  years  grand  juror. 
He  was  prevented  by 
sickness  from   personally  ^v.  w.  peck. 

joining  the  military  ser- 
vice of  the  country  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion, 
but  did  the  next  best  thing  by  providing  and  send- 
ing a  substitute.  Mr.  Peck  is  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  church.  His  family  consists  of  a 
wife  and  five  children.  Mrs.  Peck,  who  is  still 
living,  was  Miss  Mary  Jane  Fairchild  before  their 
marriage. 

HON.  DAVID  TORRANCE,  Derby  :    Judge   of 

the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut. 

Judge  David  Torrance  was  born  in  Edinburgh, 
Scotland,  March  3,  1840,  and  removed  to  this 
country  in  1S49.  He  received  a  common  school 
education.  His  active  life 
was  commenced  as  a  paper 
maker,  that  avocation  be- 
ing given  up  in  the  end 
for  the  law.  In  July,  1862, 
he  enlisted  as  a  private  in 
Company  A  of  the  Eigh- 
teenth Connecticut,  and 
served  as  second  sergeant 
until  December  22,  1863, 
when  he  was  appointed 
to  the  captaincy  of  Com- 
pany A  of  the  Twenty- 
ninth  Connecticut  colored 
regiment.  He  received 
the  appointment  of  major  in  July,  1S64,  and  lieu- 
tenant-colonel in  November  of  that  year.     He  was 


D.WID    TORRANCE. 


mustered  out  of  the  service  at  Brownsville,  Tex., 
October,  1S65.  While  a  member  of  the  Eighteenth 
he  was  taken  prisoner  and  was  confined  in  Libby 
prison  and  on  Belle  Island  for  a  short  period. 
Judge  Torrance  is  a  distinguished  member  of  the 
Army  and  Navy  Club  of  Connecticut  and  is  con- 
nected with  the  Grand  Army.  He  represented  the 
town  of  Derb}'  in  the  legislature  during  the  years 
of  1871  and  1872,  and  was  secretary  of  state  under 
Governor  Charles  B.  Andrews,  the  present  chief 
justice  of  the  state.  He  was  appointed  judge  of 
the  New  Haven  county  court  of  common  pleas  for 
the  four-years  term,  beginning  in  1881.  In  1885  he 
was  advanced  to  the  superior  court  bench  and  in 
iSgo  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the  supreme  court  of 
errors  by  Governor  Bulkeley.  His  term  will  not 
expire  until  1S9S.  Judge  Torrance  is  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  church  and  a  republican  in 
politics.  He  is  also  a  member  of  King  Hiram 
Lodge,  No.  12,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Birmingham,  and 
is  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  valued  members 
of  the  fraternity  in  this  state.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Annie  France  prior  to  her  marriage.  There  are 
three  children  in  the  family. 

WILLIAM  R.  HARTIGAN,  Burlington:  Manu- 
facturer. 

William  Robert  Hartigan  was  born  in  Burling- 
ton, March  10,  1852,  and  was  educated  in  the 
Unionville  High  school.  The  education  which  he 
received  was  the  result  of 
his  personal  efforts,  the 
funds  necessary  for  his 
maintenance  in  the  High 
school  being  earned  and 
saved  during  the  sum- 
mers. At  the  age  of  four- 
teen he  commenced  the 
trade  of  wood-turning  un- 
der John  N.  Bunnell  of 
Unionville.  When  he 
was  seventeen  he  estab- 
lished himself  in  business 
in  the  town  of  Burling- 
ton.    After   six   years  of 

success,  he  met  with  the  loss  of  every  dollar  which 
he  had  placed  in  the  enterprise,  the  establishment 
being  destroyed  by  fire.  Undaunted  in  courage, 
he  resumed  the  old  Hues,  and  graduallj^  recovered 
from  the  misfortune.  He  is  a  skilled  mechanic  and 
inventor,  being  especially  successful  in  wood  turn- 
ing, machine  work,  forging  and  enameling  in  all 
colors  on  wood  or  metal.  Mr.  Hartigan  is  now  the 
owner  of  a  prosperous  and  successful  plant.  In 
politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  is  town  registrar. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  He  has 
a  wife  and  one  child.  The  former  was  Miss  Annie 
S.  Barnes  prior  to  her  marriage. 


H.\RTIG.A.N. 


326 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


CHARLES  H.  PINNEY,  M.D.,  Derby:  Physician 
and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  Charles  Hitchcock  Pinney  was  born  in  South 
Windsor,  April  25,  1831,  and  received  a  collegiate 
training.  He  prepared  for  Harvard  at  the  Rogers 
Academy  in  East  Hart- 
ford, and  matriculated  in 
1850.  From  Harvard  he 
went  to  New  York,  be- 
coming a  student  in  the 
College  of  Physicians  and 
Surgeons  in  that  city. 
He  w'as  also  a  private 
pupil  of  Dr.  Willard  Par- 
ker. He  graduated  and 
received  his  diploma  from 
the  New  York  institution 
in  1853,  and  commenced 
c.  H.   PINNEY.  the  practice  of  his  profes- 

sion immediately  at  Der- 
by. His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Maria 
Watson,  daughter  of  Royal  L  Watson  of  New 
Hartford.  There  is  one  son,  Dr.  Royal  Watson 
Pinney,  who  is  associated  with  the  subject  of  this 
sketch  as  a  practitioner.  The  doctor  is  a  member 
of  the  New  Haven  County  and  State  Medical 
Societies,  and  of  the  American  National  Medical 
Association.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican.  He 
has  invariably  declined  office,  devoting  the  whole 
of  his  time  to  the  duties  of  his  profession.  Dr. 
Pinney  is  universally  honored  in  Derby,  and  is  a 
gentleman  of  exceptionally  agreeable  personality. 


R.   W.    PINNEY,    M.D.,    Derby:    Physician   and 
Surgeon. 

Dr.  Royal  Watson  Pinney  was  born  in  the  town 
of  Derby,  Dec.  25,  1863,  and  prepared  for  Yale  at 
the  Birmingham  High  school,  and  under  the  pri- 
vate tutorship  of  John  W. 
Peck.  He  graduated  from 
the  Sheffield  Scientific 
department  in  the  class 
of  1885,  receiving  the 
university  diploma  at  the 
June  commencement.  In 
September  of  that  year  he 
entered  the  college  of 
Physicians  and  Surgeons 
of  New  York  city,  and 
graduated  in  April,  18S8. 
He  sailed  for  Europe  im- 
mediately after  gradu- 
ation, and  spent  the  re- 
mainder of  the  year  until  December  at  Vienna, 
where  he  pursued  a  special  course  of  study  in  the 
hospitals  of  that  European  metropolis.  In  Decem- 
ber he  returned  to  New  York  to  take  the  place  of 


K.    W.    I'INNEV. 


house  surgeon  at  Bellevue  Hospital,  having  re- 
ceived the  appointment  prior  to  his  departure  for 
Vienna.  From  April,  1886,  to  October  of  that 
year,  he  had  studied  with  Dr.  Gustave  Bogel  in 
Liinebirg,  Germany,  not  onlj-  to  familiarize  himself 
with  the  language,  but  also  with  German  methods 
of  treatment.  In  July,  1890,  he  left  Bellevue  Hos- 
pital, and  has  since  been  associated  with  his  father, 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Pinney,  in  the  practice  of  medicine 
at  Derby. 

JULIUS  CONVERSE,  Stafford  Springs:  Treas- 
urer Mineral  Springs  Manufacturing  Company. 
Julius  Converse,  himself  one  of  the  leading  man- 
facturers  of  Stafford,  is  the  son  of  Solva  Converse, 
who  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the  manufacture  of 
woolens  in  Connecticut. 
He  is  a  descendant  from 
Asa  Converse  of  Hugue- 
not stock,  who  settled  in 
Stafford  about  the  middle 
of  the  last  century.  Julius 
Converse  is  a  native  of 
Stafford,  born  there 
March  I,  1827.  After  leav- 
ing the  public  school  he 
attended  the  Ellington 
High  school  and  the  Qua- 
boag  Seminary  at  Warren , 
Mass.  Later  he  entered 
the  employ  of  the  Mineral 
Springs  Manufacturing  Company,  and  acquired  a 
thorough  practical  knowledge  of  manufacturing. 
He  was  then  transferred  to  the  office  as  clerk,  sub- 
sequently became  both  agent  and  treasurer,  and 
finally  the  sole  owner  of  the  property.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  manufacturing  interests,  he  is  promi- 
nently connected  with  many  other  important  busi- 
ness concerns.  He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of 
the  Stafford  National  Bank;  also  of  the  Savings 
Bank  of  Stafford  Springs  ;  and  is  a  director  in 
the  Hartford  Life  and  Annuity  Insurance  Com- 
pany. 

Mr.  Converse  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  re- 
publican party,  b}'  whom  he  has  been  elevated  to 
various  public  positions.  He  represented  Stafford 
in  the  state  legislature  in  1865-66,  was  a  Grant 
elector  in  1872,  elected  to  the  state  senate  from  the 
twenty-fourth  district  in  1877,  was  candidate  for 
state  treasurer  in  1884,  and  delegate  to  the  national 
republican  convention  at  Chicago  in  1888.  He  has 
a  wife,  who  was  Miss  Myra  C.  Lord  prior  to  her 
marriage,  and  four  children  living.  His  religious 
connections  are  with  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
church  of  Stafford  Springs,  of  which  he  is  a  gen- 
erous supporter  by  his  personal  influence  and  pri- 
vate means.  He  is  a  man  of  eminent  public  spirit, 
as  is  evidenced  in  his  large  and  frequent  contribu- 


JULIUS    CONVERSE. 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


327 


F.    M.    MESSENGER. 


tions  to  the  improvement  and  advancement  of  his 
native  town.  His  own  private  residence,  "  Wood- 
lawn,"  is  a  charming  spot,  where  he  dwells  in 
great  comfort,  and  dispenses  liberal  hospitality  to 
his  friends. 

FRANK   M.    MESSENGER,    Thompson  :  Cotton 

Manufacturer. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  occupying  the 
responsible  position  of  agent  of  the  mills  of 
the  Grosvenor  Dale  Company,  one  of  the  largest 
cotton  manufacturing 
corporations  in  the  state, 
and  located  at  North 
Grosvenor  Dale,  in  the 
town  of  Thompson.  He 
has  performed  the  duties 
of  this  office  since  1SS4, 
and  in  so  efficient  a  man- 
ner that  during  this  term 
the  capacity  of  the  mills 
has  been  increased  fully 
twenty-five  per  cent.  Mr. 
Messenger  is  a  native  of 
Stoddard,  N.  H.,  where 
he  was  born  April  3,  1852. 
He  remained  with  his  father  on  the  farm  until  four- 
teen years  of  age,  attending  school  a  part  of  each 
year.  The  following  two  years  he  continued  his 
studies  while  working  in  a  chair  factory  ;  and  after- 
ward for  a  period  of  three  years  divided  his  time 
between  clerking  and  work  in  a  cotton  mill.  En- 
tering a  cotton  factory  at  Winchendon,  Mass.,  at 
the  age  of  nineteen,  he  was  promoted  from  card 
grinder  to  second  overseer,  and  finally,  after  a  short 
period  spent  in  the  employ  of  the  Amoskeag  Com- 
pany in  Manchester,  returned  to  Munsonville  in  the 
capacity  of  overseer.  He  afterwards  filled  the 
same  position  successively  in  several  Massachusetts 
manufacturing  concerns,  his  longest  sta}^  being  in 
Mauchaug,  where  he  .spent  four  years.  At  the  ex- 
piration of  this  period  he  went  to  Shirley,  Mass., 
as  superintendent  of  the  Phoenix  and  Fredonian 
mills,  which  he  in  turn  resigned  to  accept,  in  No- 
vember, 1884,  the  position  which  he  now  occupies 
in  Grosvenor  Dale.  Mr.  Messenger  is  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Thompson  National  Bank,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Fredonia  Lodge  of  Odd  Fellows,  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Baptist  church  of  Mauchaug,  Mass.,  and 
was  for  three  years  the  superintendent  of  its  Sun- 
day-school. He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and 
takes  active  interest  in  all  religious,  social,  and  ed- 
ucational affairs  in  his  neighborhood.  He  married 
first,  Eliza  J.  Smith  of  Winchendon,  Mass.,  who 
died  within  a  year  ;  and  second,  Mary  A.  Young 
of  Newton,  Mass.  Their  children,  three  in  num- 
ber, are  Frank  M.,  Mabel  W.,  and  Don  E.  Mes- 
senger. 


LEWIS   SPERRY,  East  Windsor  Hii.l  (South 

Windsor):  Attorney- at-Law. 

Lewis  Sperry  was  born  in  the  town  of  South 
Windsor,  January  23,  1848.  He  has  always  resided 
at  East  Windsor  Hill.  He  prepared  for  college  at 
Monson  Academy  in  the 
class  of  '69,  and  gradu- 
ated from  Amherst  in 
1S73.  He  studied  law  in 
the  office  of  Waldo,  Hub- 
bard &  Hyde,  in  Hart- 
ford, and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  March  30,  1S75. 
He  opened  an  office  in 
this  city  shortly  after, 
and  has  continued  in  legal 
practice  here  ever  since. 
He  was  married,  Novem- 
ber 7,  1878,  to  Miss  EHza- 
beth  Ellsworth  Wood, 
daughter  of  Dr.  Wm.  Wood  of  East  Windsor  Hill, 
and  they  have  two  children.  Mr.  Sperry  held 
the  appointment  of  county  coroner  for  Hartford 
county  from  June,  1883,  to  April,  1891,  when  he  re- 
signed. In  politics  he  is  a  democrat;  in  religious  sym- 
pathies a  Congregation  alist,  though  not  a  church 
member.  He  was  elected  November  4,  1S90,  to 
represent  the  first  district  in  the  national  house 
of  representatives,  taking  his  seat  at  the  assembling 
of  the  fifty-second  congress. 


lewis  sperry. 


HON.     JAMES      GRAHAM,      Orange  :      Brass 

Founder. 

Hon.  James  Graham,  a  resident  of  Orange,  with 
business  connections  principally  in  New  Haven,  is 
one  of  the  best-known  manufacturers  and  public 
men  in  the  state.  He  was 
born  in  Albanj^  N.  Y., 
January  23,  1S31,  and 
educated  at  the  public 
schools.  He  moved  to 
Branford,  Conn.,  in  1852, 
and  was  employed  by  the 
Squire  &  Parsons  Lock 
Company  for  nearly  ten 
years.  In  1861  he  started 
the  business  of  a  brass 
foundry  in  New  Haven, 
and  is  now  the  senior 
member  of  the  firm  of 
James  Graham  &  Co., 
carrying  on  an  extensive  business.  He  is  also 
a  director  in  the  New  Haven  &  West  Haven  Horse 
Railroad  Company;  president  of  the  Bear  Valley 
Irrigation  Company,  of  Redlands,  California;  and  a 
director  in  the  West  Haven  Water  Company.  Mr. 
Graham  is  a  thorovigh-going  republican   and   has 


JAMES    GRAHAM. 


328 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


for  many  years  been  prominent  in  the  councils  of 
that  party  in  the  state.  In  1878,  1885,  and  1S86  he 
represented  the  town  of  Orange  in  the  Connecticut 
legislature,  the  last  3'ear  serving  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  railroads  on  the  part  of  the 
house.  He  was  elected  state  senator  from  the  sev- 
enth district  for  1887-8  and  again  for  1889-90.  His 
familiarity  with  railroad  legislation  naturally 
fitted  him  for  the  chairmanship  of  the  railroad  com- 
mittee, in  which  position  he  served  both  terms, 
during  sessions  in  which  the  struggle  between  the 
Consolidated  road  and  the  Housatonic  system  was 
at  its  fiercest.  Mr.  Graham  is  an  example  of  per- 
sistent, energetic  endeavor  in  all  that  he  under- 
takes, and  he  has  the  universal  esteem  and  respect 
of  the  people  of  the  state. 


J.  B.  MERROW,   Merrow   (Mansfield)  :    Manu- 
facturer and  Merchant. 

Joseph  Battell  Merrow  was  born  in  East  Hart- 
ford, June  12,  1819,  and  is  one  of  the  best-known 
men  in  the  eastern  part  of  Tolland  county.  He 
was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon schools,  and  has  fol- 
lowed manufacturing  and 
mercantile  pursuits.  He 
removed  from  East  Hart- 
ford to  Mansfield,  where 
he  has  since  been  engaged 
in  various  branches  of 
stockinet  manufacture, 
carries  on  a  large  mer- 
cantile business,  has  been 
postmaster  and  station 
agent  at  that  point,  as  he 
, ,  says,   prettv    much    ever 

J.    B.    MERROW.  J    '     f 

since,  the  post-office  and 
railway  station  being  named  after  him.  He  is  the 
oldest  station  agent  on  the  New  London  Northern 
road  in  point  of  service.  He  is  at  present  senior 
partner  of  the  firm  of  J.  B.  Merrow  &  Sons,  doing 
business  at  Merrow  and  at  Norwich,  manufactur- 
ing knit  goods,  and  now  engaged  in  building  spe- 
cial machinery  for  this  manufacture  in  Norwich. 
He  has  been  a  selectman  of  the  town  of  Mansfield, 
and  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  several  years.  In 
1867  he  represented  his  town  in  the  lower  house  of 
the  legislature,  and  was  in  the  senate  in  1873.  His 
first  vote  was  cast  for  William  Henry  Harrison  for 
president  in  1840,  and  he  has  been  a  republican 
since  the  organization  of  the  party.  His  wife  was 
Harriet  L.  Millard  of  Manchester.  They  have  five 
children,  one  of  the  daughters  being  the  \\afe  of 
Prof.  Washburn,  principal  of  the  Rhode  Island 
Agricultural  College.  He  has  been  an  active,  en- 
ergetic man,  and  has  his  full  share  of  friends,  both 
in  business  and  socially. 


the  summer  seasons. 


REV.  STEPHEN  B.  CARTER,  Westminster: 
Pastor  Congregational  Church. 
Stephen  B.  Carter,  son  of  Adin  and  Polly  C. 
Carter,  was  bom  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  Sept.  2,  1839. 
At  the  age  of  four  years  his  parents  removed  to 
Westminster  in  the  town 
of  Canterbury.  Here  he 
attended  the  district 
school  near  his  home  both 
summer  and  winter  un- 
til he  reached  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  after  which 
he  worked  on  a  farm 
summers,  attending 
school  during  the  winter 
months  until  he  became 
eighteen  years  of  age.  He 
then  commenced  teaching 
winters,  continuing  his 
labors  on  the  farm  during 
At  the  age  of  twenty-three 
he  began  work  as  a  moulder  in  one  of  the  iron 
foundries  of  Westminster,  and  followed  this  occu- 
pation for  about  three  years.  He  then  resumed 
the  profession  of  teaching,  in  which,  being  very 
successful  both  as  an  instructor  and  a  disciplinarian, 
he  continued  almost  without  interruption  for 
several  years.  He  was  married,  Sept.  3,  1865,  to 
Miss  Louisa  Button,  an  estimable  lady  of  West- 
minster. Two  children  are  the  fruit  of  this  mar- 
riage, Edwin  M.,  born  February  26,  1870,  and 
Annie  E.,  born  July  12,  1873. 

In  the  spring  of  1872,  he  removed  with  his 
family  to  Brooklyn,  where  he  held  the  position  of 
principal  of  the  East  Brooklyn  Grammar  School  for 
nine  successive  terms.  In  1874,  he  returned  to 
Westminster,  where  he  resided  till  January,  1876, 
when,  having  given  some  attention  to  the  study  of 
theology,  and  been  licensed  by  the  Windham 
County  Association  of  Congregational  ministers,  he 
received  a  call  to  become  acting  pastor  of  the 
church  in  Ekonk,  commonly  known  as  the  Congre- 
gational church  of  Voluntown  and  Sterling.  He 
continued  his  pastorate  here  for  five  years,  ha\4ng 
been  ordained  in  August,  1879.  In  January,  iSSi, 
he  resigned  this  position,  and  again  returned  to 
Westminster.  He  was  called  to  take  the  pastoral 
charge  of  the  Congregational  church  in  this  place  in 
March  of  the  same  year,  in  which  relation  he  still 
continues. 

Mr.  Carter  has  been  eminently  successful  as  a 
teacher  in  an  experience  of  more  than  thirty  terms. 
By  the  clearness  and  simplicity  of  his  illustrations, 
by  his  power  to  awaken  the  interest  and  arouse  the 
energies  of  his  pupils,  and  by  the  healthfulness  of 
his  own  moral  character,  he  has  left  an  influence 
for  good  upon  the  minds  of  many  of  the  youth  of 
his  charge  which  will  never  be  lost.     He  possesses 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


3^9 


a  well-balanced  mind,  and  is  master  of  his  mental 
powers.  He  is  a  deep  thinker,  with  rare  powers  of 
memory.  As  a  man  he  stands  high  among  men. 
As  a  minister,  he  is  highly  esteemed;  and  his  ser- 
mons, which  are  much  admired,  are  all  largely  and 
some  of  them  wholly  unwritten.  His  early  and  fre- 
quent practice  as  a  debater  in  the  lyceums  of  his 
own  and  other  towns  have  made  him  a  close  and 
logical  reasoner,  while  as  an  extemporaneous 
speaker  he  ranks  among  the  best.  He  also  enjoys 
a  very  pleasant  local  reputation  as  a  poet. 

Mr.  Carter  has  always  been  closely  identified 
with  the  republican  party;  he  has  also  for  several 
years  been  a  member  of  the  school  board  of  Canter- 
bury, and  for  a  part  of  that  time  acting  school  visitor. 


F.   B.  NOYES,    Stonington:    Dealer  in   Western 

Securities. 

Franklin  Babcock  Noyes  was  born  in  Westerly, 
R.  I.,  June  22,  1831,  and  received  a  common  school 
education,  preparing  him  for  an  active  and  success- 
ful business  life.  He  has 
held  the  positions  of  sec- 
retary, ticket  agent,  and 
paymaster  on  the  New 
York,  Providence  &  Bos- 
ton railroad,  and  is  one  of 
the  burgesses  of  the  bor- 
ough of  Stonington.  In 
politics  Mr.  Noyes  is  a  re- 
publican. He  has  also 
held  an  agency  for  west- 
ern loans,  and  is  at  pres- 
ent engaged  in  that  busi- 
ness.     Formerly  he    was  ^    ^_  ^^^.^^_ 

engaged    in    business    in 

New  York,  and  resided  in  that  state  for  nine  years. 
He  is  a  member  of  Asylum  Lodge,  No.  57,  of  Ston- 
ington, and  of  the  Royal  Arcanum.  He  has  been 
married  twice,  his  first  wife  being  Miss  Harriet  A. 
Thompson  of  Ithaca,  N.  Y.  The  second  was  Mrs. 
Harriet  E.  Palmer  of  Chicago,  formerly  Harriet  E. 
Wilder  of  Lancaster,  Mass.  There  is  one  child  liv- 
ing. Mr.  Noyes  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church.  His  father  was  a  volunteer  in  the  war  of 
1812.  He  has  the  commissions  of  his  grandfather 
as  lieutenant,  nth  Co.,  Second  regiment,  R.  I., 
dated  August  26,  1776,  and  signed  by  John  Han- 
cock ;  first  lieutenant  artillery,  dated  May  29, 
1777  ;  second  major,  senior  class.  May  7,  1792  ; 
first  major,  senior  class.  May  6,  1793,  and  lieu- 
tenant-colonel, commanding  second-class  regi- 
ment. May  12,  1794.  His  great-grandfather.  Dr. 
Charles  Phelps,  was  one  of  the  first  physicians  in 
Stonington.  He  is  also  a  great-grandson  of  Col. 
Henry  Babcock  of  the  revolutionary  army.  Mr. 
Noyes  is  an  active  and  influential  business  man  in 
the  community  where  he  resides. 


CHARLES  H.  STILLSON,  Ansoni.\  :    Real  Es- 
tate. 

Charles  Hubbell  Stillson  was  born  at  Newtown 
February  18,  1843,  and  was  educated  at  the  New- 
town academy.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  re- 
moved to  Ansonia,  where 
he  began  business  as  a 
joiner  and  carpenter,  and 
has  since  resided  there. 
He  is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics and  a  member  of  the 
board  of  assessors.  He 
took  an  active  part  in 
securing  the  division  of 
the  old  town  of  Derby  two 
years  ago.  Mr.  Stillson 
has  been  a  member  of  the 
order  of  Odd  Fellows  for 
twenty-four  years  and  is 
also  a  member  of  the  An- 
sonia Club.  He  is  engaged  in  the  real  estate  busi- 
ness, being  especialh^  interested  in  that  line.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  His  wife 
was  Marion  E.  Kelley  prior  to  her  marriage.  There 
is  one  son  living. 


STILLSON. 


HENRY  B.  CARTER,  Wolcott  :  Farmer. 

Mr.  Carter  was  born  in  Wolcott,  New  Haven 
county,  December  2,  1839.  He  is  the  eldest  son  of 
Deacon  George  W.  Carter,  who  in  his  time  repre- 
sented that  town  in  the 
Connecticut  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, and  the  fifth 
senatorial  district  in  the 
senate.  Mr.  Carter's  whole 
life  has  been  spent  in  his 
native  town.  His  educa- 
tion was  obtained  at  the 
district  school.  Early  in 
life  he  married  Mary  R. 
Hotchkiss,  only  daughter 
of  Stiles  L.  Hotchkiss  of 
Wolcott.  He  has  followed 
farming  as  an  occupation 
chiefly,  but  has  also  made 
quite  a  business  of  light  and  heavy  teaming.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  Wolcott  Congregational  church, 
of  which  he  was  appointed  deacon  soon  after  the 
death  of  his  father,  who  held  that  office  before  him. 
For  many  years  he  has  been  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday-school  connected  with  his  church;  also  has 
been,  and  now  is,  on  the  list  of  the  society's  com- 
mittee. He  has  held  the  office  of  president  of  the 
Wolcott  Agricultural  Society  for  several  years,  and 
was  re-appointed  at  its  last  annual  meeting.  He 
is  chairman  of  the  republican  town  committee;  is 
first  selectman  of    Wolcott;    is  chairman  of    the 


330 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


board  of  education ;  has  served  the  town  as  assessor 
and  road  commissioner;  and  is  at  present  master 
of  Mad  River  Grange,  No.  71,  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry. He  represented  the  town  of  Wolcott  in 
the  general  assembly  twice — in  18S3  and  1884  — 
serving  the  first  term  on  the  committee  on  new 
towns  and  probate  districts,  and  the  last  session  on 
the  joint  select  committee  on  temperance. 


E.    GRAVES. 


HON.    HENRY   B.   GRAVES,    Litchfield:    At- 
torney-at-Law. 

Henry  B.  Graves  was  born  in  Sherman,  Conn., 
and  is  sixty-eight  years  of  age.  He  had  a  common 
school  education  and  spent  one  year  in  the  academy 
at  Westfield,  Mass.  He 
was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  April,  1845.  He  has 
been  a  judge  of  probate 
in  Litchfield  and  Ply- 
mouth. Mr.  Graves  comes 
of  legislative  ancestrj', 
his  grandfather,  Ezra 
Graves,  representing  New 
Fairfield  in  the  general  as- 
sembly several  sessions, 
and  his  father,  Jedediah 
Graves,  representing 
Sherman  manj'  times. 
His  father  was  also  a 
member  of  the  constitutional  convention  of  1818, 
and  one  of  the  last  survivors  of  that  memorable 
body  of  men.  In  1849  Mr.  Graves  was  clerk  of  the 
state  senate,  in  1854  executive  secretarj';  was  clerk 
of  the  superior  and  county  courts  of  Litchfield  county 
in  1854-55,  ^iid  has  been  a  justice  of  the  peace  for 
forty-four  years.  His  legislative  career  has  been 
as  remarkable  and  as  useful  as  that  of  any  man  in 
the  state.  He  was  a  member  of  the  lower  house 
for  the  first  time  in  1858,  when  he  served  on  the  judi- 
ciary committee  and  on  contested  elections;  in  1867, 
again  on  the  judiciarj'  committee;  in  1868  he  de- 
clined service  on  the  judiciary,  and  at  his  own  re- 
quest served  on  the  committee  of  education;  and 
was  active  in  support  of  the  law  making  the  schools 
free.  Governor  English  gave  him  the  credit  of 
being  largely  influential  in  the  success  of  that 
measure.  In  1876,  after  an  interval  of  eight  years, 
he  again  entered  the  legislature,  and  was  house 
chairman  on  railroads  and  chairman  on  contested 
elections.  In  1877  he  was  again  a  member  of  the 
judiciary  committee,  and  also  in  1879.  In  18S9  he 
was  house  chairman  on  the  school  fund.  Many  of 
the  existing  statutes  were  drafted  by  him,  notably 
the  act  to  prevent  frauds  in  the  sale  of  patents. 
This  act  Governor  Hubbard  pronounced  one  of  the 
best  specimens  of  legal  mechanism.  In  1SS9  he 
strongly  advocated  the  bill  to  protect  the  policy- 


holders of  the  Phoenix  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, and  when  the  veto  of  Governor  Bulkeley 
came  into  the  house  it  was  on  his  motion  passed 
over  the  veto,  without  debate  and  nearly  unani- 
mously. In  1879  he  defeated  a  resolution  that  had 
passed  the  senate  without  dissent,  concerning  an 
order  on  the  state  treasurj-  for  $118,000,  in  fa- 
vor of  the  policy-holders  of  certain  defunct  in- 
surance companies  of  New  Haven.  Subsequently 
the  senate  unanimously  rejected  the  resolution.  It 
will  be  seen  from  his  record  that  he  has  made  an 
unusual  impress  upon  the  legislation  of  the  last 
thirty  years  in  this  state,  which  argues  well  for  his 
ability  and  his  untiring  devotion  to  a  cause  when 
once  enlisted,  and  for  his  energetic  individuality. 
He  has  enjoyed  a  large  practice  at  the  bar  and  has 
been  counsel  in  most  of  the  important  cases  in 
Litchfield  county,  both  civil  and  criminal.  He  is  a 
democrat,  but  has  never  received  honors  from  his 
party  except  in  election  to  the  legislature.  His  ac- 
quaintance throughout  the  state  is  very  extensive, 
and  he  is  universally  considered  one  of  its  ablest 
lawyers  and  a  man  of  integrity  and  honor. 


EDWARD    MORTON    BULKLEY,  Southport: 
Sea  Captain. 

Edward  M.  Bulkley  was  born  at  Southport  Jan- 
uary 31,  1827.  He  received  his  education  at  the 
academy  in  Danburj',  also  some  nautical  instruc- 
tion, foi  which  he  evinced 
an  early  fondness.  Proba- 
bly the  circumstances  sur- 
rounding his  early  life  had 
a  tendency  to  confirm  his 
tastes,  as  his  father  for 
many  years  followed  the 
sea  and  was  largely  inter- 
ested in  shipping,  while 
a  majority  of  the  men  of 
his  town  were  or  had  been 
commanders  of  vessels. 
Edward  Bulkley  sailed, 
first,  on  the  brig  Edward 
as  cabin  bo3%  and  when 
nineteen  years  of  age  took  command  of  the  vessel, 
running  from  Boston  to  Savannah.  He  was  suc- 
cessively master  of  the  ships  Jjilia  Howard, 
Henry  P.  Russell,  Maria  Morton,  and  the 
steamers  Carolina,  Zodiac,  Virgo,  and  Cleopatra. 
A  strange  fatality  seemed  to  attend  the  vessels 
which  he  abandoned,  as  after  he  left  them  three 
were  almost  immediately  destroyed.  Captain 
Bulkley  married,  for  his  first  wife.  Miss  Alvord  of 
Southport,  by  whom  he  had  four  children,  two 
sons  and  two  daughters;  for  his  second  wife.  Miss 
Hadlock  of  Vermont,  grandniece  of  Colonel  John 
Lovewell,  whose  name  was  made  famous  by  his 


M.    BULKLEY. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF    CONNECTICUT. 


331 


fight  Avith  the  Indians,  which  battle  was  afterward 
commemorated  in  verse;  also  a  descendant  of  Lord 
Mansfield.  Two  children  were  the  result  of  this 
marriage.  Captain  Bulkley  was  the  means,  during 
his  long  service  at  sea,  of  saving  the  lives  of  many, 
having  rescued  several  crews  of  disabled  or  wrecked 
vessels.  He  was  particularly  fortunate  in  his  nau- 
tical experience,  never  meeting  any  serious  losses 
or  accidents,  and  has  had  many  testimonials  given 
him  by  passengers  in  recognition  of  his  courage 
and  great  presence  of  mind  at  a  time  when  such 
qualities  are  most  needed  and  appreciated.  It  has 
been  said  of  Captain  Bulkley  that  to  really  know 
and  appreciate  his  sterling  qualities  one  must  be 
with  him  at  sea  in  command  of  his  own  vessel. 
Captain  Bulkley  retired  from  the  water  in  the  year 
1879,  the  Cleopatra  being  the  last  vessel  he  com- 
manded. In  politics  he  is  a  democrat,  but  always 
intends  to  vote  for  the  best  man  irrespective  of 
party  ties  or  prejudices.  He  has  held  one  or  two 
minor  town  offices,  is  a  member  and  vestryman  of 
Trinity  church,  and  at  the  age  of  sixty-four  is  en- 
joying the  best  of  health  and  often  wishes  to  tread 
again  the  deck  of  some  good  vessel. 


educated  in  the  common  schools  of  old  Litchfield 
county.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church  and  is  unmarried. 


CHARLES  F.  BROOKER,  Tokrington:  Manu- 
facturer. 

Charles  F.  Brooker  was  appointed  one  of  the 
alternate  commissioners  for  the  world's  fair  from 
this  state  in  1890  by  Governor  Bulkeley,  and  is 
amply  fitted  by  training, 
travel,  and  experience  for 
the  position.  Mr.  Brook- 
er has  spent  a  great  deal 
of  time  in  Europe  and  the 
West  Indies  in  the  interest 
of  the  Coe  Brass  Manu- 
facturing Company,  with 
which  he  has  been  promi- 
nently associated  for  the 
past  twenty  years.  He 
has  made  as  many  as  a 
dozen  trips  abroad  during 
that  period.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Union 
League  Club  of  New  York  and  also  of  the  Engi- 
neers' Club  of  that  city.  Mr.  Brooker  is  a  promi- 
nent republican,  being  a  member  of  the  state  cen- 
tral committee  from  his  section  of  the  state.  In 
1875  he  was  a  member  of  the  general  assembly 
from  Torrington,  his  colleagues  from  Litchfield 
county  including  Henry  Gay,  the  Winsted  banker, 
and  State's  Attorney  James  Huntington  of  Wood- 
bur3^  Mr.  Brooker  is  director  in  various  banks 
and  manufacturing  corporations,  being  one  of  the 
most  active  business  men  in  western  Connecticut. 
He  was  born  at  Torrington  March  4,  1S47,  and  was 


C.     Y.    BROOKER. 


GEORGE    D.    STANTON,    Stonington:    Physi- 
cian and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  George  Dallas  Stanton  was  born  in  Charles- 
town,  R.  I.,  April  13,  1839,  and  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  until  he  was  thirteen  years  of  age, 
when  he  entered  the  se- 
lect school  of  Dr.  David 
S.  Hart  of  Stonington, 
remaining  there  for  five 
years.  He  was  trained 
in  the  languages,  survej"- 
ing,  and  civil  engineering, 
and  pursued  that  profes- 
sion until  he  was  twenty- 
three  years  of  age.  He 
then  commenced  the 
study  of  medicine  in  the 
office  of  Dr.  William  Hyde 
G.  D.  STANTON.  ^f  Stouington,    and  com- 

pleted his  course  at  Belle- 
vue  Hospital  Medical  College,  graduating  in  1865. 
Since  1S47  Dr.  Stanton  has  been  a  resident  of  Ston- 
ington. In  1867  he  married  M.  Louise  Pendleton; 
three  sons,  two  of  whom  are  living,  being  the  re- 
sult of  this  union.  Mrs.  Stanton  died  in  1871, 
and  in  1S75  he  married  Miss  Annie  Whistler 
Palmer,  youngest  daughter  of  the  late  Dr.  George 

E.  Palmer,  and  a  niece  of  Major  George  W. 
Whistler,  one  of  the  pioneer  railroad  engineers  in 
this  countrjf  and  Russia.  One  son  is  the  result  of 
the  latter  union.  Dr.  Stanton  has  been  in  official 
position,  either  as  health  officer,  warden  of  the 
borough  of  Stonington,  or  selectman  of  the  town, 
most  of  the  time  for  the  past  twenty  years.  He 
is  at  present  first  selectman  and  agent  of  the  town 
deposit  fund.  He  is  also  medical  examiner  for  the 
town  of  Stonington,  and  has  held  the  place  since  the 
present  coroner  system  was  established.  The  Doc- 
tor is  a  Democrat  of  the  old  school.  He  was  chair- 
man of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Cleveland 
clubs  at  Stonington  during  both  of  the  campaigns 
in  which  Mr.  Cleveland  was  the  candidate  for  the 
presidency.  President  Cleveland  appointed  him 
postmaster,  the  appointment  being  confirmed  by 
the  senate,  but,  owing  to  the  fact  that  local  affairs 
of  first  selectman  and  agent  of  the  town  deposit 
fund  could  not  be  held  in  con  junction  with  the  post- 
mastership,  he  declined  the  latter.  The  matter  of 
salary  entered  in  no  way  into  the  decision,  as  the 
offices  which  he  retained  in  preference  to  the  gov- 
ernment appointment  were  without  salary.  Dr. 
Stanton  is  a  past  master  of  Asylum  Lodge,  No.  57, 

F.  and  A.  M.  of  Stonington.     He  has  been  deputy 


332 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


C.    E.    THOMPSON. 


grand  lecturer,  district  deputy  grand  master,  and 
senior  grand  deacon  of  the  Grand  Lodge  of  A.  F. 
and  A.  M.  of  Connecticut.  Dr.  Stanton  is  con- 
nected with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church,  and  is 
held  in  the  highest  honor  and  respect  by  the  com- 
munity in  which  the  whole  of  his  professional  life 
has  been  spent. 

CHARLES  E.  THOMPSON,  Hartford:  With 
Connecticut  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Charles  E.  Thompson,  whose 
career  as  a  National  Guardsman  is  deserving 
of  the  highest  admiration  and  approval,  was  born 
in  Rockville  February  26, 
1847,  and  was  edticated 
in  the  Rockville  High 
school.  He  resided  in 
Rockville  until  1S63,  when 
he  removed  to  Hartford, 
remaining  in  the  city  for 
ten  years.  He  was  in  the 
city  of  Providence  for  two 
years,  but  returned  to 
Hartford  in  1875  and  has 
since  resided  here,  being 
engaged  with  the  Connec- 
ticut Mutual  Life  Insur- 
ance Company.  In  Au- 
gust, 1865,  he  enlisted  as  a  private  in  Battery  D, 
Light  Artillery,  which  was  attached  to  the  First 
Regiment,  C.  N.  G.  He  was  appointed  corporal 
January  20,  1868,  and  was  discharged  July  24,  1871. 
He  was  the  originator  of  Company  K  of  the  First 
Regiment,  enlisting  in  the  command  February  10, 
1879.  On  that  date  he  was  elected  to  the  first 
lieutenancy.  January  31,  1883,  he  was  elected 
captain  of  Company  F,  Hartford  City  Guard,  of 
the  First  Regiment,  and  was  advanced  to  the 
lieutenant-colonelcy  of  the  regiment  January  22, 
1885.  During  the  period  that  Captain  Thompson 
commanded  the  City  Guard  the  company  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  brigade  in  figures  of  merit.  The 
credit  and  distinction  which  he  won  as  a  line  officer 
were  accorded  to  him  without  dissent  throughout 
the  National  Guard  as  a  field  officer  of  the  First.  In 
personal  honor,  instinct  and  training,  Lieutenant- 
Colonel  Thompson  is  the  ideal  military  leader.  In 
March,  1890,  he  was  elected  major-commanding 
the  Veteran  City  Guard.  In  1S89  he  was  captain- 
commanding  Company  K,  Veteran  Corps.  He  has 
also  been  the  military  instructor  at  the  West  Mid- 
dle school  in  this  city,  holding  the  position  for  one 
year.  During  the  presidential  campaign  of  1888 
he  was  in  command  of  the  Harrison  and  Morton 
battalion  of  this  city,  ranking  as  major.  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel Thompson  originated  the  present  signal 
for  calling  out  the  city  companies  in  case  of  emer- 
gency, the  call  being  made  by  means  of  the  alarm 


fire  bell.  At  the  time  of  the  Park  Central  hotel 
disaster  the  signal  was  sounded  for  the  first  time, 
being  ordered  by  Governor  Bulkeley,  and  within 
twenty  minutes  one  hundred  men  were  en  route 
from  the  armory  in  uniform  and  armed  for  the 
scene  of  the  calamity.  The  service  rendered  by 
the  Guard  at  that  time  under  command  of  Colonel 
Cone  and  his  associate  field  officers  was  invaluable. 
Lieutenant-Colonel  Thompson  is  one  of  the  most 
respected  citizens  of  Hartford.  For  six  years  he 
was  assistant  superintendent  of  the  Center  church 
Sunday-school,  and  was  treasurer  for  one  year  of 
the  Connecticut  Temperance  Union,  of  which 
Governor  Buckingham  was  the  first  president.  He 
declined  a  second  term  on  account  of  increasing 
business  duties.  For  the  past  eleven  years  he  has 
been  a  member  of  the  board  of  deacons  and  treas- 
urer of  the  Asylum  Hill  Congregational  church. 
He  is  also  a  member  of  the  board  of  managers  of 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association.  Nine 
years  of  his  business  life  were  spent  with  the 
Cheney  Silk  Manufacturing  Co.  The  past  fifteen 
years  have  been  passed  with  the  Connecticut 
Mutual  Life,  where  he  holds  a  responsible  position 
in  the  bond  and  mortgage  department.  The  wife 
of  Lieutenant-Colonel  Thompson,  who  is  still  liv- 
ing, was  Miss  Abby  Frances  Allen  prior  to  her 
marriage.  There  are  three  children  in  the  family, 
the  oldest  of  whom  is  connected  with  the  Hartford 
Courant  in  this  city. 


AUGUSTUS    HOWARD    JONES,   Me  rid  en: 
Manufacturer  of  Brass  and  Bronze  Goods. 
A.  H.  Jones  was  born  in  New  York  city  Dec.  21, 
1850,  and  has  resided  there  and  in  Connecticut,  fol- 
lowing the  occupation  of  a  brass  moulder.      He  is 
indebted  to  the   common 
school  for  his  education, 
and  to  his  own  enterprise 
and  grit  for  his  business 
success    and   prominence 
in     the     affairs     of    his 
adopted  city.       He   is  a 
staunch   republican,    and 
has  been  a  member  of  the 
city  council  and  board  of 
aldermen  of  Meriden,  but 
at  present  holds  no  public 
office.      He   is  connected 
with    the    Knight    Tem- 
plars,    with     the     Home 
Club  of  Meriden,  and  also  with  the  Congregational 
church.     He  is  in  business  under  the  firm  name  of 
the   Meriden    Bronze  Company,  manufacturers  of 
beautiful    art    goods,    notably    of    the    "  Meriden 
lamp,"  which  is  made  in  a  great  variety  of  artistic 
designs.     He  is  married,  and  has  one  child. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


-^  -1  -1 

5:)0 


\V.     ROBBINS. 


HON.  S.    W.    ROBBINS,  Wethersi'Ield  :    Stock 
Farmer  and  Breeder. 

Hon.  Silas  Webster  Robbins  is'one  of  the  ablest 
business  men  in  this  locality  and  is  known  through- 
out the  country  as  a  successful  breeder  of  thorough- 
bred cattle,  including 
Short  Horn,  Jensey,  and 
Guernsey  stock.  Cots- 
wold,  South  Down,  and 
Shropshire  Down  sheep. 
For  thirty  years  he 
has  been  a  director  of 
the  American  National 
Bank  of  Hartford.  He  is 
also  a  director  in  the  Phoe- 
nix Life  Insurance  Com- 
pany, trustee  of  the  ]\Ie- 
chanics  Savings  Bank, 
president  of  Johnson, 
Robbins   &   Co.;    also   of 

the    A.    D.    Vorce    Co.,    and   is   a   director  in  the 
Merrick  Thread  Co.  of  Holyoke,   Mass.     He   was 
born  in  the  town  of  Wethersfield  October  2,  1S22. 
His   great-grandfather,  on  his  mother's  side,  was 
a  brother   of  the   father    of    Noah    Webster,    the 
lexicographer  —  hence  his  middle  name  —  while  his 
paternal  great-grandfather,  John  Robbins,  sat  in 
the  legislature  for  twenty-one  years  as  a  represen- 
tative of  Wethersfield,  and  was  otherwise  a  noted 
man  in  the  community.     Step  by  step  back  to  the 
settlement  of  the  old  town  and  to  John  Robbins 
can  be  traced  the  genealogy,  thence  it  passes  to  the 
north  of  England.     The  character  of   the  famil}^ 
has  always  been  high.     The  subject  of  this  sketch 
was   educated    under   the   tutorship   of    the    Rev. 
Joseph  Emerson,  who  was  at  the  head  of  a  success- 
ful jjrivate  school  in  Wethersfield  sixty  years  ago. 
Mrs.  Emerson,  the  principal  teacher,  was  a  sister 
of  Mrs.  Hazeltine,  principal  of  the  famous  Bradford 
(Mass.)  academ3\     Her  methods  were   so   incom- 
parable that  among  the  other  scholars   attracted 
during  ]\Ir.   Robbins'  course   of  instruction   there 
were  a  niece  of  Henry  Clay  and  one  of  Francis  P. 
Blair.     After  completing  his  education,  he  became 
a  clerk  in  the    provision  store  of   Fox  &  Porter, 
on    Central   row,   but   before   he   was   twenty   he 
established   a    general   store   in   Wethersfield,  re- 
taining  the    management   of    it  for   nearly   forty 
years.     He  was  instrumental  in  establishing  the 
seed  firm  of  Johnson,  Robbins  &  Co.,  which  gained 
a  national  reputation.     He  was  one  of  the  incorpora- 
tors of  the  Hartford  &  Connecticut  Valley  Railroad, 
and  of  the  Hartford  &  Wethersfield  Horse  Railroad 
Co.     In  politics  he  is  a  republican.     In  1888  he  was 
elected  to  the  state  senate  from  the  second  district 
and  served  with  marked  acceptance  in  that  body. 
He  has  held  the  offices  of  postmaster  and  town 
treasurer  in  Wethersfield ,  and  is  held  in  the  highest 


personal  esteem  in  the  community  in  which  the 
whole  of  his  life  has  been  spent.  Ex-Senator  Rob- 
bins has  one  son  and  three  daughters.  His  wife, 
who  was  Miss  Sophia  Jane  Johnson  of  Wethers- 
field, the  daughter  of  one  of  the  most  prominent 
citizens  of  the  town,  is  not  living.  Mr.  Robbins 
and  familj'  have  been  members  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church  in  Wethersfield  from  the  outset,  and 
are  among  the  staunchest  representatives  of  the 
denomination  in  Hartford  countv. 


ERASMUS   D.  AVERY,  Groton: 

Mr.  Avery  is  now  eighty-three  years  of  age,  hav- 
ing been  born  May  12,  1S08.  Groton  is  the  place  of 
his  nativity.  In  childhood  he  attended  the  village 
schools  there,  afterward 
spent  some  time  at  Plain- 
field  Academy,  and  fin- 
ished his  education  in  the 
private  school  of  Rev. 
Timothy  Tuttle  in  Led- 
yard.  At  the  age  of  eigh- 
teen he  embarked  in  the 
mercantile  business  in 
New  York  cit3%  continu- 
ing there  for  about  ten 
years,  when,  his  health 
failing,  he  went  to  Florida 
and    engaged   in    similar 

^    ^  E.    D.    AVERY. 

busmess     at     Pensacola. 

He  regained  his  health,  established  a  prosperous 
trade,  and  remained  until  1861,  when  at  the  break- 
ing out  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  he  was  compelled 
to  leave  suddenh'  and  abandon  a  very  considerable 
property,  entailing  great  pecuniary  loss.  Return- 
ing to  Groton,  he  established  his  residence  there, 
and  has  maintained  it  ever  since,  although  his  busi- 
ness connections  are  mostly  with  New  London,  just 
across  the  Thames.  Mr.  Avery  was  one  of  the  in- 
corporators of  the  Mariners'  Savings  Bank  in  New 
London,  in  1867,  and  has  been  one  of  its  directors 
ever  since  ;  he  is,  and  has  been  for  several  years, 
a  director  in  the  New  London  City  National  Bank  ; 
also  a  trustee  of  the  New  London  Savings  Bank. 
He  has  been  connected  with  the  settlement  of  up- 
wards of  twenty  different  estates,  and  is  now  the 
agent  and  trustee  of  various  properties.  He  is 
trustee  and  treasurer  of  the  Bill  memorial  librar\',  di- 
rector and  treasurer  of  the  Groton  Cemeterj-  Asso- 
ciation, and  president  of  the  Groton  Monument  As- 
sociation. ]\Ir.  Avery  has  represented  his  town  or 
district  six  times  in  the  legislature,  three  times  in 
the  senate  and  the  same  number  of  times  in  the 
lower  branch.  He  was  a  member  of  the  Groton 
war  committee  for  raising  troops  throughout  the 
entire  period  of  the  civil  war.  As  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly  he  has  assisted  in  the  election  of 


334 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


three  United  States  senators,  —  Hon.  LaFayette  S. 
Foster  of  Normch,  Hon.  James  Dixon  of  Hartford, 
and  Hon.  Orville  H.  Piatt  of  Meriden.  He  has 
been  assessor  and  auditor  of  accounts  in  his  native 
town  for  a  number  of  years,  and  for  a  some  time 
clerk  and  treasurer,  as  well  as  committee-man,  in 
the  Groton  Congregational  church,  of  which  he  has 
been  eight  years  a  member.  His  life  has  been  one 
of  great  activity  and  usefulness,  and  his  public  ser- 
vices to  the  town  and  state  have  been  of  inestima- 
ble value.  Mr.  Avery  married  Miss  Sarah  Hinck- 
ley, who,  with  three  of  their  four  children,  is  still 
living.  He  was  formerly  a  Henry  Clay  whig,  but 
since  the  organization  of  the  republican  party  has 
been  prominently  identified  therewith. 


and  author  and  publisher  of  the  Newell  genealogy, 
who  is  still  living.  He  has  no  children  living,  but 
has  one  grandchild.  Mr.  Hall  has  always  been 
noted  for  his  activity,  push,  energy,  and  for  thor- 
oughness in  all  his  undertakings. 


C.    W.    HALL. 


C.    W.    HALL,    Southington:    With   The   Peck, 
Stow  &  Wilcox  Company. 

Charles  WilUams  Hall  was  born  in  Watertown, 
Conn.,  and  removed  to  Southington  in  early  life. 
He  was  the  son  of  Peter  Hall,  formerly  of  Walling- 
ford,  and  is  a  lineal  de- 
scendant from  John  Hall, 
the  immigrant,  who  came 
to  New  Haven  in  1650  and 
settled  in  Wallingford,  of 
the  sixth  generation.  He 
received  a  common  school 
education,  mostly  in  the 
town  of  Cheshire,  where 
he  spent  some  years  of  his 
early  life.  He  has  worked 
at  tinman's  machines  and 
tools,  with  the  exception 
of  the  time  devoted  to 
public  affairs.  He  con- 
nected himself  with  the  Roys  &  Wilcox  Company 
of  East  Berlin,  in  1847,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
contractors  when  they  started  business.  He  re- 
turned to  Southington  in  1873,  where  he  has  since 
resided,  being  connected  with  the  Peck,  Stow  & 
Wilcox  Company.  He  is  a  staunch  republican,  pro- 
fessing to  be  "  dyed  in  the  wool,"  and  has  been  a 
selectman  for  ten  years,  three  in  Berlin  and  seven 
in  Southington.  He  has  been  fire  commissioner 
since  the  organization  of  the  Southington  depart- 
ment. He  is  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church  and  has  been  Sunday-school  superintend- 
ent, and  successfully  conducted  a  mission  school  in 
East  Berlin  and  in  Southington.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  Masonic  fraternity,  and  a  director  in  the 
Mutual  Benefit  Association  of  that  order ;  is  a 
member  of  the  Order  of  United  American  Mechan- 
ics, the  Southington  Agricultural  Society,  Union 
Grange,  and  president  of  the  vSouth  End  Cemetery 
Association.  He  married  Mary  A.  Newell  of  South- 
ington, April  26,  1848,  daughter  of  Asahel  Newell, 


D.    C.    SPENCER. 


DANIEL  CHAPMAN  SPENCER,  Old  S.'Vy- 
brook:  Farmer  and  Merchant. 
Among  the  descendants  of  Girard  Spencer,  who 
came  to  this  country  about  1610,  and  settled  at  what 
is  now  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  is  Daniel  C. 
Spencer,  the  subject  of 
this  sketch,  who  was  born 
in  Saybrook  in  this  state 
on  the  3d  of  December, 
1823.  He  attended  the 
public  school  until  he  was 
nine  years  of  age,  when 
he  went  to  work  on  his 
father's  farm,  where  he 
continued  until  he  was 
twenty-two.  During  this 
period  he  enjoj^ed  further 
educational  privileges  at 
the  Saybrook  Academy, 
covering  only  the  winter 
months  while  he  was  "in  his  teens."  He  might 
have  lived  and  died  a  farmer,  but  what  appeared 
to  be  a  providential  misfortiine  changed  the  whole 
current  of  his  life.  While  working  in  the  field  he 
suffered  a  sunstroke,  the  effects  of  which  compelled 
him  to  abandon  farming,  and  for  three  years  he 
filled  a  clerkship  in  the  stores  of  his  native  town 
and  of  Westbrook.  This  was  the  stepping-stone  to 
his  subsequent  advancement.  He  next  entered 
the  employ  of  L.  L.  Bishop  of  New  Haven,  as 
traveling  salesman,  into  which  business  he  entered 
enthusiastically  and  soon  acquired  a  reputation  that 
extended  beyond  the  limits  of  his  own  state.  Upon 
the  earnest  solicitation  of  Messrs.  Moulton,  Plymp- 
ton,  Williams  &  Co.,  one  of  the  leading  wholesale 
dry-goods  firms  of  New  York,  he  assumed  the  en- 
tire charge  of  their  fancy  goods  dejiartment,  in 
which  capacity  he  served  them  for  two  years,  and 
then  entered  the  establishment  of  Claflin,  Mellen  & 
Co.,  at  that  time  located  at  No.  iii  Broadway. 
His  experience  here  was  so  satisfactory  to  the  firm 
that  at  the  end  of  his  first  year  Mr.  Claflin  volun- 
tarily presented  him  with  a  check  for  $1,000  in 
addition  to  his  salary.  During  Mr.  Spencer's  con- 
nection with  this  house,  covering  a  period  of 
thirteen  years,  the  establishment  advanced  in  the 
volume  and  extent  of  its  transactions  until  it  became 
the  largest  dry-goods  house  in  the  United  States, 
the  sales  exceeding  those  of  its  most  distinguished 
rival  by  several  millions  of  dollars.  Mr.  Spencer 
had  made  almost  superhuman  efforts  to  reach  this 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


335 


result,  and  the  strain  proved  too  great  for  his  pow- 
ers of  endurance.  In  the  fall  of  1867  his  health 
broke  down  completely,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
give  up  business  altogether  on  the  first  of  January 
following.  Upon  his  retirement  he  was  presented 
by  his  associates  with  a  superb  silver  service, 
appropriately  inscribed,  as  a  token  of  their  appre- 
ciation and  regard. 

Mr.  Spencer  had  previously  purchased  a  number 
of  acres  contiguous  to  the  old  homestead  property' 
in  Saybrook,  known  astheChalker  farm.  Here  he 
retired  to  spend  his  days.  The  old  place  was  en- 
enlarged  and  improved,  and  the  surroundings 
made  attractive  and  healthful  by  the  expenditure  of 
much  money  and  the  exercise  of  infinite  taste. 
Amid  these  environments  he  soon  recovered  his 
health,  and  again  became  active  in  affairs.  He  en- 
gaged in  projects  for  public  improvements,  and  be- 
came a  power  for  good  in  the  advancement  of 
numerous  worthy  enterprises.  He  is  a  life  mem- 
ber and  auditor  of  the  Acton  Library  Association 
of  Saybrook,  and  one  of  the  auditors  of  the  town 
accounts.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  in  the 
Connecticut  Valley  Railroad,  and  was  instrumental 
in  securing  the  present  location  as  the  terminus  of 
the  road.  He  is  a  director  in  the  company,  and 
has  been  for  many  years.  He  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  the  erection  of  the  beautiful  stone  build- 
ing occupied  by  the  Grace  Episcopal  church  of  Old 
Saybrook,  and  one  of  the  largest  contributors  to  the 
building  fund.  He  has  been  an  earnest  and  devout 
member,  and  a  liberal  contributor  to  its  support 
since  he  became  connected  with  the  church,  in 
which  he  holds  the  office  of  junior  warden,  and 
where  he  had  previously  been  clerk  and  treasurer 
for  a  number  of  years.  He  was  previously  for 
several  years  a  member  of  St.  Timothy  Episcopal 
church  in  New  York  city,  in  which  he  held  a  similar 
official  position. 

On  the  12th  of  October,  1851,  he  married  Emily 
Maria,  daughter  of  William  Stokes,  Esq.,  of  West- 
brook,  one  of  the  most  ardent  and  enthusiastic 
patriots  and  a  volunteer  in  the  war  of  1812.  He 
was  one  of  the  brave  men  who  shouldered  his 
musket  and  intercepted  the  retreating  British 
troops  after  the  burning  of  Essex  in  18 14.  The 
issue  of  Mr.  Spencer's  marriage  with  Miss  Stokes 
was  eight  children;  William  David,  the  eldest, 
born  in  1852,  became  a  practicing  physician;  Ella 
Maria,  born  in  1856,  married  Dr.  B.  W.  Leonard,  a 
prominent  dentist  of  Saybrook;  Daniel  Stokes,  born 
i860;  Grace  Emily,  born  1861,  married  John  C. 
Wood  of  New  York  City,  prominently  connected 
with  the  H.  B.  Clafiin  Co.;  George  Jarvis,  born 
1S66;  Edmond  Chapman,  born  1869;  Frederick 
Clarence,  born  1870;  and  Henry  Russell,  born  1875, 
died  in  infancy. 

Mr.  Spencer's  present   business  connections  are 


as  director  in  the  Deep  River  National  Bank  and 
the  Stoddard  Lock  and  Manufacturing  Company. 
He  is  an  earnest  republican  in  politics,  and  as  such 
has  been  twice  chosen  to  represent  Old  Saybrook  in 
the  state  legislature,  once  in  1885,  when  he  was 
chairman  of  the  State  Library  committee,  and 
again  in  1886  when  he  served  on  the  committee  on 
railroads.  His  extensive  knowledge  of  affairs  and 
his  ripe  judgment  constituted  him  a  valuable  factor 
in  state  legislation,  and  enabled  him  to  do  conspicu- 
ous service  for  his  constituents  and  the  state. 

Mr.  Spencer  is  a  man  of  strong  and  positive  convic- 
tions, but  of  great  kindness  of  heart,  always  seek- 
ing to  promote  the  public  good  and  increase  the 
sum  of  individual  happiness.  His  life  aft'ords  a 
striking  example  of  what  the  young  men  of  this 
country  are  capable  of  accomplishing  under  our 
benign  institutions.  Commencing  the  battle  of  life 
at  nine  years  of  age,  by  untiring  energy  he  con- 
quered all  difficulties,  and  in  his  declining  years  is 
leading  a  quiet  life  of  retirement  in  the  enjoyment 
of  a  sufficient  competence  to  place  him  beyond  the 
possibility  of  want  during  the  remainder  of  his 
days. 


He 


ALBERT  C.  GREENE,  Westminster:  Farmer. 
Albert  C.  Greene  of  Canterbury  (Westminster,) 
was  born  in  Plainfield,  Sept.  24,  1829,  and  re- 
ceived his  education  in  the  common  schools, 
has  followed  mechanical, 
mercantile,  and  farming 
pursuits  in  Boston,  Kil- 
lingly,  and  Canterbury. 
He  enlisted  as  private  in 
Company  A,  Eighteenth 
Regiment,  Connecticut 
Volunteers,  and  served 
with  that  body  from  1862 
to  1865,  sharing  the  tre- 
mendous service  of  that 
regiment  in  the  last  year 
of  the  war  west  of  the 
Blue  Ridge,  in  West  Vir- 
ginia.      He    has    always 

taken  a  great  interest  in  matters  pertaining  to  the 
veteran  soldiers,  and  is  a  member  of  G.  A.  R. ,  Post 
No.  77,  of  Central  Village.  He  has  served  many  years 
on  the  board  of  education  of  his  town,  but  otherwise 
has  not  held  elective  office.  He  was  an  enumerator 
for  the  eleventh  census.  He  is  a  republican  in 
political  faith,  and  active  in  the  councils  of  the 
party.  He  is  a  deacon  of  the  Congregational  church 
in  Westminster,  and  is  highly  esteemed  for  his  pro- 
bity and  his  neighborly  kindness.  His  wife  was 
Mary  E.  Bemis  of  Oxford,  N.  Y.,  daughter  of  A. 
N.  Bemis,  Esq.  She  is  still  living,  and  they  have 
seven  children,  five  sons  and  two  daughters. 


336 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


^"^^- 


HENRY  W.   PECK,   Bethlehem:  Clothing    Mer- 
chant. 

Henry  W.  Peck  has  been  a  member  of  both 
branches  of  the  general  assembly,  representing  the 
town  in  which  he  resided  in  1853  and  1862,  and  be- 
ing a  member  of  the  state 
senate  froin  the  old  six- 
teenth district  in  1S65. 
His  colleagues  in  the  lat- 
ter body  included  Judge 
Edward  L  Sanford  of 
New  Haven,  the  Hon. 
Lynde  Harrison,  ex-Con- 
gressman John  T.  Wait, 
and  the  Hon.  Robbins 
Battell.  Mr.  Peck  was 
postmaster  at  Bethlehem 
from  1845  until  1867,  and 
has  been  town  clerk  for 
thirteen  years.  He  has 
also  held  various  minor  offices,  including  that  of 
town  treasurer,  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen, 
registrar  of  vital  statistics,  and  justice  of  the  peace. 
In  poHtics  he  is  a  repubhcan.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Congregational  society.  He  is  engaged  in  the 
clothing  business,  and  is  connected  with  the  Star 
Pin  Company  of  Birmingham.  Mr.  Peck  has  been 
married  twice.  His  first  wife  was  Miss  Mary 
Brown  and  the  second  was  Miss  J.  E.  Grossman 
prior  to  marriage.  The  latter  is  still  Uving.  There 
are  also  two  children.  Mr.  Peck  was  born  in  "Wood- 
bury Jan.  10,  1819,  and  received  a  common  school 
education.  He  has  been  a  resident  of  Bethlehem 
since  he  was  twenty-one. 


WILLIAM  F.  PALMER,  Scotland:   Merchant. 

WilHam  F.  Palmer  was  born  June  29,  1824,  in 
Scotland,  Windham  county.  Conn. ;  and,  with  the 
exception  of  seven  years  in  Springfield,  Mass.,  has 
passed  the  whole  of  his 
life  in  his  native  town. 
After  an  elementarj'  edu- 
cation received  at  the 
schools  near  his  home,  he 
engaged  until  the  age  of 
twenty-two  in  labor  on 
the  farm.  He  was  then 
for  a  brief  time  employed 
in  teaming,  and  subse- 
quently entered  the  ser- 
vice of  the  Hartford,  New 
Haven  &  Springfield 
Railroad  Company.  In 
1854  he  returned  to  .Scot- 
land, and  for  a  time  engaged  in  farming.  Mr. 
Palmer,  at  a  later  date,  in  connection  with  a  part- 
ner, embarked  in  mercantile  ventures,  and  in   1882 


purchased  the  entire  business  interest,  which  he 
now  controls.  In  1866  he  was  elected  by  the  re- 
publicans to  represent  his  town  in  the  state  legisla- 
ture, and  in  1872  was  appointed  postmaster,  which 
he  held  until  January  i,  1891,  when  he  resigned  the 
office  to  accept  the  state  senatorship  for  the  seven- 
teenth district.  He  also  for  many  years  held  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  and  has  been  since 
1874  town  treasurer  and  town  clerk.  He  is  a  trus- 
tee of  the  Willimantic  Savings  Institute,  and  is 
frequently  called  upon  to  act  as  executor,  trustee, 
and  administrator.  He  is  a  member  of  the  First 
Congregational  society  of  Scotland,  and  treasurer 
and  clerk  of  the  society.  Mr.  Palmer  was  married 
October  14,  1850,  to  Susan  B.,  daughter  of  Thomas 
Webb  of  the  same  town.  They  have  one  daugh- 
ter, Ella  Brewer,  the  wife  of  James  H.  Johnson. 


H.    P.    STAGG. 


F.    PALMER. 


HENRY  P.  STAGG,  Stratford:  Town  Clerk. 

Henry  P.  Stagg  was  born  in  Stratford  August 
23,  1836,  and  received  an  academic  education.  At 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  in  1861  he  was  connected 
with  the  Seventh  New 
York  Regiment  and  was 
mustered  into  the  United 
States  service  with  that 
command  at  the  first  call 
of  President  Lincoln  for 
troops.  The  presence  of 
the  Sixth  Massachusetts 
and  the  Seventh  New 
York  in  Washington  pre- 
vented the  capture  of  the 
city  by  the  confederates 
at  the  opening  of  hostili- 
ties. Mr.  Stagg  is  a  mem- 
ber of  Elias  Howe,  Jr., 
Post  of  the  Grand  Army  at  Bridgeport,  and  is 
president  of  the  Veteran  Association  of  Stratford. 
He  served  as  a  member  of  Company  K  of  the 
Fourth  Regiment,  C.  N.  G.,  for  five  years,  and  is  a 
member  of  the  Connecticut  Society  of  the  Sons  of 
the  Revolution.  He  is  also  a  member  of  St.  John's 
Lodge,  No.  6,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Stratford,  which 
contains  the  name  of  Representative  Stiles  Judson, 
Jr. ,  on  its  roll.  Mr.  Stagg  has  held  the  office  of  town 
clerk  since  1879,  and  has  been  a  member  of  the 
school  committee.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics, 
and  is  the  secretary  and  manager  of  the  Stratford 
Oyster  Company.  He  was  with  the  firm  of  Booth 
&  Edgar,  sugar  refiners  of  New  York,  for  twenty- 
five  years.  The  wife  of  Mr.  Stagg  was  Miss  Mary 
E.  King  of  New  York.  The  family  consists  of  four 
children.  Mr.  Stagg  is  connected  with  the  Congre- 
gational church  and  an  active  participant  in  every 
interest  that  pertains  to  the  welfare  of  the  com- 
munity. 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


337 


S.     J.    BRYANT. 


SAMUEL    J.     BRYANT,    West    Haven  :    Real 
Estate  and  Fire  Insurance. 

Mr.  Bryant  was  born  in  West  Stockbridge,  Berk- 
shire count)',  Mass.,  June  26,  185 1.     His  father  was 
a  Congregational  clergj-man,  the  seventh  of  eight 
children,  and  a  native  of 
Sheffield,      Mass.         His 
mother  was  the  first  of  ten 
children  and  was  a  native 
of   Canaan,    N.    Y.       He 
therefore  claims  to  be  of 
good  eastern  blood.     He 
graduated   from    OberUn 
College  in  1873  and  from 
Yale    Theological    Semi- 
nary in  1S76.     His  strug- 
gles for  an  education  are 
typical  of   the   American 
youth  who  is  determined 
to  make  a  place  for  him- 
self in  the  world.     While  at  Oberlin  he  sawed  wood 
and  worked  gardens  to  earn  money  to  put  himself 
through  the  college  course.     In  1869-70  he  began 
teaching  school  winters  and  taught  successively  in 
York,  Medina  county,  Ohio,  Briar  Hill,  Trumbull 
county,  Brownhelm,  Lorain  county,  and  in  Oberlin 
during  the  long  vacations  in  1872-3.     While  in  the 
Theological  Seminary  at  New  Haven  in  1873-4  he 
taught  school  in  Weston,  Windsor  county,  Vermont, 
keeping  up  his  studies  in  the  seminary  meanwhile. 
During  the  last  year  of  the  seminary  course  he 
preached  every  Sunday.     In  July,    1876,   he   was 
settled  as  pastor  of  the  Congregational  church  of 
South  Britain,  where  he   remained   until  July  of 
1883.     He  then  removed  to  West  Haven.     He  is 
identified  with  the  Maltby,  Stevens  &  Curtiss  Co. 
of  Wallingford  as  a  director,  and  was  until  recently 
secretary  and    assistant  treasurer.     He  is   now   a 
member  of  the  firm  of  Bryant  &  Main,  transact- 
ing business   in  real  estate,  loans  and  fire  insur- 
ance.      Mr.    Bryant   is   a   republican    and    repre- 
sented the   town   of   Orange   in    the   lower  house 
in    1889,   and    was    clerk    of     the    committee    on 
humane  institutions,   and  house  chairman  of  the 
committee  on  contested  elections.     He  is  one  of  the 
burgesses  of  the  borough  of  West  Haven,  and  for 
several  terms  has  been  a  member  of  the  school 
board.     As  may  be  gathered  from  the  above  he  is 
a  Congregationalist,  and  is  deacon  of  the  church  in 
West  Haven,  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school, 
and  member  of  both  the  church  and  ecclesiastical 
society  standing  committee.      May  23,    1876,   Mr. 
Bryant  married  Ellen  E.  Tyler,  daughter  of  Dr. 
David  A.  Tyler,  for  forty  years  a  leading  practi- 
tioner of  New  Haven.     They  have  had  four  child- 
ren, two  sons  and  two  daughters,  three  of  them 
still  living,  one  daughter  having  been  taken.     Mr. 
Brvant  is  one  of  the  live  citizens  of  West  Haven, 


and  is  enthusiastic  in  the  promotion  of  all  things 
which  ai-e  for  the  best  good  of  the  town.  He  is  a 
Master  Mason  and  Knight  of  Honor,  is  one  of 
twenty-five  members  of  the  Bisby  Club  in  the 
Adirondacks  owning  land  for  hunting  and  fishing 
purposes,  the  Bisby  being  one  of  the  most  complete 
organizations  of  the  kind  in  the  wilderness. 


W.    R.    AUSTIN. 


WILLIS  R.   AUSTIN,  Norwich:  Retired  Cotton 
Dealer  and  Banker. 

Willis  Rogers  Austin  was  born  in  Norwich,  Jan- 
uary 31,  18  ig,  and  was  educated  for  the  bar,  being 
a  graduate  of  the  Yale  Law  School.  He  spent  a 
number  of  years  in  Texas  ^ 

after  his  graduation  from 
the  university,  being  en- 
gaged chiefly  in  cotton 
speculation.  Subsequent- 
ly, he  engaged  in  the 
banking  business  in  Phil- 
adelphia. Success  was 
met  with  in  each  of  these 
enterprises,  enabling  him 
to  retire  from  active  pur- 
suits a  number  of  years 
ago.  Mr.  Austin  traveled 
extensively  in  this  coun- 
try   and    Europe    before 

finally  returning  to  his  old  home  in  Norwich  for  a 
permanent  residence.  In  1874  he  was  elected  a 
member  of  the  general  assembly  from  the  town  of 
Norwich,  his  colleague  being  the  Hon.  Allen  Ten- 
ney.  His  associates  in  the  house  that  year  from 
New  London  count}'  included  Railroad  Commis- 
sioner Wm.  H.  Hayward,  Erastus  S.  Day  of  Col- 
chester, chairman  for  four  years  of  the  republican 
state  central  committee,  and  the  Hon.  Benjamin 
Stark  of  New  London.  In  1875  Mr.  Austin  was 
re-elected  by  the  largest  majority  that  had  been 
given  up  to  that  time  to  a  representative  in  the  leg- 
islature from  Norwich.  The  centennial  period  was 
also  a  most  fortunate  one,  politically,  for  Mr.  Aus- 
tin. After  haN-ing  carried  the  city  of  Norwich  by 
the  largest  majority  ever  received  there  by  a  re- 
publican representative,  the  natural  step  was  ad- 
vancement to  the  senatorship  in  the  old  eighth  dis- 
trict. In  1876  Mr.  Austin  was  elected  senator  from 
that  district,  his  colleagues  in  the  senate  including 
Gen.  S.  E.  Merwin  of  New  Haven,  Edward  W. 
Seymour  of  Litchfield,  now  of  the  supreme  court, 
Washington  F.  Willcox,  now  member  of  congress 
from  the  second  district,  Charles  C.  Hubbard  of 
Middle  town,  subsequently  state  comptroller,  and 
ex-Lieutenant-Governor  E.  H.  Hyde  of  Stafford. 
Mr.  Austin  has  also  served  as  a  member  of  the  re- 
publican state  central  committee.  He  has  been  the 
president  of   the  agricultural  society,  member  of 


2-2 


338 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


the  state  board  of  charities,  and  is  at  present  a  di- 
rector of  the  Second  National  Bank  of  Norwich, 
and  vice-president  of  the  Dime  Savings  Bank  in 
that  city.  He  was  on  the  staff  of  General  Bacon, 
having  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Episcopal  church.  His  wife  was 
Mi.ss  Mary  McComb  prior  to  marriage.  She  is  still 
living  ;  also  one  son.  In  1SS3  Mr.  Ai:stin,  with  his 
family,  spent  the  year  in  Spain  ;  1884  was  passed 
in  Northern  Africa,  and  1S85  in  traveling  generally 
through  Europe.  It  goes  without  saying  that  Mr. 
Austin  is  one  of  the  most  cultivated  men  in  the 
state.  He  is  a  clear  and  forcible  speaker,  when  the 
occasion  requires,  and  his  judgment  is  entitled  to 
the  fullest  deference. 


BROWNING. 


CHARLES  F.  BROWNING,  Middletown:  Man- 
ufacturer. 

Mr.  Browning  was  born  at  Griswold,  in  this  state, 
April  22,  1S22,  being  a  son  of  Hon.  Welcome   A. 
Browning,  farmer.     He  was  educated  at  the  public 
_  and  private  schools  of  the 

town,  taught  school  about 
two  years,  and  at  the  age 
of  twenty -three  went  to 
Middletown,  and  began  a 
mechanical  education 
with  the  Sanseer  Manu- 
facturing Company.  He 
filled  every  position  there, 
including  the  presidency 
of  the  company,  and 
finally  sold  out  the  facto- 
ry and  business  in  1871. 
He  has  manufactured 
iron  castings,  machinery, 
and  numerous  other  articles  in  that  line.  In  1S49 
he  was  married  to  Sarah  P.  Lewis,  onlj'  child  of 
Elias  Lewis  of  Middletown.  She  is  still  living. 
They  have  no  children.  He  is  connected  with  the 
society  of  the  South  Congregational  church,  Mid- 
dletown; has  no  connection  with  orders  or  clubs. 
He  was  reared  in  the  old  democratic  party  and 
continued  to  act  with  that  party  until  they  aban- 
doned the  principle  of  free  soil.  In  1S50  and  '51  he 
became  disgusted  with  both  the  old  parties,  and  in 
'52  voted  for  John  P.  Hale  for  the  presidency. 
Early  in  1856  he  was  one  of  the  few  who  organized 
the  republican  party  in  Middletown,  and  has  con- 
tinued to  act  with  that  organization  ever  since.  He 
has  held  various  local  offices  in  the  town;  was 
selectm.an  for  seven  years,  city  councilman  and 
alderman  nine  years,  and  a  member  of  the  board 
of  education  nine  years.  He  is  at  present,  and  has 
been  for  the  last  fourteen  years,  treasurer  of  the 
city  school  district  of  Middletown.  Early  in  the 
history  of  "  the  Industrial  School  for  Girls"  Mr. 
Browning  was  invited  to  accept  the  position  of  a 


director  in  that  institution ;  soon  after  was  appointed 
treasurer,  which  position  he  now  holds.  For  some 
years  he  had  especial  charge  of  the  new  buildings, 
during  and  after  their  erection.  Three  of  the  large 
buildings  and  the  reservoir  were  constructed  under 
his  supervision.  By  taking  advantage  of  the  mar- 
ket, and  close  personal  attention,  he  succeeded  in 
reducing  the  cost  of  a  home  from  $22,000  to  $10,500. 
He  was  formerly  a  director  of  the  old  Hartford  & 
New  York  Steamboat  Company,  also  of  the  Middle- 
sex Quarry  Company,  and  the  Middletown  Ferry 
Company,  a  director  and  president  of  the  Middle 
sex  Manufacturing  Company,  and  is  connected  with 
several  others  in  various  capacities.  He  retired 
from  active  life  as  a  manufacturer  in  1877,  and  has 
been  since  that  time  occupied  with  settling  estates 
and  the  other  matters  above  referred  to. 

Mr.  Browning  was  major  of  the  old  Eighteenth 
Regiment,  Connecticut  state  militia,  at  twenty-one 
years  of  age.  In  the  late  war  of  the  rebellion  he 
was  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  government,  con- 
tributing liberall}^  to  the  cause,  though  unable  to 
take  an  active  personal  part  in  military  service.  He 
placed  a  man  in  the  navy  at  his  own  expense, 
while  he  remained  at  the  factorj'^  and  made  battery 
trimmings  for  the  army. 


HON.  JAMES  D.  SMITH,  Stamford:  Banker. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  native  of  New  Hampshire,  having 
been  born  at  Exeter,  in  that  state,  November  24, 
1829.  He  was  educated  at  Wilton  academy  with  a 
view  to  entering  Yale 
College,  but  finally  deciii- 
ed  on  a  business  life,  and 
has  achieved  exceptional 
success  in  the  branch  to 
which  he  turned  his  atten- 
tion. He  commenced  his 
business  career  at  Ridge- 
field,  but  removed  soon 
afterwards  to  New  York, 
where  he  became  cashier 
and  first  bookkeeper  with 
the  firm  of  Hoyt,  Sprague 
J.  D.  SMITH.  &   Co.     Subsequently,  he 

became  a  member  of  the 
Wall  street  firm  of  Jameson,  Smith  &  Cotting,  with 
which  he  was  associated  for  upwards  of  twenty 
years.  The  style  of  his  present  firm  is  James  D. 
Smith  &  Co.  He  is  one  of  the  ablest  business  men 
and  financiers  in  Connecticut,  with  large  and  suc- 
cessful experience,  covering  a  wide  range  of  opera- 
tions and  many  years  of  earnest  personal  apjilica- 
tion  to  his  business.  He  is  a  member  of  the  New- 
York  Stock  Exchange,  and  was  for  two  years  its 
president.  He  has  also  held  membership  in  the 
Produce  Exchange,  the  New  York  Mining  Ex- 
change,  directorship   in  the   New  York    Elevated 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


Railroad,  and  in  a  number  of  large  corporations, 
including  the  Pacific  Mail  Steamship  Company,  the 
Union  Pacific,  and  the  Kansas  Pacific  Railroad 
companies,  the  Panama  Railroad  Company,  the 
Quicksilver  Mining,  and  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific 
Telegraph  companies.  He  was  one  of  the  founders 
of  the  Woodlawn  cemetery,  and  was  largely  instru- 
mental in  its  success.  He  has  visited  Europe  a 
number  of  times,  and  among  the  first-class  securi- 
ties which  he  has  successfully  placed  abroad,  may 
be  mentioned  $2,000,000  of  St.  Louis  City  Park  and 
Sewerage  bonds,  $4,000,000  of  Mississippi  and  Illi- 
nois River  Bridge  bonds,  and  $6,000,000  of  North 
Missouri  first  mortgage  bonds.  In  1882  he  was  ap- 
pointed treasurer  of  the  state  of  Connecticut,  and 
discharged  the  duties  of  that  important  office  with 
singular  ability  and  fidelity  —  the  previous  year 
having  served  the  state  in  the  capacity  of  repre- 
sentative in  the  general  assembly  from  the  town  of 
Stamford.  His  eminent  fitness  for  both  these  po- 
sitions was  heartily  recognized  throughout  the 
State,  and  the  appointment  met  with  the  unanimous 
approval  of  republicans  and  democrats. 

JNIr.  Smith's  personal  popularity  and  influence  in 
New  York  were  exemplified  in  the  most  gratifying 
manner  during  the  presidential  campaign  of  iSSo. 
He  organized  and  was  the  president  of  the  Bank- 
ers and  Brokers  New  York  Stock  Exchange  Gar- 
field and  Arthur  Club,  one  of  the  most  powerful 
and  influential  organizations  in  the  campaign,  and 
labored  most  efficiently  at  its  head.  This  club  fur- 
nished the  impetus  for  the  organization  of  the  Pro- 
duce Exchange  and  Dry  Goods  Exchange  Garfield 
and  Arthur  clubs,  and  developed  largely  the  senti- 
ment among  business  men  throughout  the  country 
that  national  prosperity  and  success  depended  upon 
the  retention  of  the  republican  party  in  power.  Mr. 
Smith  has  always  been  an  ardent  republican,  and 
is  a  representative  of  the  party's  best  impulses  and 
purposes. 

Mr.  Smith  is  a  gentleman  of  the  most  agreeable 
social  traits,  as  exemplified  in  his  numerous  affilia- 
tions with  the  most  celebrated  and  reputable  social 
organizations  of  New  York  and  other  cities.  He  has 
been  for  five  years  president  of  the  New  York  Club; 
a  member  of  the  Union  League  Club,  of  the  New 
York  Club,  the  Players'  Club,  the  Athletic  Club, 
the  Manhattan  Athletic  Club,  commodore  for  two 
years  of  the  New  York  Yacht  Club,  all  of  New 
York  ;  and  of  the  Stamford  Club  of  Stamford, 
Conn.  He  was  owner  of  the  celebrated  yacht  Es- 
telle, —  the  envy  of  New  York  yachtmen — with 
one  of  the  fastest  records  of  the  New  York  fleet. 

Mr.  Smith's  religious  connections  are  with  the 
Presbyterian  church,  of  which  he  is  an  honored  and 
influential  member  and  a  generous  supporter.  He 
married  Miss  Elizabeth  Henderson,  now  deceased, 
and  has  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daughter. 


339 

Agent  Strong  Manufac- 


H.  G.   COLT,  WiNSTEu: 

turing  Company. 

Henry  G.  Colt  was  born  in  Torrington,  Novem- 
ber 2,  1832,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
academic  education,  completing  his  course  at  Wil- 
liams Academy  in  Stock- 
bridge,  Mass.  During 
the  war  he  served  in  the 
Second  Connecticut  three 
months  volunteers.  In 
1863  he  was  a  member  of 
the  house  of  representa- 
tives from  Torrington. 
Mr.  Colt  is  independent 
in  politics.  He  is  the 
agent  of  the  Strong  Man- 
ufacturing Company  at 
Winsted  and  a  director 
in  several  manufacturing 
enterprises  in  that  place. 

He  is  associated  with  the  Second  Congregational 
church  in  West  Winsted.  His  wife,  whose  name  was 
Annette  Griswold  prior  to  marriage,  is  not  living. 
There  are  three  children  in  the  family.  Mr.  Colt 
has  resided  through  life  at  Torrington  and  Winsted. 


H.    (-,.    COLT, 


JOHN  PIERCE,  Southbury:    Farmer. 

John  Pierce  of  South  Britain  (town  of  Southbury) 
was  born  in  that  place,  May  31,  1839,  and  received 
his  education  in  the  Western  Reserve  College  of 
Ohio.  He  is  one  of  the 
most  noted  farmers  and 
breeders  in  the  state, 
owning  a  tract  of  1,000 
acres,  a  large  part  of 
which  he  keeps  under 
cultivation.  He  is  per- 
haps better  known  by  his 
efforts  to  improve  the 
breed  of  coach  and  draft 
horses  in  this  country, 
having  followed  the  busi- 
ness of  importing  and 
breeding  French  coach 
and  Percheron  horses,  in 
which  he  is  assisted  by  his  son,  the  firm  being 
John  Pierce  &  Son.  He  has  been  town  treas- 
urer of  the  town  of  Southbury  for  eight  years, 
and  in  1S78  and  1880  represented  that  town  in  the 
legislature.  He  has  always  been  an  earnest  repub- 
lican, and  active  in  the  affairs  of  his  party  in  that 
section  of  the  state.  In  religious  faith  and  mem- 
bership he  is  a  Congregationalist.  His  wife  was 
Caroline  E.  Garlick,  and  they  have  five  children 
living.  At  present  he  holds  no  public  office,  but 
he  is  esteemed  by  the  citizens  of  his  immediate 
neighborhood  for  his  business  qualifications  and 
honorable  dealing,  and  as  a  man  of  public  spirit. 


JOHN    FIERCE. 


340 


AN   ILLUvSTRATED   POPULAR 


REV.  S.  K.  SMITH,  Nacgatlck:  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Clergj^man. 

Rev.  Sidney  Ketcham  Smith  was  born  in  Hunt- 
ington, L.  I.,  March  14,  1S3S,  and  graduated  from 
the  "Wesleyan  University  in  1S65.     He  entered  the 
Methodist  ministr}-  imme- 
^^     ^^^v  diately  after  his  gradua- 

tion,    uniting     with     the 
\i^     -^        M\  New   York   East  Confer- 

^^  ence.     He   has   been    as- 

signed to  pastorates  in 
Middlefield,CHnton,  Sims- 
bur}-,  Torrington,  Water- 
town,  Westville,  Middle- 
bury,  and  Naugatuck.  In 
all  of  these  fields  he  has 
met  with  marked  success. 
Mr.  Smith  has  a  wfe  and 
five   children.      The   for- 

S.    K.    SMITH.  ,,.        ,,  ^ 

mer  was  Miss  Mary  Fran- 
ces Barnard  of  Marlboro,  Mass. ,  prior  to  marriage. 
In  politics  Mr.  Smith  is  a  prohibitionist.  He  has 
served  on  the  school  boards  in  Clinton,  Torrington, 
and  Watertown.  His  pulpit  appointments  have 
been  of  a  high  order,  indicating  the  standing  which 
he  holds  in  the  conference. 


DAVID  STRONG,  Winsted:  Manufacturer. 

David  Strong  is  one  of  the  leading  manufacturers 
in  Winsted,  being  associated  with  the  Strong  Man- 
ufacturing Co.,  the  Winsted  Hosiery  Co.,  the  New 
England  Knitting  Co., 
the  Winsted  Silk  Co. ,  and 
the  Winsted  Shoe  Manu- 
facturing Co.  He  is  also 
connected  with  the  Win- 
sted First  National  bank, 
and  with  M.  H.  Tanner 
&  Co.  He  is  a  member 
of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional church,  and  is  a  re- 
publican in  politics.  He 
has  held  the  offices  of 
selectman,  warden  of  the 
borough,  and  has  served 
two  sessions  in  the  gen- 
eral assembly.  In  1S72  he  represented  the  town  of 
Winchester  in  the  house,  his  colleagues  from  Litch- 
field county  including  Railroad  Commissioner 
George  M.  Woodruff  of  Litchfield,  ex-Senator  I.  N. 
Bartram  of  Sharon,  and  the  late  N.  Taj'lor  Baldwin 
of  Plymouth.  The  distinguished  members  from 
other  localities  in  the  state  included  the  late  Gov- 
ernor English  of  New  Haven,  ex-Governor  Waller, 
Judge  John  M.  Hall,  and  Colonel  John  A.  Tibbits. 
The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Chatham, 
August  17,  1825,  and  was  educated  in  the  district 
school  at  East  Hampton.     During  the  war  he  held 


DAVID  STRONG. 


a  commission  in  the  Twenty- fourth  Connecticut, 
being  the  first  lieutenant  of  Company  C  of  that 
command.  His  life  has  been  spent  mainly  in 
farming  and  manufacturing.  His  wife,  who  is  liv- 
ing, with  three  children,  was  Miss  Einerette  L. 
Colt  prior  to  her  marriage. 


L.    L.    POTTER. 


LESTER  L.  POTTER,  Hartford. 

Lester  L.  Potter  was  born  in  Colebrook,  Litch- 
field county,  March  30,  185S.  His  father,  the  Rev. 
C.  W.  Potter,  was  for  fifty  years  an  honored  Bap- 
tist clergyman  in  country 
parishes  of  Connecticut. 
Mr.  Potter  left  home  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  years, 
and  became  literally  the 
architect  of  his  own  for- 
tune. His  education  was 
secured  at  Burnfield 
Academy,  the  Connecti- 
cut Literary  Institute,  and 
at  Rochester  Theological 
Seminary. 

After  leaving  the  semi- 
nary at  Rochester  he 
taught  Greek  and  Latin 
at  the  Everett  Seminar}',  near  Boston,  and  supplied 
the  churches  of  Everett  and  West  Newton,  Mass. 
He  was  called  from  there  to  succeed  the  Rev.  Dr. 
George  B.  Ide  at  the  First  Baptist  church  in 
Springfield,  Mass.,  where  he  ministered  till  the 
spring  of  1885.  As  early  as  his  second  year  at 
Springfield  the  church  building  became  too  small 
to  accommodate  the  congregation  at  many  services. 
The  organ  was  taken  from  the  rear  and  placed  in 
front,  in  order  to  secure  a  larger  seating  capacity. 
Newspaper  comments  show  the  popularity  of  his 
ministry,  and  his  strong  hold  upon  the  people  of 
Springfield.  In  April,  18S5,  he  accepted  a  call  to 
the  First  Baptist  church  in  Hartford,  but  resigned 
in  December,  1887,  on  account  of  a  change  of  views 
as  to  the  tenets  of  the  Baptist  denomination.  He 
was  immediately  called  to  the  North  church  in 
Springfield,  the  Park  church  of  Hartford,  and  re- 
ceived the  unanimous  vote  of  the  committee  of  the 
L^nion  church  in  Boston.  In  February,  1SS7,  he 
began  his  ministry  with  the  Park  church  in  Hart- 
ford, as  the  successor  of  the  Rev.  N.  J.  Burton, 
D.D.,  continuing  this  charge  until  his  resignation 
about  four  years  later.  Lender  the  name  of 
"  Forrest  Linwood,"  Mr.  Potter  has  written  upon 
art  and  nature  for  many  papers,  religious  and  secu- 
lar. He  has  also  lectured  with  success  in  New 
England  and  other  northern  states.  His  printed 
addresses  and  sermons  in  The  Watchman  of  Bos- 
ton, The  Examiner  of  New  York,  The  Spring- 
field Republican.,  and  papers  of  Hartford,  have 
appeared  frequently  through  the  past  eight  years. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF    CONNECTICUT. 


341 


CHARLES  GRISWOLD,  Guilford:  Banker. 

Mr.  Griswold  is  a  native  of  the  town  where  he 
now  resides,  and  was  born  July  26,  184 1.  He  was 
educated  at  Guilford  Institute,  and  has  followed 
the  mercantile  and  bank- 
ing professions.  He 
served  in  the  Union  army 
three  years  and  a  half,  or 
during  the  greater  part  of 
the  civil  war,  and  was 
mustered  out  of  the  ser- 
vice as  captain.  He  has 
lived  for  the  greater  part 
of  his  life  in  Guilford,  and 
has  been  honored  by  the 
citizens  of  that  town  by 
an  election  to  nearly  ev- 
ery office  in  their  gift.  He 
was  postmaster  for  sev- 
enteen years,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  legislature  in  1887,  serving  on  the  com- 
mittee on  banks.  He  was  treasurer  of  the  Guilford 
Savings  Bank  ten  years.  He  was  appointed  bank 
commissioner  in  1890  and  still  holds  that  office,  win- 
ning the  respect  and  esteem  of  the  banking  men  of 
the  state  by  his  thorough  knowledge  of  banking 
and  his  sense  of  honor  in  conducting  the  examina- 
tions connected  with  his  office.  He  is  a  republican, 
a  member  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  and 
is  connected  with  the  First  Congregational  church 
of  Guilford.    He  is  married  and  has  two  children. 


CHARLES   GRISWOLD. 


JOSEPH  PEABODY,  Jr.,  Waterford:  Farmer. 
Mr.  Peabody  was  the  second  lieutenant  of  Com- 
pany A  of  the  Twenty-sixth  Connecticut  Regiment 
during  the  war,  and  commanded  the  company  at 
Port  Hudson,  both  of  his 
superiors  being  wounded 
during  the  siege.  He  was 
born  in  Salem,  Nov.  16, 
1835,  and  received  a  dis- 
trict school  education .  H  e 
is  a  democrat  in  politics, 
and  represented  his  town 
in  the  legislature  in  1889. 
He  has  been  a  member  of 
the  board  of  selectmen, 
occupying  the  office  for 
seven  years,  and  is  now  a 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief  and  of  the  school 
committee.  He  is  a  member  of  Union  Lodge,  No. 
31,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  New  London,  and  also  belongs 
to  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic.  Mr.  Peabody, 
with  the  exception  of  one  year  in  Wisconsin,  has 
been  a  resident  of  Connecticut.  His  family  con- 
sists of  a  wife  and  four  children.  The  former  was 
Miss  Marietta  Austin  prior  to  her  marriage. 


JOSEPH    PEABGDV,   jr. 


ISRAEL  PRIOR,  Stamford:  Physician. 

Dr.  Israel  Prior  of  Stamford  was  born  at  Perth 
Amboy,  N.  J.,  Dec.  7,  1842,  and  was  educated  in 
the  Stamford  High  school.  Subsequently  he  pur- 
sued a  course  of  medical 
studies,  and  commenced 
the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion in  Danville,  111., 
where  he  remained  for 
five  years.  Returning 
east  he  established  him- 
self in  North  Stamford, 
continuing  there  for  eigh- 
teen years.  Three  years 
ago  he  removed  to  the 
borough  of  Stamford  and 
has  since  resided  there. 
He  was  originally  a  stu- 
dent under  Dr.  Trow- 
bridge of  Stamford,  and  also  under  Professor  Wood 
of  New  York.  Dr.  Prior  is  connected  with  the 
order  of  United  American  Mechanics,  and  is  medi- 
cal examiner  in  the  order  of  the  Iron  Hall.  His 
family  consists  of  his  wife  and  three  children,  the 
former  being  Miss  Mary  F.  Brown  prior  to  her 
marriage  Avith  the  Doctor.  They  are  associated 
with  the  Congregational  church  and  society  in 
Stamford.     He  is  a  republican. 


ISRAEL    PRIOR. 


E.  STEVENS  HENRY,  Rockville:  Banker. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  is  a  descendant  of  the 
first  settlers  of  the  town  of  Coleraine,  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  born  in  Gill  in  the  same  state  in 
1836,  removing  at  an 
early  age  to  Rockville, 
and  receiving  his  educa- 
tion in  the  excellent  pub- 
lic schools  of  that  city. 
He  has  resided  continu- 
ously in  Rockville,  and 
been  intimately  connected 
with  the  business  inter- 
ests of  that  enterprising 
city,  especially  with  its 
financial  institutions.  He 
also  has  large  investments 

in  local  real  estate,  is   a  t~    ,    ,,^^v-o^- 

E.  h.  HENR\  . 

successful     farmer     a  n  d 

breeder  of  thoroughbred  stock,  and  has  been 
uniformly  successful  in  all  his  business  undertak- 
ings. Mr.  Henry  has  also  found  time  to  occupy 
many  positions  of  public  trust.  He  was  an  active 
trial  justice  for  fifteen  years  prior  to  the  adoption  of 
a  city  charter  in  Rockville.  He  represented  the 
town  of  Vernon  in  the  house  of  representatives  in 
1883,  and  the  twenty-third  senatorial  district  in  the 
senate   of   1S87-18S8,   serving   as   chairman  of  the 


342 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


committee  vipon  appropriations,  also  as  chairman 
of  the  temperance  committee,  obtaining  in  the  first- 
named  position  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
financial  necessities  of  the  state.  He  was  a  dele- 
gate-at-large  to  the  republican  national  convention 
at  Chicago  in  iS88,  was  elected  state  treasurer  in 
iSSS,  and  received  the  somewhat  unusual  honor  of 
a  re-nomination  for  the  same  position  upon  the 
republican  state  ticket  in  1S90,  being  the  only  one 
of  the  state  officers  elected  in  1S8S  to  receive  a  re- 
nomination.  This  unexpected  and  unsolicited 
honor  was  doubtless  due  to  Mr.  Henry's  successful 
administration  of  the  treasury  office,  in  which  he 
claimed  and  demonstrated  that  direct  state  taxes  in 
Connecticut  were  not  only  impolitic,  but  unneces- 
sary; that,  properly  administered  and  collected,  the 
state  possessed  ample  revenues  from  other  sources, 
especially  from  taxation  of  corporate  franchises 
granted  by  the  state.  Mr.  Henry  is  an  earnest 
student  of  economic  questions,  and  has  been 
greatly  interested  in  the  reform  of  the  crude,  and 
often  unjust,  system  of  taxation  at  present  pre- 
vailing in  Connecticut.  As  a  member  of  the 
general  assembly  he  gave  his  influence  to  needed 
reforms;  and  the  passage  of  the  somewhat  novel 
"  investment  tax  law  "  by  the  general  assembly  in 
1S89,  was  largely  due  to  his  influence.  Although  a 
lifelong  republican,  Mr.  Henry  has  always  been 
honored  by  receiving  the  votes  of  many  of  his  fellow- 
citizens  of  the  opposite  political  faith,  whenever  a 
candidate  for  local  or  state  office. 


HON.    D.    WARD    NORTHROP,  Middletown  : 
Attorney-at-Law. 

David  Ward  Northrop  was  born  in  Sherman, 
Conn.,  February  19,  1844,  and  is  of  Scotch  descent. 
His  early  life  was  spent  on  a  farm,  and  he  attended 
the  district  school  in  his 
native  town.  Afterwards 
he  prepared  for  college  at 
Amenia  Seminary,  New 
York,  and  entered  Wes- 
leyan  University  in  the 
class  of  '68,  graduating 
with  honors.  For  a  year 
afterwards  he  taught  lan- 
guages in  Fort  Edward 
Institute,  New  York,  at 
the  same  time  reading 
law.  He  graduated  at 
the  Albany  Law  School 
in  1870,  and  was  that 
year  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Middlesex  county.  In 
1S73  Mr.  Northrop  was  elected  judge  of  probate 
for  the  district  of  Middletown,  and  served  in  that 
capacity  until  iSSi,  when  he  declined  to  be  again  a 
candidate.     In  1S71  he  was  elected  to  the  legisla- 


D.    W.    NORTHROP. 


ture,  and  again  in  1881  and  1882,  and  was  recog- 
nized as  a  leader  of  the  democratic  side  of  the 
house.  He  was  secretary  of  state  during  the  ad- 
ministration of  Governor  Waller  in  1883-84;  was 
elected  mayor  of  Middletown  in  1884-85;  and  was 
appointed  postmaster  of  Middletown  by  President 
Cleveland,  serving  from  1886  to  1890.  Aside  from 
his  various  public  positions,  he  has  enjoyed  a  large 
law  practice,  and  is  president  of  the  Middletown 
Electric  Light  Company,  and  of  the  Great  Barring- 
ton,  Mass. ,  Electric  Light  Company.  He  is  a  prom- 
inent member  of  the  Reform  Club  of  New  York, 
and  takes  an  active  interest  in  all  forward  move- 
ments in  politics  and  in  the  Methodist  church,  to 
which  he  belongs.  He  is  an  earnest  democrat,  but 
enjoys  an  unusual  degree  of  popularity  with  all 
classes.  He  was  married  in  1870  to  Mary  A. 
Stewart,  and  has  four  children. 


REV.  SUMNER  ABRAHAM  IVES,  Thompson: 
Pastor  Baptist  Church. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  Suffield, 
Conn.,  Oct.  21,  1839.  When  he  was  five  years  of 
age  his  father.  Dr.  Sumner  Ives,  (a  brother  of  Rev. 
Dwight  Ives,  D.D.,  pas- 
tor of  the  Suffield  Baptist 
Church,)  died,  leaving  him 
the  only  son  in  a  family 
of  five  children.  Soon 
after  this,  his  mother, 
Sarah  Humeston  Ives, 
removed  to  Holyoke, 
Mass. ,  and  this  place  con- 
tinued to  be  his  home 
until  manhood.  After 
attending  the  district 
schools  and  academy  of 
,  Holyoke,     he    became    a 

student  successively  of 
Williston  Seminary,  East  Hampton,  Mass.,  Bridge- 
water  Normal  School  and  Newton  Theological 
Seminary,  from  which  latter  he  was  graduated  in 
1875.  Eleven  years  previous  to  this  date,  on  July 
30,  1864,  he  had  received  an  unsolicited  license  to 
preach  from  the  First  Baptist  Church  of  Holyoke, 
of  which  he  had  been  a  member  for  some  years. 
This  same  church  also  ordained  him  after  gradua- 
tion. His  first  pastorate  was  at  Alfred,  Maine, 
where  he  remained  from  Sept.,  1875,  to  June,  18S4. 
On  Sept.  19,  1881,  he  was  united  in  marriage  to 
Alice  Dunbar,  daughter  and  youngest  child  of 
Rev.  A.  Dunbar  of  Alfred.  Two  sons,  now  living, 
were  born  there.  From  Alfred  he  removed  to 
Barnston,  P.  Q.,  Canada,  where  he  remained  nearly 
four  years,  and  was  instrumental  in  much  good. 
His  third  and  present  pastorate  is  at  Thompson, 
Windham  County,  Conn. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


343 


FRANCIS    WILLIAMS. 


REV.    FRANCIS    WILLIAMS,  Chaplin:  Pastor 

Congregational  Church. 

The  WiUiams  genealogy  in  this  country,  almost 
without  exception,  is  traced  through  Robert  Wil- 
liams, who  came  from  Wales  to  Roxbury,  Mass. 
The  family  held  a  high 
position  in  the  mother 
country,  and  it  is  said  no 
name  in  this  coiintry 
shows  as  many  graduates 
from  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge, England,  and  the 
colleges  in  this  country, 
as  the  name  of  Williams. 
The  ancestry  of  Oliver 
Cromwell  was  Williams, 
one  of  his  not  distant  fore- 
fathers talcing  a  change  of 
name  that  a  large  estate 
might  come   to   him,  his 

name  being  enrolled  upon  the  public  document, 
"  Cromwell,  alias  Williams."  The  grandfather  of 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  Ephraim  Williams,  Esq., 
was  one  of  the  original  settlers  in  Ashfield,  Mass. 
Both  himself  and  his  wife  were  from  families  of 
wealth  and  position.  On  their  marriage  trip  from 
eastern  Massachusetts,  two  ox  carts  were  con- 
nected by  long  timbers  (ox  wagons  not  then  being 
in  use),  the  furniture  needful  for  housekeeping  was 
placed  upon  it,  the  bed,  table,  and  chairs  arranged 
for  use,  two  large  yokes  of  oxen  were  attached  to 
the  extemporized  home,  food  taken,  and  the  happy 
bride  and  groom  set  out  on  their  long  journey. 
When  mealtime  and  bedtime  came,  the  oxen  Avere 
turned  out  to  browse,  while  they  enjoyed  the  hon- 
eymoon in  their  cosy  home.  With  sparkling  eye 
he  said  to  a  wealthy  granddaughter,  as  she  set  out 
after  her  wedding,  "  You  cannot  have  such  a  de- 
lightful wedding  trip  as  we  had."  When  ninety 
years  of  age,  he  had  on  the  list  of  his  descendants 
ten  children,  sixty-seven  grandchildren,  and  forty- 
seven  great-grandchildren,  and  all  within  six  miles 
of  him,  whether  living  or  in  their  graves.  He  gave 
all  his  sons  and  sons-in-law  a  good  farm,  and  en- 
joyed the  late  evening  of  a  Christian  life  with  the 
somewhat  pleasant  title  by  which  he  was  known, 
"  Rich  Ephraim."  Capt.  Israel  Williams,  his  son, 
was  the  father  of  the  subject  of  this  sketch.  His 
mother,  Lavinia  Joy,  was  the  daughter  of  Capt. 
Nehemiah  Joy  of  Cummington,  Mass.  He  was  a 
successful  teacher,  and  his  daughter  and  William 
CuUen  Bryant  were  pupils  under  his  instruction. 
Rev.  Francis  Williams  was  born  in  Ashfield,  Mass. , 
January  2,  18 14.  He  was  one  of  a  family  of  nine 
sons  and  two  daughters.  Neither  the  father  nor 
one  of  his  sons  ever  used  tobacco,  or  strong  drinks 
after  the  temperance  question  began  to  be  agitated. 
Before  this,  it  was  thought  necessary  in  haying  sea- 


son and  washing  sheep,  of  which  he  had  a  flock  of 
three  or  four  hundred.  At  this  time  only  were  in- 
toxicating drinks  thought  necessary  or  desirable. 
He  pi'epared  for  college  at  Sanderson  Academy  in 
Ashfield,  at  Amherst  Academy,  and  the  academy 
at  Shelburne  Falls.  He  entered  Williams  College 
in  1834,  graduating  in  the  class  of  1838,  delivering 
an  oration  at  commencement.  He  was  one  of  the 
prize  speakers  in  his  junior  year,  and  had  also  a 
junior  oration.  He  was  president  of  the  three  prin- 
cipal college  societies  of  which  he  was  a  member. 
He  immediately  after  graduation  entered  the  theo- 
logical seminary  at  East  Windsor  Hill,  Conn., 
where  he  graduated  in  August,  1841.  Diiring  his  edu- 
cational course  he  taught  in  Coxsacksie,  N.  Y.,  and 
two  terms  in  Hawley,  Mass.  During  the  wanter  of 
his  senior  year  he  was  principal  of  Sanderson 
Academy  in  his  native  towm  of  Ashfield,  and  while 
a  member  of  the  theological  seminary  was  prin- 
cipal of  the  Windsor  Academy  at  Windsor,  Conn. 
He  was  licensed  to  preach  by  the  Franklin  Associ- 
ation, was  ordained  and  installed  over  the  Congre- 
gational church  in  Eastford,  September  20,  1841, 
Dr.  Bennett  Tyler  of  the  seminary  preaching  the 
sermon  ;  Dr.  Nettleton,  also,  was  to  take  part,  but 
was  prevented  by  sickness.  Gen.  Lyon  of  East- 
ford  graduated  from  West  Point  at  about  the  same 
time,  came  to  his  old  home,  he  and  his  mother's 
new  pastor  became  warm  personal  friends  ;  he  of- 
fered the  prayer  at  the  general's  funeral.  In  1851 
Mr.  Williams  received  a  call  to  settle  in  Bloomfield, 
Conn.,  Rev.  Milton  Badger,  D.D.,  uncle  of  Mrs. 
Williams,  preaching  the  sermon.  In  1858  he  ac- 
cepted a  call  to  settle  in  Chaplin,  where  he  still  la- 
bors. Prof.  E.  A.  Lawrence  of  the  seminary 
preached  the  installation  sermon.  For  many  years 
he  has  been  a  director  of  the  Connecticut  Home 
Missionary  Society,  and  trustee  of  the  ministers' 
fund,  and  for  more  than  thirty  years  a  trustee  of  the 
Hartford  Theological  Seminary.  Since  the  death 
of  Newton  Case,  Esq.,  he  is  the  senior  trustee.  For 
more  than  forty  years  he  has  been  a  member  of 
the  school  board  and  acting  school  visitor  in  the 
towns  where  he  has  resided.  In  1876  he  was  a 
member  of  the  legislature,  and  a  member  of  the 
committee  on  temperance. 

On  the  22d  of  October,  1841,  he  married  Miss 
Mahala  R.  Badger,  daughter  of  Enoch  and  Betsey 
Nash  Badger  of  Springfield,  Mass.  She  was  sister 
of  Rev.  Norman  Badger,  a  classmate  of  Stanton, 
the  great  war  secretary,  a  professor  in  Gambia  Col- 
lege, Ohio,  pi-esident  of  Shelby  College,  Kentucky, 
and  died  while  chaplain  in  the  army.  They  have 
had  five  children,  four  sons  and  one  daughter. 
Two  sons  died  in  infancy.  Edward  F.  graduated 
at  Williams  College  in  the  class  of  186  8,  taught  for 
a  short  time,  when  failing  health  compelled  him  to 
return  to  his  home  in  Chaplin,  where  he  died  Oc- 


344 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


tober  6,  1S69,  aged  twenty-four.  Charles  H.  grad- 
uated at  Eastman's  Business  College  at  Poughkeep- 
sie,  N.  Y.,  became  a  member  of  Haight's  Engineer 
Corps,  took  a  severe  cold  while  at  Rondout  survey- 
ing the  Hudson  River  railroad,  had  severe  hemor- 
rhage of  the  throat,  and  died  at  his  home  in  Chap- 
lin, December  19,  1874,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six. 
Mary  Elizabeth,  their  only  daughter,  graduated  at 
Mt.  Holyoke  Seminary  in  the  class  of  1871,  taught 
select  school  after  graduation,  married  Rev.  Wil- 
liam H.  Phipps,  October  10,  1872.  He  has  been 
pastor  of  the  Congregational  churches  at  East 
Woodstock,  Poquonock,  and  Prospect,  Conn., 
where  he  has  been  pastor  for  about  twelve  years, 
and  where  he  still  continues  his  labors. 

Seven  sermons  of  Mr.  Williams  have  been  printed 
in  pamphlet  form,  and  several  in  part  or  in  full  in 
the  newspapers.  No  ecclesiastical  council  has  ever 
been  called  to  adjust  any  difficulty  with  the  church 
or  minister  where  he  has  labored,  and  no  vote  in 
church  or  society  was  cast  against  his  settlement  in 
either  of  the  three  fields  of  his  labors.  In  a  few 
months,  if  life  is  spared  and  ministerial  labor  is 
continued,  will  occur  the  fiftieth  anniversary  of  his 
graduation  at  the  seminary,  his  ordination,  and  his 
marriage.  His  present  pastorate  of  thirt}^- three 
years  is  exceeded  by  that  of  only  four  of  the 
Congregational  ministers  in  the  state,  and  there 
has  been  no  day  during  his  ministry  when  he  was 
not  under  his  regular  salary. 


RAYMOND   N.    PARISH,    Montville:    Lumber 
Dealer. 

Mr.  Parish  was  born  in  Montville,  March  31, 
1834.  After  completing  a  substantial  education  in 
the  common  schools  he  followed  the  business  of 
farming  until  1872,  when 
for  ten  years  he  was  en- 
gaged as  a  hardware 
merchant,  and  since  that 
time  has  been  a  manufac- 
turer and  dealer  in  do- 
mestic lumber.  With  the 
exception  of  ten  years  as 
merchant  in  Norwich,  his 
life  has  been  spent  in 
Montville,  where  he  has 
held  the  offices  of  asses- 
sor, selectman,  and  treas- 
urer. He  represented 
Montville  in  the  lower 
house  of  the  legislature  in  1866  and  in  1882,  and 
was  elected  senator  from  the  eleventh  district  in 
1889,  serving  on  the  state  prison  committee  and  as 
chairman  of  the  temperance  committee.  He  has 
also  been  honored  with  various  minor  offices  con- 
nected with  the  community  in  which  he  has  lived; 


N.    I'AKISH. 


has  been  clerk  of  the  probate  court,  president  ot 
the  Raymond  Library  since  its  organization  twelve 
years  ago,  treasurer  and  collector  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Society,  school  district  clerk,  and  the  ex- 
ecutor and  administrator  of  a  great  many  wills  and 
estates.  The  esteem  in  which  Mr.  Parish  is  held 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  all  these  offices  have  been 
gratuitously  bestowed,  as  he  has  never  solicited  a 
nomination  or  an  election  to  any  office  in  any  case. 
In  the  varied  walks  of  life  he  has  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  community  in  which  he  lives  to  a  more 
marked  degree  than  happens  to  the  lot  of  the 
average  man.  He  has  always-been  a  republican, 
but  holds  to  independent  action  in  political  matters 
when  necessary.  His  wife  was  Susan  C.  Hunting- 
ton, and  they  have  one  child. 


BYRON  TUTTLE,  Plymouth:  Judge  of  Probate. 
Bj^ron  Tuttle  is  of  Welsh  descent  and  the  eighth 
generation  from  William  Tuttle,  who  came  from 
Devonshire,  England,  in  the  ship  Platiter,  and 
landed  in  Boston  in  1635. 
He  removed  to  New 
Haven  in  1639,  and  lived 
on  and  owned  the  land 
where  the  Yale  College 
buildings  now  stand.  Mr. 
Tuttle  was  born  in  Ply- 
mouth, Conn.,  August  23, 
1825,  the  son  of  a  farmer, 
and  his  early  years  were 
spent  at  home  with  the 
best  of  life  training,  that 
of  a  New  England  farmer 
boy;  having  the  advan- 
tages of  the  common  dis- 
trict school  of  those  days.  On  the  26th  of  August, 
1847,  he  entered  the  carriage  establishment  of 
Augustus  C.  Shelton  of  Plymouth,  afterward  en- 
tering into  partnership  with  him  under  the  firm 
name  of  Shelton  &  Tuttle.  In  1S54  Mr.  Tuttle 
went  to  Chicago  and  established  a  carriage  reposi- 
tory for  the  sale  of  their  carriages  in  that  city. 
Later,  repositories  were  opened  at  New  Orleans, 
La.,  and  Burlington,  Iowa,  where  he  spent  a  por- 
tion of  his  time  for  a  number  of  years.  The  ven- 
ture proved  successful,  and  the  firm  made  money. 
In  1864  they  built  a"  repository  on  Madison  street, 
Chicago,  which  was  burned  in  the  great  fire  of 
1872,  without  much  loss  to  the  company,  when  the 
property  was  sold  and  Mr.  Tuttle  retired  from  the 
business. 

Mr.  Tuttle  was  married  to  Candace  D.,  daughter 
of  Oliver  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Plymouth,  April  10,  1853; 
they  have  two  children,  Hattie  A.  and  William  B. 
Aside  from  private  business  Mr.  Tuttle  has  occu- 
pied a  prominent  place  in  the  affairs  of  the  town, 


BYRON    TUTTLE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


345 


having  been  elected  justice  of  the  peace  in  1864  and 
selectman  in  1878,  which  offices  he  has  filled  con- 
tinuously to  the  present  time.  Also  for  a  number 
of  3'ears  he  has  been  the  agent  of  the  town,  having 
filled  this  position  with  ability  before  the  legisla- 
ture and  the  courts  in  cases  where  the  interests  of 
the  town  were  involved.  He  has  been  judge  of 
probate  for  ten  years  in  the  district  where  he  re- 
sides and  is  a  prominent  member  of  the  community 
and  among  the  leading  men  of  the  town.  In  poli- 
tics he  is  a  republican.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  society  and  has  served  with  credit 
as  society's  committee. 

Mr.  Tuttle's  characteristics  as  a  business  man 
are  energy,  promptness,  thoroughness,  and  integ- 
rity. It  is  perhaps  the  secret  of  his  general  suc- 
cess in  life,  that  in  whatever  he  engages  he  ob- 
serves the  same  rules  of  conduct  that  govern  him 
in  the  management  of  his  business  affairs. 


JULIUvS    B.    SMITH,  Whigville   (Bl'rlington)  : 

Manufacturer. 

i\Ir.  Smith  was  born  in  Whigville,  October  14, 
1843,  and  was  educated  at  the  common  schools. 
He  has  always  resided  in  his  native  town.     In  1866 

he  established  the  wood-  

turning  business,  the  firm 
name  being  Bunnell  & 
Smith.  In  1879  Mr.  Bun- 
nell sold  his  interest,  and 
since  that  time  the  firm 
name  has  been  Smith 
Brothers.  Mr.  Smith  en- 
listed in  Company  G, 
Sixth  regiment,  Connec- 
ticut volunteers,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1 86 1,  and  served 
three  years,  being  wound- 
ed in  the  charge  on  Fort 
Wagner,  July  18,  1863. 
At  the  formation  of  the  Connecticut  National  Guard 
he  was  commissioned  first  lieutenant  of  Company 
K,  First  regiment,  serving  five  years.  Mr.  Smith 
has  been  a  member  of  the  republican  party  ever 
since  he  became  a  citizen,  and  prominent  in  the  or- 
ganization in  his  own  town,  and  a  member  of  the 
town  committee.  He  is  a  constable.  He  is  also 
connected  with  the  Masonic  lodge  in  his  town,  with 
the  Grand  Army,  and  is  a  member  of  the  Grange. 
He  was  married  November  21, 1865,  to  Miss  Alvina 
E.  Curtiss  of  Bristol,  Conn.,  who  died  in  1877, 
leaving  one  son.  He  was  again  married  to  Miss 
Alice  E.  Beach,  daughter  of  B.  S.  Beach  of  Terry- 
ville,  in  1879,  ^^d  has  one  son  by  his  latest  mar- 
riage. Mr.  Smith  is  an  example  of  that  New 
England  persistence  which  induces  a  man  to  remain 
in  a  place  and  make  for  himself  an  honored  name 
and  a  fine  business  record. 


J.    B.    SMITH. 


JOHN    HYDE    PECK,  New   Britain:    Principal 

of  High  School. 

John  H.  Peck  was  born  at  Norwich,  Conn.,  Sept. 
7,  1838.  After  teaching  two  winters  in  FrankHn, 
he  entered  the  Normal  school,  where  he  was  grad- 
uated in  1856.  Two 
years  of  teaching  in  Port- 
land followed,  and,  after 
a  brief  course  at  Wilbra- 
ham  academy,  he  entered 
Yale  College,  from  which 
he  was  graduated  in  1863. 
He  then  had  the  charge  of 
a  very  prosperous  select 
school  in  Milford,  which 
position  he  resigned  in 
1865,  to  become  principal 
of  the  High  school  in  New 
Britain.  This  position  he 
still  retains.  Distin- 
guished educational  critics  speak  of  Mr.  Peck  as  one 
of  the  most  able  and  successful  instructors  in  the 
state.  At  variotis  times  he  has  served  as  secretary 
and  president  of  the  Hartford  County  Teachers'  As- 
sociation; treasurer,  secretary,  and  president  of  the 
State  Teachers'  Association;  and  president  of  the 
State  Council  of  Education.  He  held  the  office  of 
alderman  in  New  Britain  in  1877,  but  declined  a 
renomination.  He  is  a  member  and  deacon  of  the 
Soi:th  Congregational  church  of  New  Britain. 

He  married  his  present  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah  F. 
Waterman  of  Toledo,  Ohio,  in  1874,  and  thev  have 
two  sons. 

ROBERT  HEALEY,  Seymour:  Farmer. 

Mr.  Healey  was  born  in  London,  England,  Feb- 
ruary 24,  1842.  He  came  vnth  his  parents  to  the 
city  of  New  York  in  1847,  and  to  Seymour  in  this 
state  in  185 1.     The  latter  __ 

place  has  since  been  his 
home.  He  was  living  in 
the  state  of  Louisiana  at 
the  outbreak  of  the  war 
of  the  rebellion,  but 
'passed  through  the  south- 
ern lines  and  joined  the 
Twenty-second  R  e  g  i  - 
ment,  Indiana  V  o  1  u  n  - 
teers  at  Jefferson  City, 
Mo.,  on  the  15th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1861.  He  served 
under  Fremont  until  Cur- 
tiss took  command,  and 
was  in  the  three-days  battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  Ark.,  in 
March,  1862.  From  this  place  his  regiment  was 
sent  to  Corinth,  Miss.,  and  took  an  active  part  in 
the  siege.  After  the  retreat  of  Beauregard  he  was 
attached  to  Buell's  command,  and  was  in  the  battle 


ROBERT     HEALEY. 


346 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


of  Perry ville,  Ky.,  October  8,  1862,  where  he  re- 
ceived four  wounds  and  was  taken  prisoner,  but 
was  left  on  the  field,  the  rebels  retreating  the  next 
morning.  He  has  carried  a  rifle  ball  in  his  body 
since  this  battle,  which  at  times  is  somewhat 
troublesome.  After  an  absence  of  nine  months  he 
rejoined  his  regiment  and  served  until  the  close  of 
the  war,  re-enlisting  at  Knoxville,  Tenn.,  Decem- 
ber 23,  1863.  He  was  color  guard,  but  acted  as 
bearer  from  the  time  he  rejoined  his  regiment  until 
the  final  muster  out.  His  regiment  was  actively 
engaged  in  the  battle  of  Chickamauga,  Mission 
Ridge,  the  Atlanta  Campaign,  taking  an  active 
part  in  the  bloody  charge  of  Kennesaw  Mountain, 
June  27,  1864;  was  on  Sherman's  march  to  the  sea; 
also  in  the  battle  of  Averysborough  and  Benton- 
ville,  N.  C,  and  remained  in  Sherman's  command 
until  the  final  muster  out,  serving  four  years  in  all. 
Returning  to  his  home  in  Seymour,  August  6,  1S65, 
he  entered  the  employ  of  the  Douglass  Manufactur- 
ing Company.  September  13,  1866,  he  married 
Alice  J.  Bassett,  eldest  daughter  of  Amos  Bassett, 
Esq. ;  their  family  consists  of  six  sons.  Mr.  Healey 
has  served  his  town  as  selectman  many  years,  also 
as  assessor  and  a  member  of  the  town  board  of 
education.  He  is  representing  his  town  in  the 
house  of  representatives  this  year  for  a  second  time, 
having  been  a  member  of  that  bodjnn  1S89.  He  is 
a  past  post  commander  in  the  G.  A.  R.  organiza- 
tion of  Seymour. 


THEODORE  HALL  McKENZIE,  Southington: 
Civil  Engineer. 

T.  H.  McKenzie  was  born  in  Wallingford,  Conn., 
in  1S4S,  a  son  of  Wm.  McKenzie  (of  Scotch  origin, 
as  the  name  indicates),  who  was  a  well-known  con- 
tractor for  railroad  and 
other  public  works.  His 
mother, Temperance  Hall, 
was  of  Puritan  stock  and 
a  native  of  Wallingford. 
Mr.  McKenzie  was  edu- 
cated in  the  common 
schools  and  in  the  Meri- 
den  High  school,  the  Con- 
necticut Literary  Institute 
at  Suffield,  and  a  special 
course  of  one  year  at  the 
Sheffield  Scientific  School. 
For  two  years,  1S67-6S, 
he  assisted  his  father, 
who  had  charge  of  the  construction  of  the  Farm- 
ington  River  bridge  on  the  New  York,  New  Haven 
&  Hartford  railroad  at  Windsor,  the  construction 
of  the  masonry  for  the  factories  and  water  power 
of  R.  Wallace  &  Sons,  and  the  brownstone  Episco- 
pal church  at  Wallingford.     At  the  age  of  twent}'- 


McKENZIE. 


one  he  engaged  with  the  New  Haven  &  Northamp- 
ton Railroad  Company  as  rodman  on  the  extension 
of  the  road  to  New  Hartford.  At  the  end  of  six 
months  he  was  promoted  to  assistant  engineer  on 
construction  of  the  same  road.  At  the  age  of 
twenty-thi-ee  he  was  appointed  division  engineer  on 
the  third  division  of  the  Connecticut  Valley  railroad 
from  Middletown  to  Higganum,  and  remained  with 
the  company  in  that  capacity  for  two  years.  He  was 
first  assistant  engineer  on  the  location  of  the  Mas- 
sachusetts Central  railroad  from  Clinton  to  Boston, 
fifty  miles  ;  was  first  assistant  engineer  on  the  lo- 
cation and  construction  of  the  Providence  &  Spring- 
field railroad,  twenty-six  miles  ;  also  located 
branches  of  the  same  road  to  Woonsocket  and 
Chepachet,  R.  I.  ;  was  one  of  a  commission  to  ap- 
portion the  water  powers  of  the  Woonasquetucket 
river  in  Rhode  Island  ;  was  for  one  year  street 
commissioner  and  three  years  city  engineer  of  the 
city  of  Meriden,  during  which  time  he  made  the 
surveys  and  plans  for  a  sewerage  system  for  the 
city,  and  was  engineer  of  the  increased  water  sup- 
ply for  the  city  in  1876-7.  He  was  also  engaged  on 
a  very  important  water  power  damage  lawsuit  be- 
tween G.  I.  Mix  and  the  Wallingford  community. 
He  removed  to  Southington  in  1S78,  and  was  for 
nine  years  secretary  of  the  Peck,  Stow  &  Wilcox 
Manufacturing  Company,  and  devoted  about  two- 
thirds  of  his  time  to  the  business  of  that  company, 
and  the  remainder  to  engineering  work.  He  was 
chief  engineer  of  the  Southington  water  works, 
constructed  in  1883-4,  ^.nd  also  secretary  and  treas- 
urer of  the  same  company.  Made  the  surveys  and 
plans  for  the  Plainville  water  works,  and  numerous 
plans  for  smaller  pubHc  works  ;  and  was  engaged 
as  an  expert  in  several  water  power  lawsuits  and 
other  court  cases.  He  was  chief  engineer  of  the 
Naugatuck  and  Litchfield  water  works,  and  made 
surveys  and  plans  for  water  works  at  Terry  ville, 
Norfolk,  and  New  Hartford.  Made  surveys  and 
plans  for  sewerage  sj'stems  for  Litchfield,  Bristol, 
and  Southington  ;  also  in  i8go  made  surveys  and 
reports  on  the  various  proposed  plans  for  a  new 
water  supply  for  the  city  of  Meriden  ;  and  was  em- 
ployed as  consulting  engineer  on  the  South  Man- 
chester water  works.  He  was  for  several  years 
school  committee,  fire  commissioner,  secretary  of 
agricultural  society,  and  secretary  and  treasurer  of 
Electric  Light  <&  Tramway  Company.  He  was  the 
leader  in  organizing  the  Southington  board  of 
trade,  and  has  since  its  organization  been  the  secre- 
tary of  the  board.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Ameri- 
can Society  of  Civil  Engineers,  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Water  Works  Association,  first  vice-president 
and  member  of  executive  committee  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Society  of  Civil  Engineers.  For  the  last  "four 
years  has  been  a  member  of  the  State  Board  of 
Civil  Engineers.     He  is  a  member  of  The  Home 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


347 


Club  of  Meriden,  is  a  Freemason,  and  a  member  of 
the  Wallingford  Baptist  church.  Was  married  at 
the  age  of  twenty-four  to  Miss  Mary  E.  Neal, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  R.  A.  Neal  of  Southington  ; 
four  children,  two  boys  and  two  girls,  are  the  fruit 
of  the  union.  He  is  a  republican  in  politics,  and 
his  present  business  connection  is  as  secretary, 
treasurer,  and  superintendent  of  the  Southington 
Water  Company.  He  is  also  chief  engineer  Nau- 
gatuck  Storage  Reservoir,  vSouth  Manchester  Sew- 
erage, Westport  and  Saugatuck  Water  Works,  and 
for  designing  sewerage  disposal  works  for  the  city 
of  Meriden;  and  consulting  engineer  Wallingford 
Water  Works,  and  Union  City  Bridge  over  the 
Naugatiick  River. 


E.    GRIGGS. 


HON.   C.   EDWIN   GRIGGS,   Chaplin:  Preacher 

and  Teacher. 

C.  Edwin  Griggs  was  born  in  Pomfret,  Abnigton 
Society,  Conn.,  July  21,  1S27,  and  removed  to 
Chaplin  in  1S31,  where  he  still  resides.  He  re- 
ceived an  academical 
education  at  Monson, 
Mass.,  and  entered 
Amherst  College,  from 
which  he  graduated  in 
1856.  He  then  took  a 
course  in  theology  at  the 
Union  Theological  Semi- 
nary in  New  York,  from 
which  he  graduated  in 
1859,  and  was  licensed  to 
preach  by  the  Third  Pres- 
bytery of  New  York. 
On  account  of  impaired 
health  he  never  entered 
fully  into  the  work  of  the  ministry,  though  he  has 
supplied  pulpits  in  his  vicinity  for  terms  varying 
from  a  few  Sabbaths  to  more  than  a  year.  He 
has  taught  school  twenty  terms,  and  fitted  several 
young  ladies  and  gentlemen  for  college.  Mr. 
Griggs  was  state  senator  from  the  thirteenth  district 
in  1 868;  assistant  to  the  United  States  Marshal  in 
taking  the  census  in  1870;  school  visitor  from  1S62 
until  the  present  time;  a  member  of  the  house  of 
representatives  in  1SS5;  has  served  on  the  board  of 
relief,  and  many  times  as  juror  of  the  superior 
court  for  Windham  County;  has  been  a  grand 
juror  of  the  United  States  Circuit  Court;  a  registrar 
of  voters;  a  judge  of  the  probate  court  for  the  dis- 
trict of  Chaplin,  one  term;  first  selectman  two 
years;  is  now  trustee  of  the  Dime  Savings  Bank, 
Norwich;  auditor  of  the  town  of  Chaplin,  and  clerk 
of  the  court  of  probate.  He  has  always  acted  with 
the  republican  party  since  its  formation.  Mr. 
Griggs  has  been  a  member  of  the  Congi'egational 
church  in  Chaplin  more  than   fifty  years,   having 


united  with  the  church  in  1S40.  In  1S59  he  married 
Mary  Jane  Hall  of  Chaplin;  and  thej'^  have  three 
daughters,  all  of  whom  are  graduates  of  Mt. 
Holyoke  College.  Mr.  Griggs  is  a  lineal  descendant 
of  Thomas  Griggs,  who  came  from  England  with 
two  sons  and  settled  in  Roxbury,  Mass.,  about  1635, 
and  whose  grandsons  were  among  the  first  settlers 
of  what  is  now  Woodstock,  Conn. 


E.   G.   SUMNER. 


E.  G.  SUMNER,  M.D.,  Mansfield  Centre:  Phj-- 

sician. 

Edwin  G.  Sumner  was  born  in  Tolland,  in  this 
state.  May  15,  1830.  He  was  educated  in  the  com- 
mon school  until  he  was  sixteen,  at  which  time  he 
went  to  the  Ellington 
Academy  and  afterwards 
to  the  academj'  at  Wil- 
braham,  IVIassachusetts. 
After  having  served  as 
clerk  in  the  city  of  Hart- 
ford for  a  little  more  than 
one  year,  he  commenced 
the  study  of  medicine  in 
the  same  place,  and  con- 
tinued his  studies  at  the 
New  York  Universit5% 
and  at  the  end  of  three 
years  graduated  in  the 
medical  department  at 
Yale  College,  and  commenced  practice  in  Mansfield. 
He  afterwards  practiced  three  years  in  the  old  town 
of  Farmington.  In  i860  he  went  to  St.  Louis,  Mo., 
and  was  there  at  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  after 
which  he  returned  to  Mansfield,  in  time  to  be 
drafted.  He  received  a  commission  from  Governor 
Buckingham  as  assistant  surgeon  in  the  21st  Con- 
necticut regiment,  but  owing  to  sickness  was  not 
able  to  go  into  the  field  at  that  time.  He  after- 
wards moved  to  Ohio,  where  he  was  engaged  in 
business  at  Dayton  for  some  ten  years,  returning  in 
1 87 1  to  Mansfield,  which  place  has  since  been  his 
permanent  residence.  In  1875  he  was  elected  by  the 
republicans  to  represent  Mansfield  in  the  state 
legislature,  to  which  he  was  returned  in  1SS3,  at 
the  latter  date  receiving  the  appointment  of  county 
commissioner  in  Tolland  county  for  the  term  of 
three  years. 

Dr.  Sumner  is  a  member  and  deacon  of  the  Bap- 
tist church  at  Willimantic.  He  is  also  president 
of  the  Mansfield  school  board,  and  a  member  of  the 
Masonic  fraternity.  He  married  Miss  Ellen  M. 
Hinckley  of  Mansfield,  and  they  have  two  daugh- 
ters—  one  married  and  living  in  Dayton,  Ohio,  and 
the  other  in  Oberlin  College  in  the  same  state. 
His  business  connections  are  with  a  wholesale 
notion  house  in  Dayton,  as  special  partner,  with  the 
Dime  Savings  Bank  and  Natchaug  Silk  Company 


348 

of  Willim antic,  the  National  Thread  Company  of 
Mansfield,  and  the  Underwood  Belting  Company  of 
Tolland ;  in  all  which  corporations  he  is  a  director. 
He  is  still  engaged  to  some  extent  in  the  practice  of 
his  profession.  He  has  always  manifested  a  Hvely 
interest  in  church  affairs  and  the  Sunday-school 
work,  and  has  sustained  active  official  connection 
with  both  church  and  Sunday-school  for  a  great 
number  of  years. 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


J.    p.    KINGSLEY. 


JOHN  P.  KINGSLEY,  Plainfield:   Merchant. 

John  P.  Kingsley  was  born  in  1S23,  in  Canter- 
bury, Conn.,  the  son  of  Captain  John  Kingsley, 
and  grandson  of  Captain  Hezekiah  Kingsley, 
w^ho  did  service  in  the  war 
of  the  revolution.  His 
mother,  Mary,  was 
daughter  of  Joseph  Ray- 
mond. His  educational 
opportunities  were  such 
as  were  offered  a  t 
the  common  schools,  sup- 
plemented by  a  course  of 
instruction  at  the  Manual 
Labor  High  school  in 
Worcester,  Mass.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-one  he 
bought  a  farm  in  Nor- 
wich Town,  two  miles 
from  the  city,  and  was  engaged  in  farming  about 
twelve  years.  For  the  next  twelve  years  was  in 
the  real  estate  business  in  Norwich.  In  i86q  he 
returned  to  his  native  town,  Canterbury,  and  en- 
tered the  mercantile  business,  and  in  1S71  opened  a 
branch  store  at  Plainfield  Junction.  In  1S74  the 
firm  of  J.  P.  Kingsley  &  Sons  was  established, 
and  their  store  has  become  one  of  the  largest  in 
Windham  county.  In  1S44  he  was  married  to 
Clarissa  Mathewson  of  Woodstock,  who  died  in 
1S49,  leaving  one  son,  Milton  Kingsley.  He  was 
married  again,  to  Elizabeth  Scholfield,  daughter  of 
John  Scholfield,  whose  grandfather,  John  Scholfield, 
manufactured  the  first  yard  of  woolen  cloth  that 
was  made  by  machinerj'  in  this  country,  and  also 
manufactured  and  presented  to  President  Madison 
the  broadcloth  from  which  his  inaugural  suit  was 
made.  He  not  only  manufactured  the  cloth,  but 
also  the  machinery  with  which  the  cloth  was  made. 
Mr.  Kingsley  by  his  last  wife  had  one  son  and  four 
daughters:  Walter,  Mary,  Emma,  Carrie,  and  Liz- 
zie. Mary  died  at  the  age  of  eight  years.  His  son 
Milton  was  married  to  Hattie  Ames,  daughter  of 
Deacon  William  Ames  of  Plainfield.  His  son  Wal- 
ter married  Belle  Clark,  daughter  of  Deacon 
Thomas  Clark  of  Canterbury.  His  daughter 
Emma  married  William  E.  Tunison  of  New  York, 
son  of  the  Rev.  William  Tunison  of  Orange,  N.  J. 


His  daughter  Carrie  married  Alex.  M.  Purdy, 
M.D.,  son  of  the  Rev.  Alvah  Purdy  of  Canterbury. 
In  Canterbury  Mr.  Kingsley  was  judge  of  probate 
and  town  treasurer  for  several  years;  also  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature  two  years,  and  postmaster 
for  sixteen  years.  At  fifteen  years  of  age  he  united 
with  the  Baptist  church  in  Worcester,  Mass. ,  and 
afterwards  at  Packersville  (Plainfield),  where  he  is 
now  a  member. 

The  immediate  descendants  of  Captain  Hezekiah 
Kingsley,  who  remained  in  Canterbury,  in  the 
vicinity  of  the  ancestral  estate,  for  many  years, 
were  among  the  best  esteemed  people  of  the  town, 
distinguished  for  their  inflexible  integrity,  and 
their  consistent  moral  and  religious  life.  The  sub- 
ject of  this  sketch  is  now  the  sole  male  survivor  of 
his  generation  in  Windham  county,  and  he  wor- 
thily perpetuates  the  good  name  which  he  received 
as  an  inheritance  and  will  transmit  to  future  gen- 
erations. 


EDWARD  F.  PARSONS,  Thompsonville  :   Phy- 
sician and  Surgeon. 

Dr.  Edward  Field  Parsons  was  a  member  of  the 
house  of  representatives  from  the  town  of  En- 
field, in  1SS7,  and  was  appointed  on  the  committee 
on  insurance.  He  was 
born  in  Enfield,  Nov.  21, 
1833,  and  received  a  clas- 
sical school  education, 
completing  his  studies  at 
Williams  College.  Sub- 
sequently he  graduated 
from  the  College  of  Phys- 
icians and  Surgeons,  New 
York  city.  His  life  has 
been  devoted  to  his  pro- 
fession, and  he  is  one  of 
the  best  known  practi- 
tioners in  his  section  of 
the  state.  He  is  post  sur- 
geon at  Enfield,  medical  examiner,  member  of  the 
board  of  school  visitors  and  of  the  district  commit- 
tee, and  is  connected  with  the  First  Presbyterian 
church  in  that  town.  In  pohtics  Dr.  Parsons  is  a 
republican.  He  is  associated  with  the  Good  Tem- 
plar, Knights  of  Honor,  and  Temple  of  Honor 
organizations,  and  is  an  active  public  leader.  He 
has  resided  in  Farmington,  Williamstown,  Mass., 
and  New  York  city.  The  most  of  his  professional 
hfe,  however,  has  been  spent  at  Enfield.  Dr.  Par- 
sons has  been  married  three  times.  His  first  wife, 
Mary  H.  Bowman,  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  died  Feb. 
15,  1875,  and  the  second,  Ellen  M.  Bates  of  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  died  Aug.  13,  1879.  The  third,  Mar- 
garet J.  Harrison  of  New  York  city,  is  living. 
There  are  no  children  in  the  family. 


E.    F.    PARSONS. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


349 


BARTKAM. 


ISAAC  NEWTON  BARTRAM,  Sharon:  Archi- 
tect and  Builder. 

Isaac   N.   Bartram   is   of   Scotch   descent.      His 
father,  Isaac  Bartram,  was  a  son  of  Isaac  Hamilton 
Bartram,  who,  wnth  three  brothers,  served  through 
the     revolutionary     w  a  r 
from    the   town   of   Red- 
ding.      His   mother   was 
Lydia  Piatt,  daughter  of 
Isaac  Piatt,  who  was  an 
artificer  from  that  town 
during    the   same   trying 
period    in    the    country's 
history.       Isaac   N.    Bar- 
tram, the  subject  of   this 
biography,   was    born   in 
Redding,  March  25,  1838, 
where,  and  in  the  town  of 
Sharon,  his  whole  life  has 
been  spent,  and  of  which 
latter  town  he  has  been  since  1864  a  prominent  and 
influential   citizen.     He  received  a  common  school 
and  academic  education,  tlje  latter  having  been  ac- 
quired at  Redding  Ridge  Academy.     His  marriage 
was  with  Miss  Helen  D.  Winans,  which  union  has 
been  blessed  by  two   daughters.      Mr.   Bartram's 
business  connections  have  been  as  an  iron  founder, 
architect,   builder,   and    contractor.       He  is    now 
superintendent    of   the   Sharon    Water   Company. 
His  religious   affiliations   are  with   the  Methodist 
Episcopal  church,  and  in  pohtics  he  is  an   ardent 
democrat.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Masonic  frater- 
nity,   the  "Old    Put   Club"  association,    and   the 
Connecticut  Sons  of  the  Revolution,  and  was  elect- 
ed  last   May   one   of  its   directors.     He   has  held 
numerous  public   offices,  having   served  his  town 
as  selectman,  treasurer,  and  in  several  minor  capac- 
ities.     His  legislative  record  is  one  of  long,   im- 
portant, and  almost  continuous   service   for   more 
than  a  score  of  years.     He  represented  Sharon  in 
the  general  assembly  in  1868,  1872,  1876,  1886,  1887, 
and  1S90,  and  is  again  serving  as  a  member  of  the 
house  the  present  year.     He  represented  the  nine- 
teenth district  in  the  state  senate  in  1889,  when  he 
was   chairman   of   the   committee    on    roads    and 
bridges,  and  took  an  active  part  in  making  the  old 
Hartford  bridge  a  free   avenue  of   public  travel. 
He  presented  the  bill  for  making  all  bridges  de- 
pendent upon  the    counties  in   which   located   for 
their  support  and  maintenance.     The  towns  on  the 
Housatonic  River  are  indebted  to  him  for  the  bill 
making  their  bridges  free,  under  support  by  their 
respective  counties.     He  is  a  strong  believer  in  and 
advocate  of  the  farmers'  rights,  and  was  the  only 
democratic  senator  in  the  session  of  1889  that  voted 
to  pass  the  farmers'  bill  over  the  governor's  veto. 
In  the  house  he  served  on  various  committees,  in- 
cluding the  state  prison  committee  of  1876,  origi- 


nating the  plan  of  extensive  improvements  on  the 
state  prison  buildings,  which  was  subsequently 
carried  into  effect.  He  also  originated  and  intro- 
duced the  resolution  respecting  the  Putnam  en- 
campment that  secured  to  the  state  the  gift  of  land 
and  erection  of  the  monument  near  his  old  home  in 
the  town  of  Redding.  Mr.  Bartram  was  appointed 
by  Governor  Lounsbury  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  take  charge  of  the  encampment  and  erect  the 
monument.  He  carried  out  the  plans  with  great 
satisfaction,  and  was  again  appointed  by  Governor 
Bulkeley  as  chairman  of  the  commission ;  was  sub- 
sequently elected  superintendent  of  the  encamp- 
ment, taking  an  active  charge  of  the  same,  and 
devoting  much  time  and  careful  attention  to  improv- 
ing and  beautifying  the  grounds  and  approaches. 
Mr.  Bartram's  distinguished  service  at  the  state 
capitol  has  given  his  name  prominence  at  all  cau- 
cuses and  nominating  conventions  of  his  party ;  and 
at  the  senatorial  convention  in  Falls  Village  last 
October,  he  was  unanimously  nominated  for  sen- 
ator from  the  nineteenth  district,  which  honor, 
however,  he  thought  best  to  firmly  but  respectfully 
decline,  although  realizing  that  his  election  would 
follow  his  acceptance  beyond  the  shadow  of  a 
doubt.  But  his  townsmen  felt  that  his  services 
were  needed  in  the  legislature  the  present  year, 
and  insisted  on  his  representing  them  in  the  house, 
which  he  consented  to  do.  Mr.  Bartram  is  a  man 
of  positive  opinions,  frank  and  outspoken  some- 
times almost  to  the  point  of  abruptness;  but  he  in- 
tends always  to  be  right,  and  very  properly  holds 
that  firmness  is  an  important  factor  in  the  effective 
advocacy  of  a  righteous  cause. 


CHARLES  McNEIL,  Torrington:    Druggist. 

Mr.  McNeil  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Feb.  25, 
1829,  and  received  a  common  school  education.  In 
1850  he  removed  from  Watertown,  where  he  had 
spent  a  number  of  years, 
to  Torrington,  and  es- 
tablished the  drug  bus- 
iness, which  he  has 
since  managed.  Mr.  Mc- 
Neil is  the  oldest  drug- 
gist in  the  Naugatuck 
Valley,  and  is  at  the  head 
of  one  of  the  largest  drug 
houses  in  Litchfield  coun- 
ty. He  is  a  lifelong  demo- 
crat and  has  taken  some 
part  in  politics.  In 
1873  he  was  elected  to  the 
legislature  from  Torring- 
ton, and  was  returned  in  1874.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  the  house  centennial  year,  his  colleagues 
from   Litchfield  county  in  1876  including  Henry  B. 


CHARLES     McNEIL. 


350 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


Graves  of  Litchfield,  Nicholas  Staub  of  New  Mil- 
ford,  John  Cotton  Smith  and  Isaac  N.  Bartram  of 
Sharon,  and  Henry  Gay  of  Winchester.  He  was 
appointed  postmaster  under  President  Cleveland, 
being  the  first  of  the  democratic  appointments  in 
this  state.  Prior  to  President  Cleveland's  adminis- 
tration, he  had  been  in  charge  of  the  office  for 
twenty-five  years.  He  was  also  in  charge  of  the 
Western  LJ^nion  telegraph  office  from  the  time  of  its 
establishment  in  Torrington  until  he  became  post- 
master. He  was  one  of  the  incorporators  of  the  Tor- 
rington Savings  Bank, and  secured  the  passage  of  the 
act  incorporating  the  Torrington  Water  Company. 
He  was  also  one  of  the  original  promoters  of  the  Tor- 
rington Electric  Light  Company,  and  has  been  ac- 
tively associated  with  the  business  interests  of  the 
town.  Mr.  McNeil  has  visited  Europe  twice,  the 
last  trip  occurring  two  years  ago.  He  is  an  Episco- 
palian, and  belongs  to  Seneca  Lodge,  No.  55, 
F.  and  A.  M. ,  of  that  place.  His  wife  was  Emeline 
Loveland  prior  to  her  marriage.  The  two  sons 
are  associated  with  him  in  business. 


MAJ.    NATHAN   R.    GARDNER,    Baltic:  Cot- 
ton Mill  Agent. 

Nathan  R.  Gardner  was  born  in  South  Kingston, 
R.  I.,  April  15,  1839.  He  was  educated  at  the 
Kingston  Classical  Seminary.  For  six  years  he 
was  paymaster  of  the 
extensive  woolen  mills 
owned  by  the  late  General 
Isaac  P.  Rodman,  a  lead- 
ing manufacturer  of  that 
town.  He  enlisted  early 
in  the  war  of  the  rebel- 
lion. President  Lincoln 
appointed  him  captain 
and  commissary  of  sub- 
sistence. At  the  close  of 
the  war  President  John- 
son brevetted  him  major 
"  for  faithful  and  efficient 
services  in  the  subsist- 
ence department  of  the  \J.  S.  army."  Directly 
upon  his  return  from  the  army,  in  August,  1S65,  he 
took  the  position  of  paymaster  of  the  Baltic  cotton 
mill,  one  of  the  largest  plants  belonging  to  the 
Spragues  of  Rhode  Island.  In  18S0  he  was  ap- 
pointed by  the  trustee,  agent  of  the  Baltic  mill  es- 
tate, which  position  he  now  holds.  For  twelve 
years  he  held  the  office  of  treasurer  of  the  town  of 
Sprague,  and  has  been  elected  to  other  minor 
offices.  Has  been  secretary  and  treasurer  of  the 
Sprague  Butter  and  Cheese  Company  since  its 
formation.  In  politics  he  is  a  republican,  and  has 
held  the  office  of  chairman  of  the  republican  town 
committee   for   twentv-five  vears.      He   became  a 


N.    R.    (l.ARDNER. 


Freemason  twenty  years  ago.  His  wife,  a  lady  of 
many  accomplishments,  is  the  daughter  of  Geoffrey 
Watson,  one  of  Sprague's  most  esteemed  citizens. 
His  only  child,  a  daughter,  who  is  highly  cultured, 
completed  her  education  at  the  New  England  Con- 
servatory of  Music.  Major  Gardner  has  held  re- 
sponsible and  important  positions  of  trust,  etc.,  all 
his  life,  and  besides  the  integrity  of  his  character, 
he  is  a  man  of  most  kindly  disposition,  of  generous 
impulses,  a  true  and  manly  friend,  broad  in  his 
sj-mpathies,  and  fair  in  his  judgment. 


R.    W.    BLAKE. 


RUFUS  WARREN  BLAKE,  Derby:  Piano  and 
Organ  Manufacturer. 

Mr.  Blake  was  born  in  Norfolk,  Mass.,  May  3, 
1841,  the  son  of  a  farmer  of  moderate  means.  The 
activity  and  energy  that  have  characterized  his  life 
were  potent  in  him  as  a 
boy,  and  the  dull  routine 
of  farm  work  didn't  suit 
him.  He  earned  his  first 
money  as  bobbin  boj'  in  a 
cotton  factory,  in  which 
position  he  remained  until 
he  was  15  years  old,  at- 
tending school  during  the 
winters.  He  then  learned 
the  painter's  trade,  after- 
wards (in  1 861)  taking  up 
the  cabinet-maker's  trade. 
And  here  really  be- 
gan his  connection 
with  the  music  business.  In  1863  Taylor  & 
Farley  of  Worcester  were  manufacturing  melo- 
deons,  in  a  small  way,  and  Mr.  Blake  engaged 
with  them.  Here  he  had  excellent  opportunity  to 
learn  the  reed  business  in  a  thorough  manner,  for 
as  the  firm  employed  only  three  men,  each  one 
became  familiar  with  all  points.  He  continued  here 
until  about  1867,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Mr.  J.  W.  Loring,  under  the  firm  name  of  Loring& 
Blake  (afterwards  Loring  &  Blake  Organ  Company), 
and  commenced  the  manufacture  of  organs.  The 
business  was  prosperous,  but  in  1873  Mr.  Blake 
took  advantage  of  the  opportunity  he  saw  of  pur- 
chasing an  interest  in  the  Sterling  Company,  of 
Derby,  Conn. ,  with  which  he  has  been  actively  iden- 
tified ever  since,  and  of  which  he  is  now  president. 
Mr.  Blake  possesses  great  mechanical  ingenuity, 
and  much  of  the  success  of  the  Sterling  Company  is 
due  to  the  fact  that  he  is  able  to  do  his  own  design- 
ing. In  this  line  he  has  few  equals.  His  styles 
always  seem  to  meet  the  popular  taste,  but  he  is 
ready  to  receive  suggestions  from  the  trade  and 
make  the  required  changes.  As  a  financier  he  has 
had  many  opportunities  to  test  his  abilities,  and 
alwavs  successfully.     A  few  months  after  he  entered 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


351 


the  business  came  the  demoralizing  Black  Friday; 
then,  in  1875,  the  fire  that  swept  away  the  entire 
plant.  In  18S7  came  the  McEwen  failure  that  in- 
volved the  Sterling  Company  to  the  extent  of 
$75,000;  but  through  Mr.  Blake's  skillful  financier- 
ing the  company  pulled  through  without  any  great 
loss.  So  it  will  be  seen  that  in  the  past  seventeen 
years  there  have  been  many  stormy  times  in  the 
financial  life  of  the  Sterling  Company,  but  Mr. 
Blake  has  been  at  the  helm,  and  the  ship  is  now 
sailing  in  calm  water.  At  the  last  annual  election, 
August,  1 8 go,  the  capital  stock  was  increased  to 
$210,000. 

Mr.  Blake  is  an  active  business  man,  whose  only 
recreation  seems  to  be  a  spin  behind  his  spirited 
horses,  a  handsome  pair  of  Hambletonians  which 
don't  take  anybody's  dust.  He  has  held  several 
public  positions  of  trust  and  honor,  and  discharged 
the  duties  to  the  satisfaction  of  all.  He  is  one  of 
the  burgesses  of  the  borough  of  Birmingham,  is  a 
member  of  the  Baptist  church,  and  in  politics  is  a 
republican.  He  is  still  in  the  very  prime  of  life, 
and  full  of  the  enthusiasm  that  is  part  of  every  suc- 
cessful man's  make-up. 


GEORGE    E.    TAFT,    Unionville:    Attorney-at- 

Law. 

George  E.  Taft  was  born  in  Sheffield,  Mass., 
November  4,  1855,  and  was  educated  at  the  Con- 
necticut Literary  Institute.  His  parents  died  be- 
fore he  was  seven  years 
of  age,  necessitating  his 
removal  to  the  town  of 
Harwinton,  where  he  re- 
ceived the  care  of  an 
uncle,  the  late  L.  U.  Olm- 
sted of  that  place.  He 
studied  at  the  Torring- 
ton  High  school,  and 
after  completing  his 
course  at  the  institute,  he 
entered  the  law  office  of 
Judge  G.  H.  Welch  in 
Torrington.  From  1878 
until  1883  Mr.    Taft  was 

engaged  in  teaching  in  the  towns  of  Litchfield,  New 
Hartford,  Simsbury,  and  Canaan.  He  completed 
his  legal  studies  in  the  office  of  Judge  A.  T.  Rora- 
back  in  Canaan  and  was  admitted  to  the  Litchfield 
county  bar.  He  immediately  removed  to  LTnion- 
ville,  where  he  has  since  resided.  In  1878  he  mar- 
ried Miss  Julia  M.  Barber  of  Harwinton,  who  died 
April  27,  1 89 1,  and  three  children  survive  her.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  board  of  selectmen  in 
Farmington  and  is  now  a  justice  of  the  peace  and 
one  of  the  prosecuting  agents  for  Hartford  county. 
In  1887  and  1888  he  was  a  member  of  the  republi- 


can state  central  committee  from  the  f<mrth  dis- 
trict. He  is  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church  at  Unionville,  and  is  a  member  of  the  in- 
surance firm  of  Hitchcock  &  Taft. 


G.    E.    TAFT. 


J.    W.    WINCH. 


J.  W.  WINCH,  Mashapaug  (Union):  Merchant. 

John   Wesley   Winch   represented   the   town   of 
Union  in  the  general  assembly  of  1886,  serving  as 
a  republican.     He  was  a  member  of  Company  F, 
Fourth   Ma ssachusetts 
Cavalry,  during  the  war, 
and  was  forage  master  of 
the  Cavalry  Brigade,  Ar- 
my  of   the   James.      For 
the  past  six  years  he  has 
been    the   commander  of 

D.  P.CorbinPost,G.A.R., 
at  Union,  and  belongs  to 
Wolcott  Lodge,  No.  65, 
F.  andA.  M.,  of  Stafford. 
He  founded  the  Union 
Post  and  is  greatly  inter- 
ested in  Grand  Army  af- 
fairs. Mr.  Winch  is  con- 
nected with  the  Methodist  church.  He  was  born 
at  Fall  River,  Mass.,  March  31,  1S38,  and  received 
a  common  and  high  school  education.  Since  1S75, 
he  has  resided  in  Connecticut,  and  is  engaged  in 
the  business  of  a  merchant  and  farmer.  The  wife 
of  ex-representative  Winch,  who  is  living,  was 
Helen  M.  Moore.  There  are  two  children  in  the 
family.  Mr.  Winch  has  held  every  office  within 
the  gift  of  his  townsmen  and  is  at  present  constable, 
notary  public,  and  commissioner  of  the  superior 
court. 

E.  C.  STEVENS,  Norfolk:  Hotel  Proprietor. 
Edward  C.  Stevens,  who  is  one  of  the  best  known 

hotel  managers  in  Litchfield  county,  was  born  in 
East  Sheffield,  Mass.,  August  29,  1837,  and  received 
a  common  school  educa- 
tion. He  remained  at 
home  on  the  farm  until 
he  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  when  he  removed  to 
Winsted  and  engaged  in 
the  hotel  business  with 
his  brother,  remaining 
there  for  nine  years.  In 
connection  with  the  hotel 
and  livery  establisment, 
he  managed  the  stage  line 
between  Canaan  and 
Hartford.  After  spend- 
ing a  couple  of  j-ears  in 

Michigan  he  returned  East  and  spent  two  years  in 
a  hotel  at  Fulton,  N.  Y.  Afterwards  he  engaged 
in  the  hotel  business  at  Waterbury  and  at  Morris 


C.    STEVENS. 


352 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Cove.  He  then  returned  to  Winsted,  remaining 
there  until  nine  years  ago,  when  he  assumed  the 
management  of  a  summer  hotel  at  Norfolk.  Dur- 
ing the  summer  of  i8go,  in  company  with  his  son, 
Harry  Stevens,  he  visited  the  Pacific  Coast,  spend- 
ing a  'portion  of  the  time  in  Washington.  Thence 
he  proceeded  to  San  Diego,  where  he  remained  un- 
til the  time  for  returning  East.  The  wife  of  Mr. 
Stevens,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Sarah  L. 
Deming  of  Winsted.  There  are  two  children,  a 
son  and  a  daughter,  in  the  family.  In  politics  Mr. 
Stevens  is  a  democrat.  He  belongs  to  the  Masonic 
order  and  the  Knights  of  Pythias,  and  is  a  gentle- 
man of  most  enjoyable  personality. 


WILLIAM  SHERIDAN  TODD,  M.A.,  M.D., 
Ridgefield:  Physician  and  Surgeon. 
Doctor  Wm.  S.  Todd,  one  of  the  best  known  and 
most  successful  physicians  in  the  town  of  Ridge- 
field, was  born  in  Coleraine,  Mass.,  January  i, 
1840.  He  was  the  son  of 
a  Methodist  minister,  and 
his  education  was  picked 
up  in  the  various  towns 
where  the  itinerant  sys- 
tem placed  his  parents. 
He  finished  his  prepara- 
tory course  at  Deerfield 
academy,  entered  Wes- 
leyan  LTniversity  at  Mid- 
dletown  in  i860,  gi-aduat- 
ing  therefrom  in  1S64,  his 
course  having  been  dis- 
turbed by  the  excitements 
of  the  war.  In  1864-65 
he  was  principal  of  Hills  academy  in  Essex,  and 
commenced  the  study  of  medicine  with  Dr.  Chas. 
H.  Hubbard  of  that  place.  In  1866,  1867,  and 
1868,  he  was  a  teacher  in  W.  O.  Seymour's  school 
in  Ridgefield,  still  pursuing  his  medical  studies.  In 
1869  he  graduated  from  the  College  of  Physicians 
and  Surgeons  in  New  York  city,  since  which  time 
he  has  been  practicing  his  profession  in  Ridgefield. 
May  6,  1873,  he  was  married  to  Miss  Mary  Jane 
Conklin,  daughter  of  Deacon  Gamaliel  Conklin  of 
Essex,  who  is  the  mother  of  his  two  boys.  Doctor 
Todd  has  held  no  political  office,  except  that  of 
representative  in  the  state  legislature,  to  which  he 
was  elected  in  1888,  when  he  served  as  chairman  of 
the  committee  on  humane  institutions.  He  has, 
however,  officiated  for  several  successive  years  as 
school  committee,  has  been  president  and  treasurer 
of  the  "  Ridgefield  Press  Printing  Company,"  and 
a  frequent  contributor  to  the  editorial  columns  of 
the  local  paper.  He  is  now  a  member  of  the  school 
board,  and  deeply  interested  in  all  efforts  for  the 
improvement  of    the    public    school    system    and 


S.    TODD,    M.D. 


management.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Twilight 
Club  of  New  York,  Pilgrim  Lodge,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
Jerusalem  Lodge,  F.  and  A.  M.,  and  its  secretary 
for  several  j^ears;  member  of  the  Fairfield  County 
Medical  Society,  Danbury  Medical  Society,  and  the 
American  Academy  of  Medicine.  In  religious 
belief  and  church  membership  he  is  a  Congrega- 
tionalist,  and  in  politics  a  republican. 


F.    TILLINGHAST. 


GEORGE     F.     TILLINGHAST,     Canterbury: 
Farmer. 

Geo.  F.  Tillinghast  comes  of  Revolutionary  stock. 
He  was  born  in  Griswold,  this  state,  December  31, 
1838,  the  son  of  a  farmer  of  moderate  means.  He 
was  the  fourth  child  in  a 
family  of  seven.  His 
father  died  when  he  was 
but  five  years  of  age,  and 
for  several  years  there- 
after he  was  "  a  boy  of 
most  all  work."  He  re- 
ceived a  common  school 
education,  remaining  on 
his  mother's  farm  until  he 
was  seventeen  years  of 
age,  when  he  became  an 
operative  in  a  woolen  mill. 
He  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  stirring  events  of  1861; 
and,  neglecting  bright  business  prospects,  was  one 
of  the  first  men  to  enlist  from  his  native  town  at 
the  earliest  call  of  his  country  for  volunteers.  He 
was  a  member  of  Company  B,  under  Captain  Ches- 
ter, Second  Regiment,  Connecticut  Volunteers,  un- 
der command  of  Colonel  A.  H.  Terry.  He  partici- 
pated with  his  regiment  in  the  first  battle  of  Bull 
Run,  the  Connecticut  brigade  being  one  of  the  last 
to  leave  the  field  of  battle,  partially  covering  the 
retreat  and  saving  millions  of  dollars'  worth  of 
public  property  for  the  government.  After  being 
discharged  from  the  three  months'  service  he  re-en- 
listed for  three  years  in  the  Eleventh  Connecticut 
Regiment,  familiarly  known  as  the  "fighting 
Eleventh."  He  served  as  a  non-commissioned 
officer  in  Company  D,  following  the  fortunes  of  this 
regiment  up  to  the  siege  of  Petersburgh.  He  was 
honorably  discharged  on  the  26th  day  of  Novem- 
ber, 1864,  by  reason  of  expiration  of  term  of  ser- 
vice. In  the  fall  of  1865  he  started  on  a  journey 
southward,  as  a  traveling  agent,  and  traveled 
through  many  of  the  southern  and  western  states. 
In  1867  he  spent  his  time  in  Nebraska  and  took  an 
active  part  in  the  capital  contest  which  resulted  in 
wresting  the  seat  of  government  from  Omaha  and 
making  Lincoln  the  capital  of  the  state.  It  is 
generally  conceded  that  he  contributed  his  full 
share  in  various  ways  to  accomplish  that  result. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


353 


He  has  held  real  estate  in  Lincoln  ever  since  the 
city  was  founded,  which  is  now  very  valuable.  In 
the  summer  of  1868  he  returned  East  in  quite  poor 
health.  Was  for  several  years  engaged  with  his 
brother,  Gideon  G.  Tillinghast,  Esq.,  in  the  book 
trade.  Since  the  year  1876  he  has  followed  the 
occupation  of  a  farmer;  has  lived  in  Canterbury 
the  last  ten  years.  Mr.  Tillinghast  married  Miss 
Rosa  Wilcox  of  Griswold,  by  whom  he  has  two 
sons  and  one  daughter.  He  has  held  public  posi- 
tions of  trust  and  discharged  the  duties  to  the 
satisfaction  of  all.  He  believes  in  and  tries  to 
follow  the  golden  rule.  He  is  an  attendant  and 
supporter  of  the  Baptist  church  at  Packersville, 
of  which  his  wife  is  a  member.  He  acted  with 
the  republican  party  until  18S8,  when  he  became 
an  ardent  prohibitionist.  He  regards  the  open 
saloon  as  the  greatest  curse  to  the  laboring  man. 
and  the  sum  of  all  villainies.  He  is  a  member  of 
Sedgwick  Post,  G.  A.  R.,  and  also  of  Canterbury 
Grange,  No.  70.  He  enjoys  a  reputation  for  sound 
practical  sense  and  good  judgment. 


F.  P.  BISSELL,  TuRNERviLLE  (Hebron):  Farmer. 
Frederick  Phelps  Bissell  was  born  in  Hebron, 
April  23,  1822,  and  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. He  has  pursued  the  business  of  farming, 
insurance,  and  teaching, 
devoting  his  attention  to 
the  latter  during  his  early 
years.  He  was  formerly 
connected  with  the  state 
militia,  holding  a  Heuten- 
ant's  commission  in  an 
independent  company. 
He  was  one  of  the  origi- 
nal members  of  the  Know 
Nothing  party,  and  was 
actively  connected  with  it 
as  an  organization.  In 
1862  he  represented  the 
town  of  Hebron  in  the 
house,  serving  on  the  republican  side.  In  1871  he 
was  elected  to  the  senate  from  the  old  twenty-first 
district.  He  was  also  judge  of  probate  in  the 
Hebron  district  for  a  number  of  years.  Judge 
Bissell  is  a  prominent  member  of  St.  Peter's  Epis- 
copal church  in  Hebron,  and  has  been  connected 
with  it  in  an  official  capacity  since  1844.  He  was  a 
vestryman  until  1854,  and  has  been  one  of  the 
wardens  since  the  latter  year.  He  has  also  been 
the  treasurer  of  the  church  for  twenty-nine  years. 
His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Almira  J. 
Carver,  daughter  of  Joseph  Carver,  Esq.,  of 
Hebron.  There  is  one  son  living.  Mr.  Bissell  has 
been  a  public-spirited  citizen  through  the  whole  of 
his  life,  and  has  been  honored  practically  with 
23 


F.    P.    BISSELL. 


every  office  within  the  gift  of  his  town.  In  all  of 
the  public  positions  which  he  has  held  his  career 
has  been  characterized  by  the  strictest  loyalty  to 
his  constituents  and  the  state. 


SAMUEL    FITCH. 


SAMUEL  FITCH,    Rockville:  Manufacturer  of 
Stockinets  and  Plushes. 

The  progenitors  of  Mr.  Fitch  were  of  French  de- 
scent. His  father,  Samuel  Fitch,  was  born  in  Bol- 
ton, Tolland  county,  and  removed  to  Albion,  N.  Y., 
where  his  death  occurred. 
He  married  Nancy  Atwell 
of  Montville,  Conn.,  and 
had  one  child.  Samuel, 
the  subject  of  this  biogra- 
phy, was  born  December 
2,  1821,  in  Enfield,  Hart- 
ford county,  where  the 
greater  portion  of  his 
youth  was  spent.  After 
several  terms  at  the  com- 
mon school,  he  pursued 
his  studies  at  North  Wil- 
braham,  Mass.,  and  until 
his  twenty-second  year 
continued  the  healthful  employment  of  a  farmer. 
He  then  engaged  in  the  sale  of  merchandise  in 
New  England,  frequently  extending  his  trips  to  the 
Canadas,  where  he  received  furs  in  exchange  for 
other  commodities.  Mr.  Fitch  finally,  becoming 
weary  of  the  nomadic  life  which  his  btisiness  neces- 
sitated, settled  in  West  Stafford,  and,  renting  a 
factory,  embarked  in  the  manufacture  of  knit  goods, 
continuing  for  thirteen  years  in  this  location.  Dur- 
ing the  years  1858  and  1859  he  was  selectman  of 
that  town.  He  then  removed  to  Rockville,  and, 
renting  a  factory,  engaged  in  manufacturing  at 
that  point.  In  1874  he  purchased  his  present  site, 
which  has  since  that  date  been  greatly  enlarged 
and  improved.  Here  he  continues  the  production 
of  a  great  variety  of  knit  goods,  certain  specialties 
of  which  have  given  the  mill  a  deservedly  high 
reputation. 

Mr.  Fitch  was,  on  the  9th  of  January,  1S45, 
married  to  Mariette,  daughter  of  Daniel  Spencer 
of  Enfield.  Their  children  are  Spencer  S.,  Sarah 
E.  (wife  of  C.  H.  Strickland),  and  Fred.  H.  (de- 
ceased). The  son  is  identified  with  the  business 
which  is  now  a  corporation  under  the  firm  name  of 
"The  Samuel  Fitch  &  Sons  Co."  Mr.  Fitch  was 
formerly  a  whig,  and  later  became  an  exponent  of 
the  principles  of  the  republican  party.  He  has 
held  various  local  offices,  and  during  the  years  i860, 
1S61,  and  1877,  represented  his  town  in  the  state 
legislature.  He  was  from  1863  to  1869  state  railroad 
commissioner.  He  was  also  one  of  the  incorpora- 
tors and  is  a  director  in  the  People's  Savings  Bank 


354 


AN  ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


of  Rockville.  In  1889  tie  was  chosen  vice-president 
of  the  "  United  States  Central  Raih'oad  Company," 
and  in  the  same  year,  on  the  2d  of  December,  his 
sixty-eighth  birthday,  he  was  elected  the  first 
mayor  of  the  city  of  Rockville  for  the  term  of  two 
years.  Mr.  Fitch  was  a  supporter  of  the  Second 
Congregational  church  of  Rockville  during  its 
existence,  and  Mrs.  Fitch  was  a  member. 


GILES    POTTER. 


GILES    POTTER,    New    Haven  :    Agent  of    the 
State  Board  of  Education. 

Giles  Potter,  son  of  Elisha  Payne  and  Abigail 
(Lathrop)  Potter,  of  good  Puritan  stock,  was  born 
in  Lisbon,  Conn.,  February  22,  1829.  Attending 
the  common  school,  work- 
ing on  the  farm  or  at  car- 
riage-making  in  his 
father's  shop,  and  teach- 
ing school,  he  at  length 
found  his  way  through 
Leicester  academy,  and 
graduated  at  Yale  College 
in  the  class  of  '55,  winning 
honors  in  mathematics 
and  the  sciences;  and  en- 
gaged in  teaching  — 
1855-56  at  East  Hartford, 
1856-59  as  instructor  in 
natural  science  at  the 
Connecticut  Literary  Institution  (Suflfield),  1859-64 
as  principal  of  Hill's  academy,  Essex.  He  then 
went  into  manufacturing  for  a  short  time,  resiimed 
teaching  at  the  Essex  seminary,  and  in  1S70  took 
up  the  insurance  business. 

Mr.  Potter  is  in  politics  a  firm  but  quiet  repub- 
lican, doing  his  duty  in  the  caucus  and  at  the  pohs, 
but  never  troubled  by  political  ambition.  How- 
ever, the  people  of  Essex  found  it  their  pleasure  and 
profit  to  bestow  upon  him  many  local  offices  — 
selectman,  justice  of  the  peace,  school  visitor,  etc. 
—  keeping  him  always  in  the  two  latter  offices,  well 
knowing  that  Mr.  Potter  has  almost  a  weakness  for 
serving  his  fellows  and  not  himself.  For  the  years 
1870,  '71,  and  '72  they  elected  him  representative 
to  the  state  legislature.  Quite  naturally,  he  was 
assigned  to  the  committee  on  education.  This 
committee,  in  1S72,  being  instructed  to  revise  the 
school  laws,  formulated  the  present  compulsory 
system,  Mr.  Potter,  as  chairman,  presenting  the 
report.  In  the  fall  of  1872  he  became  agent  of  the 
state  board  of  education,  and  for  the  last  eighteen 
years  it  has  been  his  office  to  look  after  the  enforce- 
ment of  those  same  beneficent  laws  which  he  had 
so  large  a  .share  in  compiling.  He  has  brought 
into  this  work  rare  tact,  energy,  and  love.  For 
instance,  if  he  happens  to  buy  a  paper  of  a  small- 
sized  newsboy  he  is  apt,  in  a  kindly  way,  to  ask  the 


boy's  name  and  age,  and  where  he  goes  to  school. 
Quiet  and  conciliating  in  manner,  preferring  mild 
means  where  possible,  never  withholding  stronger 
ones  where  necessary,  the  delinquent  employer  and 
selfish  or  brutal  parent  have  learned  that  Mr.  Pot- 
ter brooks  no  trifling.  For  Agent  Potter  to  be  in 
town  means  business.  He  has,  therefore,  won  the 
esteem  and  respect  of  the  many  prominent  men  in 
all  parts  of  the  state  with  whom  his  duties  bring 
him  in  contact;  has  largely  by  the  diligence  and 
enthusiasm  with  which  he  fulfills  his  office  con- 
tributed to  the  present  creditable  showing  of  Con- 
necticut in  regard  to  popular  education  —  this  de- 
spite the  increasing  foreign  character  of  the  popu- 
lation, and  the  vast  growth  of  the  factory  interest 
—  and  seems  well  to  bear  out  the  truth  of  these 
words,  uttered  in  reference  to  him  on  the  floor  of 
the  United  States  senate :  ' '  One  of  the  most 
efficient  men  in  the  state  is  appointed  to  enforce  the 
law." 

Mr.  Potter  is  an  active  supporter  of  public 
worship;  long  time  deacon  of  the  Essex  Baptist 
church;  twenty-three  years  superintendent  of  the 
Sunday-school.  He  is  now  a  deacon  of  Calvary 
church.  New  Haven,  whither  he  removed  in  iSSi. 
He  was  married  in  1857  to  Martha  Hubbard 
Wright,  daughter  of  Rev.  David  Wright,  and  has 
four  children  living. 


GEORGE   MILTON   MORSE,    Putnam:    Cotton 
Manufacturer. 

George  M.  Morse  was  born  at  Central  Falls,  R.  I., 
August  25,  1S30.  He  was  educated  principall}-  at 
the  public  schools  of  his  native  town  and  of  the 
city  of  Providence.  He 
has  been  engaged  in 
manufacturing,  mer- 
chandizing, and  in  real 
estate  operations  in 
Woonsocket  Falls,  Val- 
ley Falls,  and  Providence, 
R.  I.,  and  in  Putnam, 
Conn.  He  is  now  presi- 
dent of  the  Powhattan 
and  the  ilorse  mills  man- 
ufacturing corporations, 
which  are  among  the 
leading  cotton  manu- 
facturing concerns  in 
the  Quinebaug  Valley.  He  has  held  and  worthily 
filled  various  offices  within  the  gift  of  his  townsmen, 
including  that  of  representative  to  the  general 
court,  to  which  he  was  chosen  at  the  last  state 
election.  He  is  a  member  and  deacon  of  the  First 
Baptist  church  of  Putnam,  and  in  politics  is  an 
ardent  republican.  Mr.  Morse  married  Aliss  Me- 
lora  Whitney,  of  the  adjoining  town  of  Killingly, 
and  has  reared  a  family  of  nine  children. 


M.    MORSE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


355 


J.    E.    PINE. 


J.   E.   PINE,  WiNSTEo:  Marble  Cutter. 

John  Edgar  Pine  was  born  in  Riverton,  in  the 
town  of  Barkham.sted,  in  1841.  After  spending  a 
few  years  at  the  schools  of  his  neighborhood,  he 
served  an  apprenticeship 
as  stone  cutter  with  his 
father,  who  was  then  in 
the  marble  business. 
From  1872  till  I S 84  he  was 
junior  partner  with  his 
father,  conducting  the 
monumental  and  marble 
business  under  the  firm 
name  of  S.  W.  Pine  & 
Son  at  Winsted.  In  18  84 
the  senior  partner  retired, 
and  John  E.  Pine  has 
since  that  date  conducted 
the  business  alone,  the 
establishment  being  designated  and  known  as  the 
Winsted  Monumental  Works.  The  many  fine 
monuments  in  the  vicinity  of  Winsted  which  have 
been  furnished  by  this  house  indicate  that  the  pro- 
prietor is  master  of  his  business.  Mr.  Pine  is  a 
member  of  St.  James'  Episcopal  church.  He  is 
also  a  Mason,  and  in  politics  a  republican.  He  has 
held  various  town  offices,  such  as  water  commis- 
sioner, school  committee,  etc.;  and  in  whatever 
capacity  called  to  serve  the  public  he  has  proved  a 
trusty  and  useful  public  officer.  He  has  a  wife,  but 
no  children  living. 


CHARLES      P.      STURTEVANT,      Norwich  : 

Woolen  Manufacturer. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  in  New 
York  city  in  1844  and  received  an  academic  educa- 
tion. His  father  was  Hon.  A.  P.  Sturtevant  of 
Norwich,  one  of  the  great 
manufacturers  of  eastern 
Connecticut.  Mr.  Sturte- 
vant has  held  nearly  all 
the  offices  in  the  gift  of 
his  townsmen;  was  elect- 
ed to  the  house  of  repre- 
sentatives in  1878  and 
was  state  senator  from 
the  eleventh  district  in 
1881-82.  HeisaCongre- 
gationalist,  and  has  been 
prominently  identified 
with  the  republican  party 
of  his  section  of  the  state. 
He  is  engaged  in  manufacttiring  and  is  agent  and 
secretary  of  the  Niantic  Mills  Co.  and  connected 
with  the  Clinton  Mills  Co.,  the  Norwich  Woolen 
Co.,  and  the  Glen  Woolen  Co.  He  has  for  some 
years  been   prominent  in   the  fraternal   societies, 


C.    p.    STURTEVANT. 


being  a  32d  degree  Mason,  an  Odd  Fellow,  and  a 
member  of  the  Knights  of  Pythias  and  of  the  Im- 
proved Order  of  Red  Men.  He  is  married  and  has 
five  children.  Mr.  Sturtevant  is  deservedly  popu- 
lar among  a  host  of  friends  and  in  his  various  busi- 
ness interests  has  a  most  extensive  acquaintance. 


and  a  few  years  after 
Emma  C.   Lawrence. 


JAMES  ANDREW  PICKETT,  New  Britain: 
Ex-Mayor  and  ex-President  of  Several  Manufac- 
turing Corporations. 

J.  A.  Pickett,  one  of  the  most  honored  and  respect- 
ed of  New  Britain's  citizens,  a  son  of  Albert  Pickett, 
was  born  in  New  Milford,  Litchfield  county,  March 

9,    1829.      He    was    edu-  

cated  at  the  public  schools 
in  New  Milford  and  pri- 
vate schools  in  Bridge- 
port, and  in  1851  went  to 
New  Britain  to  enter  the 
employ  as  bookkeeper  of 
the  A.  North  &  Son  Sad- 
dlery Hardware  Manu- 
facturing Company.  In 
1855  he,  with  L.  F.  Judd, 
bought  a  one-half  interest 
in  the  establishment.  He 
has  been  twice  married: 
first,  September  9,  1857, 
to  Miss  Caroline  E.  Stanley; 
her  death,  second,  to  Miss 
He  has  one  child,  a  daughter,  who  is  now  Mrs. 
Anna  M.  Rockwell  of  Birmingham. 

In  1876  Mr.  Pickett  was  elected  president  of  the 
manufacturing  company  of  Landers,  Frary  & 
Clark,  and  held  the  office  by  repeated  re-elec- 
tions until  his  resignation  in  1889.  He  was 
also  president  of  the  Union  Manufacturing 
Company  from  1878  to  1891.  He  was  vice- 
president  and  director  of  the  Shelby  Iron  Works, 
Alabama,  and  was  for  many  years  director 
and  vice-president  of  the  New  Britain  National 
Bank.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Mechanics  National 
Bank,  Russell  «fe  Erwin  Manufacturing  Company, 
American  Hosiery  Company,  Stanley  Rule  and 
Level  Company,  Union  Manufacturing  Companj-, 
and  the  New  Britain  Savings  Bank.  He  has  been 
repeatedly  called  to  offices  of  tinist  and  responsi- 
bility by  his  fellow-citizens.  He  was  elected  town 
assessor  for  several  years;  was  city  auditor  in  1871 
and  1872.  On  the  adoption  of  the  system  of 
sewerage  by  the  city  he  was  appointed  one  of  the 
sewer  commissioners,  and  held  the  office  from  1874 
to  1882,  inclusive.  He  was  elected  mayor  of  the 
city  in  18S3,  18S4,  and  1885,  and  represented  the 
town  in  the  legislature  in  1884,  when  he  was  chair- 
man on  the  part  of  the  house  of  the  committee  on 
insurance.     He  is  a  member  of  the  Center  church 


356 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


of  New  Britain,  and  a  liberal  promoter  of  its  in- 
terests and  supporter  of  its  charities.  His  rank  as 
a  public  officer,  business  man,  and  citizen  is  very 
high,  and  has  met  practical  recognition  from  his 
townsmen  on  every  opportunity.  By  his  knowledge 
of  business  and  insight  into  the  needs  of  the  town 
and  city,  he  has  been  able  in  all  the  various  posi- 
tions he  has  occupied  to  contribute  much  to  the 
welfare  and  prosperity  of  the  place. 


C.    M.    SPENCER. 


CHRISTOPHER     M.       SPENCER,      Windsor: 
Treasurer  Spencer  Arms  Company. 
Christopher  Miner  Spencer   was   born   in   Man- 
chester, Conn.,  June  20,  1S33.     In  1845  he  went  to 
live  with  his  grandfather,  and  there  developed  a 
great    fondness    for    me- 
chanical      work.       From 
early  childhood  he  had  a 
passion  for  firearms,  and 
the   first   gun    he   owned 
was  his  grandfather's  old 
musket,    a   revolutionary 
relic,  which  he  improved 
by  sawing  off  the  barrel 
with    an    old     case-knife 
converted  into  a  saw  by 
hacking  it  on  the  edge  of 
an   axe.     In    1847  he  left 
his     grandfather's     farm 
and     went     to    work    in 
Cheneys'  silk  mill,  and  in  1848  entered  a  machine 
shop  at  Manchester  Center  as  an  apprentice.     The 
year  following  he  again  entered  the  Chenej's'  em- 
ploy  as   a  machinist,    and   remained   about   three 
years.     In  1853  he  went  to  Rochester,  N.  Y.,  where 
he  worked  in  making  machinists'  tools.     Return- 
ing to  Hartford  he  was  a  year  with  Colt's  Firearms 
Company,    where   he   first   conceived   the   idea   of 
radical  improvements  in  repeating  firearms.    Later, 
while  with  the  Cheneys,  he  invented  an  ingenious 
automatic  machine   for  winding   silk,    which   was 
adopted    by   the    Willimantic    Thread    Company. 
About  this   time  he   invented   and    patented    the 
"  Spencer  Seven-shooter,"  which  was  adopted  by 
the  U.  S.   government,   and    a  company,   known 
as   the   Spencer   Repeating    Rifle    Company,    was 
organized   for   its   manufacture.      The   success   of 
this  new  arm  is  now  a  matter  of  history.     At  the 
close  of  the  war  the  company  sold  its  entire  plant 
to   the   Winchester  Repeating  Arms    Co.  of  New 
Haven.     In  1869  Mr.  Spencer  moved  to  Hartford, 
and  in  company  with  Mr.  Charles  E.   Billings  be- 
gan the  manufacture  of  drop-forgings.     While  here 
he  invented  a  very  successful  machine  for  turning 
sewing-machine  spools,  which  later   suggested  to 
him  the  idea  of  a  machine  for  turning  metal  screws 
automatically.        He    kept    this    invention    a    se- 


cret until  he  had  obtained  his  patents,  and  then 
applied  the  device  to  a  machine  in  the  Billings  & 
Spencer  shop.  The  result  was  a  complete  success, 
and  so  great  was  his  enthusiasm  that  he  determined 
to  commence  the  mantifacture  of  screws  automati- 
cally as  a  new  enterprise;  and,  severing  his  con- 
nection with  Mr.  Billings  in  1874,  he  hired  a  room 
and  set  his  first  screw  machine  to  work.  In  1876 
the  Hartford  Machine  Screw  Company  was  formed 
from  this  nucleus,  with  Mr.  Spencer  as  superin- 
tendent, the  ultimate  result  of  which  is  one  of  the 
largest  and  most  profitable  enterprises  in  the  city 
of  Hartford,  with  a  plant  valued  at  half  a  million 
dollars. 

During  all  these  years  Mr.  Spencer's  mind  was 
exercised  with  the  idea  of  still  further  improving 
modern  firearms,  and  he  determined  to  produce  a 
repeating-gun  that  should  excel  all  others  in 
rapidity  of  firing.  The  result  of  his  thought  on 
the  subject  has  been  what  is  now  known  as  the 
"  Spencer  Repeating  Shot-Gun. "  Models  were 
shown,  capitalists  interested,  and  a  company  was 
formed  for  their  manufacture,  known  as  the 
"Spencer  Arms  Co.,"  with  its  works  located  at 
Windsor  in  this  state,  of  which  Mr.  Spencer  is  the 
treasurer.  This  gun  has  an  established  reputation 
among  sportsmen,  and  many  thousands  are  in  use 
in  the  United  States  and  other  parts  of  the  world. 
His  latest  achievement  is  the  invention  of  an  auto- 
matic screw  machine,  which  produces  finished 
screws  direct  from  a  coil  of  wire. 


y^^.. 


ELIJAH   MANROSS,  Bristol:    Clock   Manufac- 
turer and  Constable. 

Mr.  Manross  is  a  native  of  Bristol,  having  been 
born  there  June  20,  1827.  He  received  a  common 
school  and  academic  education,  completing  his 
course  of  study  at  Wil- 
liston  Seminary,  East 
Hampton,  Mass.  Upon 
entering  active  life  Mr. 
Manross  learned  the  clock 
business,  and  was  a  man- 
ufacturer until  I  86  7, 
when,  owing  to  ill  health, 
he  was  obliged  to  retire 
and  give  himself  over  to 
absolute  rest.  After  rug- 
ged treatment,  including 
a  year  and  a  half  passed 
in  the  wilds  of  the  Adi- 
rondacks,  he  regained  his 
strength,  and  now  enjoys  good  health.  The  father 
of  Mr.  Manross  was  a  pioneer  in  the  manufacture 
of  brass  clocks  in  America,  with  which  industry  he 
was  prominently  identified.  Three  of  his  brothers 
served  in  Connecticut  regiments  during  the  war  of 


Ir 


-/" 


t^ 


i' 


{/ 


ELIJAH     MANROSS. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


357 


the  rebellion,  one  of  whom  (Captain  Newton  S. 
Manross)  was  killed  while  leading  his  company 
into  the  sanguinary  field  of  Antietam.  Sergeant 
Eli  Manross  of  the  Fifth  Connecticut  was  wounded 
at  Chancellors ville,  and  John  Manross,  also  a 
brother,  was  disabled  at  Cold  Harbor.  The  svib- 
ject  of  this  sketch  has  twice  represented  Bristol  in 
the  legislature,  in  1880  and  1882.  He  has  held  the 
office  of  justice  of  the  peace,  has  served  repeatedly 
on  the  republican  town  committee,  and  for  fifteen 
years  has  been  constable,  in  the  duties  of  which 
office  his  time  is  now  chiefly  occupied.  He  has 
been  a  republican  ever  since  the  formation  of  that 
party.  His  wife,  who  before  her  marriage  was 
Miss  Ellen  S.  Woodruff,  is  living,  and  they  have 
three  children. 


C.    F.    LINCOLN. 


CHARLES  F.  LINCOLN,  Andover  :  Postmaster 

and  Merchant. 

Charles  F.  Lincoln  was  born  in  Columbia,  Oct. 
4,   1854,  and  was  educated   at   the  public  schools. 
He  came  to  Andover  in  1873  as  clerk  for  Henry  F. 
Cleveland,    and   in   May, 
1S80,  bought  the  business 
and    carried    it  on    until 

1888,  and  between  those 
dates  he  held  the  offices 
of  town  clerk,  treasurer, 
registrar,  and  treasurer  of 
the  Andover  Creamery 
Company.  He  repre- 
sented Andover  in  the 
legislature  in  1886.  In 
1888  he  entered  the  em- 
ploy of  Durkee,  Stiles  & 
Co.,  of  Willimantic,  as 
commercial  traveler,  con- 
tinuing with  that  firm  for  about  six  months  until 
he  again  went  into  bu.siness  for  himself,  buying  out 
the  establishment  of  Palmer  Brothers  in  Fitchville, 
town  of  Bozrah.     He  continued  that  business  until 

1889,  and  since  that  time  has  been  a  commercial 
traveler  for  New  York  grocery  and  specialty 
houses.  In  this  line  he  has  been  very  success- 
ful, and  is  ranked  as  a  first-class  salesman.  His 
instincts  and  abilities  are  of  a  high  mercantile 
order.  He  was  assistant  postmaster  and  post- 
master at  Andover  for  three  years,  and  assistant 
postmaster  at  Fitchville  one  year.  Mr.  Lincoln 
has  always  been  a  republican,  and  has  received 
honors  from  the  hands  of  his  townsmen  as  a 
member  of  that  party.  He  married,  in  June, 
18S3,  Miss  Nellie  A.  Daggett,  youngest  daughter 
of  W.  H.  H.  Daggett  of  Hartford.  She  died 
Sept.  21,  1SS7.  Mr.  Lincoln  is  a  wide  awake 
sort  of  a  man,  who  succeeds  in  whatever  he 
undertakes. 


K.    \V.    CHADWICK. 


R.  W.  CHADWICK,  Old  Lyme:  Farmer. 

Richard  William  Chadwick  was  born  a  farmer, 
and  has  followed  that  occupation  through  his  life. 
He  was  solidly  educated  at  the  public  schools,  and 
had  the  additional  advan- 
tage of  a  course  of  train- 
ing at  Lyme  Academy. 
He  has  held  various  town 
offices,  to  which  he  has 
been  elected  by  the  re- 
publicans, of  which  party 
he  has  been  a  member 
since  old  enovigh  to  vote. 
For  about  a  quarter  of  a 
century  he  has  been  a 
deput}'  sheriff,  and  bj' 
virtue  of  his  office  was 
instrumental  in  capturing 
the  notorious  Bridgeport 
gang  of  boy  burglars  in  1885;  and  at  that  time 
narrowly  escaped  death  by  a  bullet  from  the  pistol 
of  one  of  the  burglars  while  effecting  his  arrest. 
I\Ir.  Chadwick  was  a  member  of  the  Connecticut 
house  of  representatives  from  Old  Lyme  in  1873, 
and  again  in  1889,  during  the  latter  session  serving 
on  the  fisheries  committee.  He  also  holds  the  office 
of  selectman  of  his  town  at  the  present  time.  He  is 
a  member  of  the  Odd  Fellows  and  Masonic  frater- 
nity; is  married,  and  has  two  children  living.  His 
wife  was  Miss  A.  M.  Rowland  before  her  mar- 
riage. 

WILLIAM  C.  SHARPE,  Seymour:    Editor  and 

Publisher  "  Seymour  Record." 

Mr.  Sharpe  is  a  native  of  Southbury,  where  he 
was  born  October  3,  1839.  He  was  educated  at 
the  Seymour  High  School  and  Wesleyan  Academy 
at  Wilbraham,  Mass. 
After  his  graduation  he 
engaged  in  teaching,  and 
was  thus  employed  for 
ten  years,  in  Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut,  New 
Jersey,  *  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, his  last  work  of 
this  kind  being  as  princi- 
pal of  a  graded  school  at 
Derby  in  this  state.  He 
became  the  editor  and 
publisher  of  The  Seymour 
Record  in  1871,  and  has 
sustained  that  relation  for 
twenty  years.  He  was  united  in  marriage  some 
years  ago  to  Miss  Vinie  A.  Lewis,  daughter  of 
Harry  Lewis  of  Monroe,  by  whom  he  has  had  two 
children,  a  son  and  a  daughter.  Mr.  Sharpe  has 
held  a  number  of  public  offices  in  Seymour,  having 
been  a  member  of  the  school  board  for  nine  years, 


C.    SH.A.RrE. 


358 

secretary  and  acting  visitor  six  years,  a  trustee  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  church  fifteen  years,  and 
superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school.  He  is  now  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church  at  Seymour. 
He  is  a  republican,  and  connected  with  various 
social  organizations,  including  several  Masonic 
bodies,  New  Haven  Commandery,  Knights  Temp- 
plar,  Red  ]Men,  Knights  of  Pythias,  New  England 
Order  of  Protection,  and  others.  Additionally  to  his 
literary  work  on  the  Record,  Mr.  Sharpe  has  found 
time  for  much  other  similar  labor.  He  is  author  of 
the  "  History  of  Seymour  "  in  two  volumes;  "  An- 
nals of  Seymour  M.  E.  Church,"  "  History  of  Ox- 
ford," "  Genealogy  of  the  Sharpe  Family,"  "  Dart 
Genealog3%"  etc.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  Con- 
necticut Historical  Society  of  Hartford.  Mr. 
Sharpe  is  a  thoroughly  industrious  man,  a  careful 
editor,  and  a  conscientious  author. 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


CYRUS  WHITE,  Rockville:  President,  Treas- 
urer and  Manager  of  the  White  Manufacturing 
Company,  President  of  The  White,  Corbin  & 
Company. 

Mr.  White  was  born  at  Richford,  Vt.,  Nov.  i8, 
1 8 14,  the  eldest  of  eight  children  of  a  farmer  of 
moderate  means.  He  was  early  inured  to  the  toils 
and  privations  of  life  in  a 
newly-settled  region,  and 
thereby  gained  a  hardy 
physical  development 
and  laid  the  foundation 
of  industr}',  frugality,  and 
self  reliance,  which  has 
served  him  so  well  in  his 
subsequent  career.  With 
the  limited  educational 
privileges  of  a  few  weeks 
each  year  in  the  district 
schools,  he  gained  a  fair 
knowledge  of  the  rudi- 
mentary sciences  (read- 
ing, writing,  and  arithmetic),  and  at  the  age  of 
nineteen  started  out  to  learn  the  blacksmit]|'s  trade, 
serving  an  apprenticeship  of  three  years  in  the  lit- 
tle hamlet  of  East  Enosburgh,  about  ten  miles  dis- 
tant from  the  parental  home.  Here  he  learned, 
literally  and  figuratively,  to  strike  while  the  iron  is 
hot,  a  practical  lesson  to  ever  keep  in  mind.  At 
the  close  of  this  term,  in  November,  1836,  the 
chances  for  obtaining  employment  in  Northern  Ver- 
mont being  less  favorable  than  in  other  localities,  he 
made  an  engagement  with  a  man  in  Ware,  Mass., 
and  went  there  to  find  that  his  intended  emploj^er 
had  died  suddenly  a  few  hours  before  his  arrival. 
This  left  him  without  business, among  strangers  with 
only  three  dollars  in  his  pocket  ;'but  providentially  he 
heard  of   an  opening  for  employment  at   \'ernon 


CVRl'S    WHITE. 


Center  in  this  state,  with  a  chance  to  work  his 
passage  thither  by  helping  a  drove  of  cattle  to  that 
place.  There  he  remained  until  April  i,  1838,  re- 
ceiving about  eighty  cents  per  day  and  his  board 
for  his  services,  from  which  during  the  seventeen 
months  he  managed  to  save  $25,  in  cash  ;  and  with 
this  capital  he  hired  a  shop  at  Rockville  and  em- 
ployed two  assistants,  thus  commencing  business  for 
himself.  On  the  ist  day  of  January,  1839,  meeting 
with  some  success,  he  engaged  in  a  matrimonial 
partnership  with  Miss  Sarah  A.  Grant  of  Ware, 
Mass.,  formerly  a  school  companion  in  Vermont. 
This  union  proved  a  very  fortunate  and  happy  one, 
and  still  continues.  Of  five  children  born  to  them, 
three  are  now  living.  During  the  next  few  years 
he  acquired  considerable  real  estate  and  built  his 
present  residence,  also  White's  opera  house  and 
other  buildings.  In  1848  he  bought  a  half  interest 
in  the  iron  foundry  business,  and  about  two  years 
later  the  firm  of  C.  White  &  Co.,  which  had  at  this 
date  bought  tools  and  started  a  machine  shop  busi- 
ness in  connection  with  the  foundry  and  smithing 
business,  with  Milton  G.  Puffer  employed  as  a 
patternmaker  and  ingenious  mechanic,  inaugurated 
a  series  of  experiments  which  resulted  in  the  pro- 
duction of  an  improved  machine  capable  of  folding 
and  pasting  10,000  letter  envelopes  per  day.  Mr. 
White,  discovering  in  this  a  chance  for  a  permanent 
and  profitable  enterprise,  began  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions for  the  eminently  successful  business  of  C. 
White  &  Co.  In  this  his  partner  had  less  faith, 
and  in  1S55  sold  his  interest  to  L.  A.  Corbin,  when 
the  firm  was  changed  to  White  &  Corbin,  and  the 
foundry  and  blacksmith  shop  were  sold,  a  water- 
power  purchased,  and  early  in  the  spring  of  1856  a 
four-story  building,  83x39,  was  erected  for  an 
envelope  factory. 

On  the  fourth  of  the  following  July  three  or  four 
of  these  improved  envelope  machines  were  started 
in  the  new  factory,  and  the  business  was  placed  on 
a  more  permanent  basis,  Mr.  White  devoting  his 
time  exclusively  to  the  general  management  of  the 
business,  and  to  the  building  up  of  a  trade  in  enve- 
lopes and  paper.  Sales  were  small  and  means  also; 
hence  the  firm  had  to  proceed  slowly.  A  business 
of  about  $8,000  the  first  year  more  than  doubled 
the  next,  and  so  continued  to  increase  until  a  con- 
dition was  reached  where  sales  amounted  to  $325,- 
000  in  a  single  year.  Machines  were  added  as  fast 
as  they  could  be  made  by  the  company  with  their 
limited  facilities.  In  1866  WilUam  H.  Prescott,  who 
had  been  their  bookkeeper  for  several  years  and 
who  by  his  ability  and  strict  attention  to  business 
had  made  his  services  indispensable  to  the  firm, 
was,  at  the  instance  of  Mr.  White,  admitted  as  a 
partner,  with  an  equal  interest  with  the  two  former 
partners,  when  the  firm  became  White,  Corbin  & 
Co.     In  May,  1S70,  Mr.  White  having  other  busi- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


359 


ness  requiring  his  attention,  retired  from  the  man- 
agement of  the  envelope  and  paper  business,  since 
which  time  the  managerial  duties  have  devolved 
upon  Mr.  Prescott.  The  business  continued  to  de- 
velop to  such  an  extent  that  in  iSSi  it  gave  occa- 
sion for  the  purchase  of  the  "  Florence  mills,"  one 
of  the  largest  and  finest  mill  buildings  in  Rock- 
ville,  and  which  it  became  necessary  to  enlarge  by 
extensive  additions  some  years  later,  in  order  to 
accommodate  the  still  increasing  business,  which  is 
now  among  the  most  extensive  of  its  line  in  the 
world.  As  abiUty,  integrity,  and  success  had 
given  value  to  the  name  of  Cyrus  White,  it  was 
frequently  sought  as  a  means  of  obtaining  credit 
by  others  less  fortunate.  By  his  kindness  of  heart 
which  too  often  led  him  to  disregard  warnings  to 
avoid  suretyship,  he  became  involved,  by  the  fail- 
ure of  parties  he  had  assisted  during  the  autumn 
of  1869,  in  UabiUties  amounting  to  nearly  $200,000. 
This  necessitated  taking  certain  mill  properties, 
assuming  prior  incumbrances  thereon,  and  like- 
wise a  further  outlay  to  make  the  property  available 
as  a  source  of  income  for  reimbursement  for 
obligations  he  had  assumed.  This  led  to  the  com- 
mencement of  the  business  of  the  White  Manufac- 
turing Company,  which  was  started  with  sixty 
looms,  and  has  been  extended,  until  now  it  operates 
four  hundred  and  eighty-eight  looms  and  other 
machinery  requisite  to  run  them,  with  capacity  to 
make  14,000  to  15,000  yards  daily  of  ginghams  and 
ladies'  dress  goods  of  various  designs  and  superior 
quality.  In  addition  to  the  business  of  the  White 
Manufacturing  Company,  of  which  Mr.  White  is 
principal  owner  and  manager,  he  also  holds  a  one- 
third  interest  in  The  White,  Corbin  &  Company. 
Mr.  White  also  owns  the  Highland  farm,  located 
within  the  city  limits,  which  is  carried  on  and 
managed  by  him.  He  takes  great  pleasure  in  im- 
proving its  well-tilled  fields,  and  in  its  fine  herd  of 
cows  and  young  stock.  He  also  owns  a  large  farm 
in  Enosburgh,  Vermont,  well  stocked,  together 
with  two  fine  sugar  orchards  of  over  two  thousand 
trees. 

In  Rockville  he  does  a  large  grain  and  milling 
business,  the  extensive  "  city  mills"  being  run  by 
the  White  Manufacturing  Company.  The  various 
enterprises  with  which  Mr.  White  is  and  has  been 
identified  have  kept  him  a  very  busy  man.  Not- 
withstanding he  is  almost  an  octogenarian,  he  still 
attends  to  the  direction  and  general  management  of 
his  business  with  the  energy  and  vigor  of  a  man  in 
the  prime  of  life.  A  recital  of  the  struggles  and 
triumphs  through  which  he  has  passed  affords  a  fine 
picture  of  a  life  which  illustrates  the  possibilities  of 
undaunted  confidence  and  earnest  effort  in  mak- 
ing a  success  of  enterprises  undertaken  under  ad- 
verse circumstances,  and  in  some  cases  almost 
without  any  previous  practical  knowledge  of  their 


details.  His  success  is  not  measured  by  his  own 
personal  profit  only,  but  in  the  advancement  of  the 
interests  of  others  with  whom  he  has  been  associ- 
ated, and  in  contributing  largely  to  the  material 
wealth,  prosperity,  population,  and  industries  of 
his  adopted  city,  notwithstanding  the  many 
obstacles  that  would  discourage  or  dismay  the 
average  man,  but  which  the  subject  of  this  sketch 
has  resolutely  met  and  overcome.  He  still  looks  on 
the  bright  side  of  life  with  un dimmed  vision,  and 
spirit  apparently  as  buoyant  as  in  earlier  days  ; 
and  while  he  carries  a  full  share  of  the  burdens  and 
responsibilities  of  life,  he  extends  the  hearty  greet- 
ing of  a  friend,  and  richly  deserves  the  reputation 
he  has  won  and  the  magnificent  success  he  has 
achieved. 
[Mr.  White  died  at  his  home  in  Rockville,  May 
10,  1S91,  after  the  above  sketch  had  been  prepared. 
—Ed.]  

WINTHROP  M.  WADSWORTH,    F.\rmington  : 

Farmer. 

Mr.  Wadsworth  is  one  of  the  most  favorably 
known  of  public  officials  in  Hartford  county.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the  general  assembly 
through  four  terms,  and 
introduced  there  the  con- 
stitutional amendment 
changing  the  sessions  of 
the  legislature  from  May 
to  January.  The  amend- 
ment when  submitted  to 
the  people  was  carried  by 
a  large  majority.  Mr. 
Wadsworth  also  intro- 
duced the  resolutions 
some  years  ago,  discount- 
enancing the  back  pay 
scheme  which  had  been 
carried  through  the  na- 
tional congress.  These  resolutions  were  copied  and 
passed  by  the  legislatures  of  several  of  the  states, 
and  produced  a  marked  impression  on  the  pubhc. 
For  twenty-eight  consecutive  years  Mr.  Wadsworth 
was  the  first  selectman  of  his  town.  He  has  been 
the  president  of  the  Dairymen's  Association,  and 
president  of  the  Farmington  Creamery  Com- 
pany, the  first  estabhshed  in  New  England. 
He  was  a  justice  of  the  peace  for  a  number  of 
years,  and  has  been  prominent  in  town  interests  for 
lifty  years.  He  was  a  Hartford  county  director  in 
the' State  Agricultural  Society,  and  is  the  president 
of  the  Farmington  Savings  Bank.  Mr.  Wadsworth 
is  a  republican  and  a  member  of  the  First  Congrega- 
tional society.  He  has  twice  married.  His  first 
wife  was  Lucy  A.  Ward,  who  died  in  1SS3.  The 
second  wife,  EUzabeth  F.  Wadsworth,  is  still  living. 
There  are  four  sons   in   the   family.     The   eldest, 


\V.    .M.    W.\DSWORTH. 


36o 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Adrian  R.  Wadsworth,  remains  on  the  farm  which 
has  been  in  the  family  for  five  generations.  The 
remaining  sons,  Harry  H.  and  Frank  H.,  lawyers, 
and  Frederick  A.,  real  estate  manager,  reside  in 
Minneapolis.  Mr.  Wadsworth  owns  a  farm  of 
three  hundred  acres,  which  he  has  managed  per- 
sonally until  within  a  short  period,  in  addition  to 
his  extensive  public  duties.  It  has  been  a  marked 
advantage  to  the  town  of  Farmington,  and  the 
state  at  large,  in  fact,  that  so  capable  and  honest  a 
man  has  been  willing  to  bestow  so  much  of  his  time 
and  experience  to  the  public  service. 

Mr.  Wadsworth  was  born  in  Farmington,  Nov- 
ember 27,  1812,  and  received  his  education  in  the 
public  schools  and  at  Farmington  Academy.  His 
long  life  has  been  one  of  great  honor  and  useful- 
ness, and  for  a  great  many  years  there  has  been  no 
one  in  his  community  whose  advice  and  counsel  was 
more  sought  after  or  depended  upon. 


WILLIAM    M.    STANLEY,    East     Hartford  : 
Farmer. 

Mr.  Stanley  was  born  in  East  Hartford  Novem- 
ber 18,  1S17,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
academical  education,  and  in  early  life  followed  the 
business  of  bookbinding, 
but  since  1840  has  been 
farming  in  East  Hartford, 
one  of  the  finest  farming 
towns  in  the  state.  Mr. 
Stanley  is  a  republican, 
casting  his  vote  for  Wil- 
liam Henry  Harrison  in 
1840,  and  by  virtue  of 
that  act  is  an  influential 
member  of  the  Harrison 
Veterans  of  Hartford.  He 
has  often  been  honored 
by  the  votes  of  his  towns- 
men, and  for  fourteen 
years  was  the  first  selectman  of  the  town,  from 
1856  to  1870.  He  was  justice  of  the  peace  from 
1853  until  1887  when  he  w^as  disquaUfied  from  age, 
serving  one  of  the  longest  terms  in  that  capacity  of 
any  man  in  the  state.  He  has  the  confidence  of 
the  financial  men  of  central  Connecticut,  and  is  a 
trustee  of  that  honored  institution,  the  Pratt  Street 
Institution  for  Savings  in  Hartford,  the  strongest 
savings  bank  in  the  state.  Mr.  Stanley's  wife  was 
Mary  E.  Newton,  and  they  have  three  children  liv- 
ing. He  is  prominently  connected  with  the  Con- 
gregational church  in  East  Hartford.  Mr.  Stanley 
is  one  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolution,  and 
takes  pride  in  the  fact  that  his  grandfather,  Theo- 
dore Stanley,  was  among  the  patriots  who  hurried 
to  Boston  in  response  to  the  Lexington  alarm 
in  1775- 


W.    M.    STANLEY. 


WARREN  W.  WOODWARD,  Danielsonville  : 
Druggist. 

Mr.  Woodward  was  born  in  Brooklyn,  Conn.,  in 
1834,  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Brooklyn  academy. 
He  is  a  druggist,  and  has  resided  in  Brooklyn,  Lis- 
bon, and  Danielsonville. 
His  business  career  was 
begun  in  Brooklyn  as  a 
news  dealer,  afterwards 
in  a  general  store,  and 
for  two  years  in  Eagle- 
ville  (Lisbon)  he  kept  a 
general  store  and  was 
postmaster.  Since  1868 
he  has  been  in  the  drug 
business  in  Danielson- 
ville in  his  own  name.  He 
has  been  a  republican  from 
the  date  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  party.  He  has 
been  a  grand  juror  of  the  town  of  Brooklyn,  and  has 
served  as  juror  in  the  United  States  District  Court 
at  Hartford.  He  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  the  Baptist  denomination  in  the  eastern  part 
of  the  state,  being  one  of  the  organizers  of  the 
Baptist  church  in  Danielsonville,  and  for  several 
years  was  a  member  of  both  the  church  and 
society  committees,  and  clerk  and  treasurer  of  both 
organizations.  He  was  a  member  of  the  building 
committee  when  the  church  was  erected.  His  wife 
was  Anna  E.  Ross,  and  they  have  three  children. 


W.    W.      WOODWARD. 


ASHER  S.  BAILEY,  East  Hartford  :  Flour  and 
Grain  Merchant. 

Mr.  Bailey,  who  is  one  of  the  best-known  busi- 
ness men  of  East  Hartford,  was  born  in  Haddam, 
Conn.,  January  6,  1851.  He  was  educated  in  the 
common  schools  of  Had- 
dam, and  spent  his  life 
there  until  he  was  twenty- 
six  years  of  age,  working 
at  his  trade  of  a  carpen- 
ter and  joiner,  when  he 
removed  to  East  Hart- 
ford. Since  residing  in 
the  last-named  town, 
he  has  been  justice  of  the 
peace  and  school  commit- 
tee for  ten  years,  and  is 
well  known  for  his  active 
interest  in  public  affairs. 
He  is  an  earnest  republi- 
can. His  religious  connections  are  with  the  First 
Baptist  church  of  Hartford.  He  has  been  in  mer- 
cantile business  for  the  past  twelve  years.  He  is 
wnthout  any  family,  ha\nng  lost  by  death  his  wife 
and  onlv  child. 


S.    BAILEY, 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


36r 


(f^ 


JAMES  H.   BEACH,  New    Britain  :    Ex-Probate 

and  City  Court  Judge. 

Judge  Beach  was  born  in  Litchfield,  Feb.  lo, 
i8ig,  and  was  educated  at  the  common  schools  of 
that  town.  For  thirty  years  he  followed  the  trade 
of  a  carpenter  and  joiner, 
and  has  lived  sixteen 
years  in  Litchfield,  nine 
years  in  Waterbury, 
twenty-five  in  Plymouth, 
and  twenty-two  in  New 
Britain.  He  has  been  con- 
stable and  deputy  sheriff 
for  eighteen  years,  select- 
man for  two  years,  justice 
of  the  peace  for  seventeen 
years,  judge  of  probate 
six  years,  and  judge  of 
the  New  Britain  city  and 
probate  court  for  four 
years.  In  all  these  public  capacities  he  has  won 
the  esteem  of  the  citizens  whom  he  served,  and  is 
one  of  the  honored  residents  of  New  Britain  to-day. 
He  has  been  an  attendant  of  the  Episcopal  church 
for  many  years,  always  taking  an  interest  in  its 
affairs.  He  is  a  democrat  in  politics.  His  wife, 
who  is  still  Hving,  was  Ann  M.  Coy,  and  he  has  had 
five  children,  of  whom  four  are  now  living.  Mr. 
Beach  is  thoroughly  known  and  respected  by  a 
large  circle  of  friends  in  the  central  and  western 
part  of  the  state. 


J.    H.    BEACH. 


H.  D.  PATTERSON,  Naugatuck:  Merchant. 

Henry  De  Witt  Patterson  was  born  in  Seymour, 
November  2,  1S34,  and  is  a  graduate  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Literary  Institute  at  Sufifield.     He  enlisted  as 
a  private  in  the  First  Con- 
necticut Artillery  May  23, 
1 86 1,     and    served    with 
that  famous  regiment  un- 
til October  5,   1865,  hold- 
ing the  rank  of  lieutenant 
and  brevet  captain  when 
he    was     mustered     out. 
Naturally  he  takes  a  great 
deal    of     interest    in    all 
matters    connected    with 
the  veteran  soldiers,  and 
is  an  enthusiastic  member 
of    the   Grand   Army    of 
the    Republic.      He    has 
followed  the  business  of  a  merchant  in  Seymour, 
New  Haven,  and  Naugatuck,  dealing  in   general 
dry-goods    on    his    own    account.      Although    an 
earnest   republican,   he    has    found    no    time    for 
public  office.     He  is  an  Odd  Fellow  and  Mason,  a 
member  of  Shepherds   Lodge,  Allerton   Chapter, 
Clark    Commandery,    and    Lafayette    Consistory, 


H. 


rATTERSON. 


reaching  the  thirty-second  degree.  He  is  a  Con- 
gregationalist  in  religious  faith  and  membership. 
His  wife  was  Ellen  R.  Potter,  and  they  have  two 
children.  Mr.  Patterson  is  an  active  man,  and  has 
a  host  of  acquaintances  in  the  Naugatuck  Valley. 


SIMEON  ABEL,  Fitchville  (Bozrah):  Farmer. 
Simeon  Abel,  a  native  of  Bozrah,  was  born  in 
1822  and  educated  in  the  common  schools.  He  is  a 
farmer,  and  is  prominent  in  the  community  in 
which  he  has  been  so  long 
a  resident.  In  the  days 
of  the  old  state  militia 
^Ir.  Abel  held  the  com- 
mission of  a  lieutenant. 
He  is  a  republican  in  poli- 
tics and  has  been  assessor, 
member  of  the  board  of 
relief,  selectman,  consta- 
ble, and  collector,  the  lat- 
ter for  twenty  years.  In 
1869  he  represented  Boz- 
rah in  the  legislature, 
serving  on  the  committee 
on  banks.  He  was  the 
census  enumerator  in  his  town  lor  18S0  and  1890, 
and  is  now  a  justice  of  the  peace.  These  offices  he 
has  filled  with  great  acceptance  to  his  constituents 
and  the  town,  whose  interests  he  has  always 
earnestly  striven  to  promote  to  the  best  of  his 
abiHty.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Congregational 
church,  and  its  clerk.  His  wife,  who  is  living, 
was  Fanny  E.  Stark,  and  he  has  three  sons. 


SIMEON    ABEL. 


HON.      RALPH     S.     TAINTOR,     Colchester: 
Farmer. 

The  Hon.   Ralph  Smith  Tamtor  was  one  of  the 
prominent  organizers  of  the  republican  party  in  this 
state.     In    1857  he  represented  the  old  ninth   dis- 
trict   in    the   senate,    his 
colleagues     including 
Judges      Carpenter     and 
Loomis   of   the    supreme 
court.     Mr.    Taintor  was 
born  in  Colchester,  Nov. 
13,    1811,   and  was    edu- 
cated at  Bacon  Academy. 
With  the  exception  of  nine 
years   from    April,    1839, 
which  were  spent  in  the 
town  of  Pomfret,  he  has 
resided  in  Colchester.    He 
is  a  direct  lineal  descend- 
ant from  Michael  Taintor, 
one  of  the  original  nine  incorporators  of  that  town 
in  1698,  and  for  twenty-six  years  a  delegate  to  the 
general  court  of  Connecticut.     Ex-Senator  Taintor 


taintor. 


362 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


was  married  June  2,  1834,  at  Lyme,  to  Miss  Phoebe 
Higgins  Lord,  who  was  born  in  that  town  June  1 1 , 
1814,  and  died  December  16,  iSgo.  There  were 
eight  children  in  the  family,  seven  of  whom  are 
still  living.  The  sons  include  Judge  Taintor  of 
New  York  city  and  Secretary  James  U.  Taintor  of 
the  Orient  Insurance  Company,  both  of  whom  are 
graduates  of  Yale  College.  Mr.  Taintor  was  a 
lieutenant  in  the  old  state  militia.  He  has  held 
various  local  offices,  including  that  of  selectman. 
He  is  a  member  of  Wooster  Lodge  No.  10,  F.  and 
A.  M.  of  Colchester,  and  also  of  Grange  No.  78. 
He  has  pursued  the  avocation  of  a  farmer  most  of 
his  life,  and  has  been  an  earnest  representative  of 
the  farming  interests  in  the  state.  He  has  also 
been  an  extensive  purchaser  of  wool  on  commission , 
and  has  been  widely  known  in  business  circles. 
He  was  originally  a  Whig,  but  has  been  identified 
with  the  republican  party  since  its  formation;  and 
during  his  active  political  life  was  frequently  dele- 
gate to  the  state,  congressional,  and  senatorial  con- 
ventions of  his  party.  He  is  a  member  of  the 
Congregational  church  at  Colchester,  and  is  held 
in  the  utmost  respect  and  esteem  in  the  community 
where  he  resides. 


publican  Club  of  Stamford.  He  is  a  director  of 
the  New  York  Consolidated  Stock  and  Petroleum 
Exchange  and  a  director  of  the  clearing  hotise  con- 
nected therewith.  He  is  associated  with  St.  John's 
Episcopal  church  in  Stamford,  and  is  unmarried. 


WILLIAM  F.  DANIEL,  Stamford:  Stock  Broker. 
William  F.  Daniel  is  one  of  the  active  citizens 
of  the  Borough  of  Stamford,  and  the  captain 
of  Company  C,  Fourth  regiment,  C.  N.  G.  On 
October  8,  iSSo,  he  enlist- 
ed as  a  private  in  the 
Seventh  regiment,  N.  G. 
S.  N.  Y.,  and  was  made 
corporal,  January  13,1882. 
October  20,  1885,  he  was 
discharged  from  the  com- 
mand. He  was  one  of 
the  organizers  of  Com- 
pany C  of  the  Fourth  in 
this  state,  and  became 
captain  of  the  company, 
December  26,  1884.  With 
the  exception  of  Captain 
Sheridan  of  Bridgeport, 
he  is  the  ranking  line  officer  in  the  regiment.  Cap- 
tain Daniel  was  born  in  Stamford,  December  30, 
1858,  and  received  a  high  school  education.  He  is 
engaged  in  the  brokerage  business,  being  the 
senior  member  of  the  firm  of  Wm.  F.  Daniel  & 
Bro.,  with  office  at  No.  62  Broadway,  New  York 
city.  Captain  Daniel  spent  one  year  at  sea  as 
purser  between  New  York  and  the  West  Indies. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Manhattan  Athletic  Club, 
one  of  the  crack  clubs  of  the  metropolis,  the  Re- 
publican Club,  and  the  New  York  Wheel  Club.  He 
was  at  one  time  president  of  the  Young  Men's  Re- 


W.    F.    DANIEL. 


WILLIAM  CONRAD  WILE,  A.M.,  M.D.,  Dan- 
bury  :  Physician. 

This  well  known  physician  and  surgeon  was  born 
in  Pleasant  Valley,  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  Jan- 
uary 23,  1847.  He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Benja- 
min F.  Wile,  a  noted 
Presbyterian  minister, 
and  Betty  Buckley,  a  lad)' 
from  one  of  the  prominent 
families  of  the  state. 

His  early  education  was 
acquired  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  Rev.  Edgar 
Poe  Roe,  who  occupied  at 
the  time  a  prominent 
place  among  the  teachers 
of  that  state,  and  among 
whose  pupils  were  num- 
w.  c.  WILE.  bered    many   who     have 

since  gained  prominence 
and  reputation.  Under  this  efficient  tutorship  he 
remained  several  3'ears,  acquiring  an  extensive 
knowledge  and  proficiency  in  various  branches  of 
learning.  In  1871  he  was  married  to  Miss  Eliza 
Scott  Garrison  of  New  York,  who,  after  several 
3'ears  of  devoted  companionship,  succumbed  to 
disease  of  the  lungs,  perpetuating,  however,  in  an 
only  daughter  her  many  prominent  and  endearing 
qualities.  At  the  beginning  of  the  rebellion  he  re- 
sponded to  the  urgent  demands  of  the  occasion, 
and  became  a  member  of  Company  G,  150th  New 
York  volunteers,  serving  as  private  for  two  years 
and  eight  months,  during  this  time  marching  with 
Sherman  to  the  sea.  In  accordance  with  a  long- 
cherished  desire  to  practice  medicine,  he  began 
in  1865  the  study  of  that  profession,  and  in  1870 
received  his  degree  of  M.D.  from  the  medical 
department  of  the  University  of  the  city  of  New 
York.  After  graduation  he  engaged  in  medical 
practice  in  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  and  High- 
land, N.  Y.,  but  afterwards  removed  to  Newtown, 
Conn.,  where  for  years  he  was  engaged  in  profes- 
sional work,  which  was  distributed  over  a  large 
territory,  and  of  which  surgery  formed  a  prominent 
feature.  During  this  period  he  conceived  the  idea 
of  founding  a  medical  journal,  and  the  outcome 
was  the  New  Efigland  Medical  Mojithly — a 
publication  which,  by  reason  of  its  many  distinct- 
ive features,  soon  acquired  popularity  and  took  a 
foremost  position  among  the  medical  journals  of 
the  day,  its  circulation  in  this  (the  tenth)  year  of  its 


BIOGRAPHY  OF   CONNECTICUT. 


363 


existence  being  equaled  by  few  medical  publica- 
tions of  this  country. 

His  professional  and  literary  attainments  were 
destined  ere  long  to  receive  further  recognition,  for 
in  18S7  he  was  tendered  the  professorship  of  Mental 
and  Nervous  diseases  in  the  Medico-Chirurgical  Col- 
lege of  Philadelphia,  where  his  success  as  a  prac- 
titioner and  his  skill  in  imparting  information  ren- 
dered him  a  highly  popular  and  valued  teacher. 
Yet,  as  might  be  inferred,  this  specialty  and  the 
conditions  attending  city  life  were  not  wholly  con- 
genial; so  that,  having  received  urgent  inducements 
to  go  elsewhere,  he  rerrioved  to  Danbury,  Conn., 
where  he  has  ever  since  been  engaged  in  the  duties 
of  his  profession.  Soon  after  his  return  to  Connecti- 
cut he  was  tmited  in  marriage  to  Miss  Hattie  Adele 
Loomis  of  New  Haven,  an  accomplished  lady,  who, 
with  his  daughter.  Miss  Alice,  supply  all  the  pleas- 
ant features  of  domestic  life,  and  dispense  their 
hospitality  with  a  lavish  hand. 

The  specialty  of  surgery  has  always  received 
from  him  more  or  less  attention,  and  by  reason  of 
his  knowledge  of  anatomy  and  his  marked  me- 
chanical ingenuity  he  has  made,  from  time  to  time, 
valuable  contributions  to  this  department  of  medi- 
cine. His  success  in  nearly  all  the  major  opera- 
tions, as  well  as  in  the  specialty  of  abdominal 
surgery,  have  likewise  added  to  his  reputation,  and 
given  him  an  extended  consultation  practice 
throughout  the  southern  portion  of  the  state.  He 
holds  the  positions  of  Medical  Examiner  of  the  town 
of  Danbury  and  surgeon  of  both  the  Housatonic 
and  New  England  railroads.  His  deep  interest  in 
medical  organizations  of  various  kinds  is  well 
known,  and  has  gained  for  him  an  extended  ac- 
quaintance among  the  members  of  the  profession, 
both  in  this  country  and  Europe.  Among  the 
offices  which  he  has  held  may  be  mentioned  those 
of  vice-president  of  the  American  Medical  Associa- 
tion, president  of  the  American  Medical  Editors' 
Association,  president  of  the  Fairfield  County 
Medical  Societj-,  president  of  the  Danbury  Medical 
Societ^^  secretary  of  the  Section  of  Anatomy  of  the 
Ninth  International  Medical  Congress,  as  well  as 
member  of  the  British  Medical  Association  (to  which 
he  has  been  a  delegate),  member  of  the  Medico-Legal 
Society,  Connecticut  State  Medical  Society,  and 
various  other  organizations. 

Dr.  Wile  is  a  prolific  writer,  and  has  contributed 
to  these  societies,  and  to  the  medical  publications 
of  this  and  other  countries,  many  important  papers 
tipon  surgical,  medico-legal,  and  other  subjects. 
In  addition  to  such  work,  he  is  occupied  with  the 
editorship  of  the  MontJily,  and  another  more  re- 
cent publication  entitled.  The  Prescr/pt/on,  which 
has  already  acquired  a  large  circulation.  His 
literary  acquirements,  which  are  of  a  high  order, 
and  his  interest  in  educational  matters,  have  won 


for  him  a  deserved  recognition  from  the  Central 
College  of  Kentucky,  which  a  few  years  ago 
awarded  him  the  honorary-  degree  of  A.M.  Dr. 
Wile  is  likewise  well  known  in  social  circles.  He  is 
a  prominent  Knight  Templar,  and  Thirty-Second 
Degree  Mason,  and  a  member  of  many  fraternal 
and  business  organizations.  In  politics  he  has 
always  been  identified  with  the  republican  party. 

His  wide  professional  knowledge  and  executive 
ability  have  won  for  him  a  foremost  place  in  the 
medical  profession,  while  his  many  attractive 
qualities  of  mind  and  heart  have  placed  him  high 
in  the  esteem  of  all  who  know  him. 

J-  J-  K- 

JOSEPH    HOWARD  NORTH,  M.D.,    Goshen: 

Town  Clerk  and  Registrar. 

Dr.  North  has  resided  in  Goshen  since  the  fall  of 
1873.  He  graduated  from  the  Long  Island  Col- 
lege Hospital,  June  26,  1873,  and  immediately  es- 
tablished himself  in  prac- 
tice in  the  town  where  he 
now  resides.  He  was 
born  at  Cornwall,  Janu- 
ary 15,  1S46,  and  received 
a  thorough  English  edu- 
cation at  Alger  Institute 
in  Cornwall,  then  man- 
aged by  Colonel  Petti- 
bone,  and  in  the  public 
grammar  schools  of  New 
York  city.  While  in  the 
metropolis  he  was  espe- 
cially influenced  by  Dr. 
Jackson  Bolton,  father  of 
H.  Carrington  Bolton,  Ph.D.,  (who  was  until 
recently  identified  with  Trinity  College  of  Hart- 
ford, as  Professor  of  Chemistry,)  and  by  Col.  B.  S. 
Alexander  of  the  United  States  Engineer  Corps. 
The  former  was  a  relative  by  marriage  of  the  Doc- 
tor's father,  Mr.  Joseph  North.  Colonel  Alexander 
desired  the  lad's  matriculation  at  West  Point,  but 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  interfered  with  the  plan. 
In  1 868  Dr.  North  commenced  the  regular  study  of 
medicine  under  the  direction  of  his  uncle,  Dr.  B. 

B.  North  of  Cornwall,  remaining  under  his  instruc- 
tion until  1 87 1.  He  then  removed  to  Potter  county, 
Pa. ,  with  a  brother-in-law,  L.  N.  Whiting,  and  en- 
gaged in  business.     There  he  married  Miss  Mary 

C.  Hurd,  daughter  of  Harry  Hurd,  Esq.,  of  Gene- 
see, Pa.,  and  returned  to  Connecticut.  He  has 
taken  an  active  part  in  pubHc  affairs,  and  has  held 
numerous  local  offices,  including  that  of  constable 
and  school  visitor  in  Cornwall,  town  clerk  in 
Goshen,  and  member  of  the  legislature  from  that 
place  in  18S4,  serving  with  credit  on  the  democratic 
side.  He  belongs  to  the  Patrons  of  Husbandry, 
and  is  a  member  of  the  Litchfield  Countv  Medical 


J.    H.    NORTH. 


364 

Society  and  the  Connecticut  Medical  Association. 
There  are  three  children  in  the  family,  two  sons 
and  a  daughter. 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


RODNEY    DENNIS. 


tile 


RODNEY  DENNIS,  Hartford:  Secretary  Trav- 
elers Insurance  Company. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born  at  Topfield, 
Mass.,  January  14,  1826  ;  the  son  of  a  Congrega- 
tional clergj'man  of  considerable  distinction  in  his 
profession,  whose  minis- 
try covered  a  period  of 
fifty  years.  Within  a  few 
j^ears  after  the  birth  of 
this  son,  the  family  re- 
moved from  Topfield 
to  Somers,  in  Tolland 
county,  Conn.,  where  the 
young  man  spent  several 
years  in  acquiring  an  ed- 
ucation at  the  public 
schools.  At  the  age  of 
sixteen  he  came  to  Hart- 
ford, and  for  ten  years 
was  engaged  in  mercan- 
pursuits,  first  as  a  clerk,  and  later  in  busi- 
ness on  his  own  account.  He  afterwards  spent 
two  years  in  business  in  Augusta,  Ga.,  and  was 
for  a  short  time  a  resident  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  Re- 
turning to  Hartford  in  1855,  he  engaged  with  the 
Phoenix  Bank  of  this  city  as  an  accountant,  contin- 
uing this  connection  for  nine  years.  In  1864  the 
Travelers  Insurance  Company  of  Hartford  was 
chartered  ;  and  at  the  request  of  its  president,  Jlr. 
J.  G.  Batterson,  and  the  newly-elected  board  of 
directors,  Mr.  Dennis  became  secretarj^  of  the  com- 
pany, and  has  ever  since  held  that  position,  — a  pe- 
riod of  twenty-seven  years.  He  was  by  education 
and  training  admirably  qualified  for  the  duties  of 
his  office,  and  brought  to  this  comparatively  untried 
field  of  insurance  effort  a  vigilant  and  active  mind 
which  quickly  and  easily  grasped  every  situation  ; 
a  tenacity  of  purpose  which  pursued  every  possible 
advantage  to  a  successful  issue  ;  a  painstaking  and 
methodical  habit  which  enabled  him  to  present  al- 
ways a  lucid  and  orderly  solution  of  all  the  intricacies 
of  his  department  ;  a  disposition  disciplined  by  expe- 
rience, which  made  him  an  agreeable  official  with 
his  associates  and  patrons  ;  and  an  inflexible  sense 
of  honor  and  rectitude,  which  secured  for  him  the 
implicit  confidence  of  the  company  and  the  public. 
He  has  been  a  conscientious  and  earnest  worker, 
and  any  intelligent  analysis  of  the  phenomenal  suc- 
cess which  has  attended  The  Travelers  Insurance 
Company  during  the  last  quarter  of  a  century  must 
include  his  efforts  among  those  which  have  contrib- 
uted thereto  most  effectively. 

Mr.  Dennis  is  prominently  identified  with  various 


charitable  and  humane  enterprises  and  institutions 
in  Hartford.  He  is,  and  has  been  since  its  founda- 
tion, president  of  the  Connecticut  Humane  Societj'; 
auditor  and  member  of  the  executive  committee  of 
the  Connecticut  Bible  Societ3%  and  chairman  of 
its  finance  committee;  vice-president  of  the  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association  ;  a  director  in  the  Con- 
necticut Fire  Insurance  Compan}',  and  one  of  the 
three  American  trustees  of  the  Lion  Fire  Insurance 
Company  of  London  ;  a  trustee  in  the  Societ}-  for 
Savings  and  the  Hartford  Trust  Company  ;  a 
director  in  the  Hartford  City  Gas  Light  Company 
and  the  Farmington  Power  Company  ;  and  is 
officially  and  otherwise  connected  with  various 
other  financial  institutions  in  which  The  Travelers 
is  interested.  In  politics  Mr.  Dennis  is  a  republi- 
can of  the  truest  type.  His  religious  connections 
are  with  the  Center  church  (Dr.  Walker's)  of  Hart- 
ford. 


CHAUNCEY  B.  WEBSTER,  W.aterkurv. 

Chauncey  B.  Webster  was  born  in  Burlington, 
June  19,  1826,  and  received  a  common  school  and 
academic  education,  completing  the  course  in  the 
academy  at  Harwinton. 
He  has  served  two  years 
in  the  general  assembly, 
and  has  held  numerous 
public  offices  in  the  city 
of  Waterbu^J^  For  ten 
years  he  was  a  member 
of  the  board  of  aldermen, 
two  in  the  council  and 
eleven  on  the  board  of 
assessors.  He  is  at  pres- 
ent chairman  of  the  Cen- 
ter school  district  finance 
committee.  In  politics 
Mr.  Webster  is  a  demo- 
crat. He  was  a  charter  member  of  the  City  Guard 
in  1854,  and  has  been  prominently  associated  with 
the  Masonic  order  for  years,  being  a  member  of 
Harmony  Lodge  in  Waterbury  and  of  Clark  Com- 
mandery.  Knights  Templar.  He  is  also  a  member 
of  the  order  of  Odd  Fellows,  Knights  of  Pythias, 
and  Red  Men.  He  is  connected  with  the  Congre- 
gational church  in  Waterbury,  and  has  retired  from 
business.  His  various  occupations  have  included 
that  of  house  painter,  carman,  and  coal  dealer. 
He  removed  to  Waterbury  in  1843  and  has  since 
resided  in  that  city.  From  the  time  he  was 
nine  years  of  age  until  his  removal  to  Water- 
bury he  worked  on  a  farm.  His  success  in  life 
has  been  due  to  his  personal  energy  and  man- 
agement. His  wife,  who  is  now  living,  with 
three  children,  was  Miss  Louisa  Thayer  prior  to 
her  marriage. 


C.    B.    WEBSTER. 


BIOGRAPHY    OF   CONNECTICUT. 


365 


GEORGE      W.      ROUSE,      Vountow.n  :      Post- 
master. 

George  W.  Rouse  was  born  at  Griswold,  Febru- 
ary 20,  1S47,  and  receiv-ed  a  public  school  educa- 
tion. His  boyhood  was  spent  in  a  cotton-mill  at 
Voluntown,  but  at  the 
age  of  sixteen  he  obtained 
employment  in  a  Nor- 
wich hotel.  One  year 
later  he  enlisted  in  the 
Twelfth  Connecticut  and 
served  with  that  com- 
mand at  New  Orleans 
and  in  the  Shenandoah 
under  Sheridan,  being  in 
the  hottest  of  the  fight  at 
Cedar  Creek.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Grand 
Army  and  is  actively  in-  q.  vv.  rouse. 

terested  in  the  welfare  of 

the  soldiers.  Mr.  Rouse  is  a  member  of  Mount 
Vernon  Lodge,  No.  75,  F.  and  A.  M.,  of  Jewett 
City,  and  is  connected  with  the  order  of  Odd  Fel- 
lows and  the  Ancient  Order  of  United  Workmen. 
The  family  of  Postmaster  Rouse  consists  of  his 
wife  and  four  children,  three  sons  and  one 
daughter.  The  former  was  Hattie  Maynard  be- 
fore her  marriage.  He  has  held  the  offices  of 
grand  juror,  notary  public,  and  registrar  of  births, 
deaths,  and  marriages.  He  is  a  republican  in 
politics.  He  is  engaged  in  the  grocery  and  con- 
fection erv  business. 


HON.    MICHAEL   J.    Hr^ULIHAN,   Newtown: 

Hotel  Proprietor. 

Michael  J.  Houlihan  is  a  native  of  Newtown, 
where  he  was  born  January  7,  1858,  and  educated 
at  the  common  schools  and  academy.  He  has  al- 
ways been  a  resident  of 
Newtown,  and  has  fol- 
lowed the  business  of  ho- 
tel keeping,  his  hostelry 
being  one  of  the  best 
known  in  southwestern 
Connecticut.  He  has  held 
the  esteem  of  his  fellow- 
townsman  to  a  great  de- 
gree, having  been  town 
clerk  since  18S7,  registrar 
of  voters,  clerk  of  the  pro- 
bate court,  representative 
in  the  lower  house  of  the 
legislature  in  1885,  and 
senator  from  the  district  in 
ter  term  he  was  chairman  of  the  labor  committee 
and  of  the  committee  on  military  affairs.  Mr. 
Houlihan  has  always  been  a  democrat,  and  for  the 


M.    J.    HOULIHAN. 

91.     During  this  lat- 


last  three  campaigns  has  been  upon  the  state  cen- 
tral committee  of  that  party,  and  during  the  cam- 
paign of  1890  was  on  the  executive  committe,  rep- 
resenting Fairfield  county.  His  wife  was  Annie  M. 
Slavin,  and  he  has  two  children.  He  is  prominently 
connected  with  the  Knights  of  Columbus,  the  For- 
esters, and  the  Brotherhood  of  Elks.  He  is  in  re- 
ligious belief  and  membership  a  Catholic.  j\Ir. 
Houlihan  is  one  of  the  most  popiilar  men  in  the 
democratic  wing  of  the  senate.  He  is  proverbial 
for  his  hospitality,  which  was  very  gracefully  ex- 
tended to  his  colleagues  of  the  senate  at  a  recep- 
tion held  by  him  at  his  hotel  in  Newtown  last  Feb- 
ruary, and  greatly  enjoyed  by  his  distinguished 
guests. 


B.    SPRAGUE. 


WILLIAM   B.  SPRAGUE,  Andover:  Farmer. 

William  B.  Sprague  of  Andover  represented  the 
twenty-third  senatorial  district  in  the  state  senate 
during  the  session  of  1SS9,  being   chairman  of  the 
important  committees  on 
agriculture  and  labor.    In 
both  of  these  positions  his 
services     were    of    great 
value     to     the     working 
classes.      He  is  a  republi- 
can  in  politics,    and   has 
held   important   local   of- 
fices,    including    that   of 
first  selectman  and  town 
agent.      He  is  one  of  the 
trustees     of     the     Storrs 
Agricultural   School,  and 
a  member  of  the  building 
committee,   and   superin- 
tended the  building  of  the  new  school  buildings 
which  were  built  in  1890.     He  is  also  superintend- 
ent   and    treasurer    of     the    Andover     Creamery 
Company.     Ex-Senator   Sprague  is  a  member  of 
the    First   Ecclesiastical  society  in  Andover.     He 
is  the  owner  of   Maple   Grove   Farm,  and   is  the 
master  of  the  Andover  Grange.     His  business  pur- 
suits   have    required    him    to    travel    extensively 
through  the  south  and  west.      He  was  formerly 
connected  with  the  newspaper  advertising  depart- 
ment of  the  firm  of  Dr.  J.  C.  Ayer  &  Co.  of  Lowell, 
Mass.     The  senator  was  boi-n  in  Andover,  May  6, 
1849,  and  was  educated  in  the  public  schools  and 
at  the  Natchaug  High  school  in  Willimantic.      His 
father  was  Benjamin  Sprague,  who  represented  the 
town  of  Andover  in  the  legislature  in  1857;  and  the 
Rev.  Dr.  William  B.  Sprague,  for  forty-one  years 
the  pastor   of  the  Second  Presbyterian  church  in 
Albany,  N.  Y.,  was  his  uncle.     He  was  formerly  a 
resident   of   Manchester,   living  in  that  town   for 
four  years  and  a  half.     He  was   married  Nov.  ig, 
1872,  to  Miss  Lizzie  S.  Lathrop,  who  is  still  living. 


366 


AN    ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR 


?.  -v; 


T.  AV.  HANXUM,  Hartforu:  Principal  of  Han- 
num's  Hartford  Business  College. 
T.  W.  Hannum  was  born  in  central  New  York, 
town   of   Preble,    Cortland   count}'.      His    parents 
were  born  in  New  England,  his  father  in  Massachu- 
setts, his  mother  in  Con- 
necticut.     His   father, 
though    not   a    c  o  1 1  e  ge 
graduate,    taught    school 
while  a  young  man,  and 
also    evening   classes    in 
singing.     He  was  one  of 
the  earliest   abolitionists, 
and    at     one     time     was 
the  only  one  in  the  town 
where   he   lived.      When 
the  subject  of  this  sketch 
was   ten    years    old,   the 
family  moved   to  the  ad- 

T.    W.    HANNUM.  ^ 

joining  town  of  Homer, 
where  he  grew  to  early  manhood,  attending  the 
common  school  summer  and  winter,  until  he  was 
sixteen,  and  winters  onl5^  afterwards,  for  two  or 
three  years.  In  the  public  schools  he  was  specially 
commended  for  his  improvement  in  penmanship 
when  the  committeemen  came  around  on  their 
annual  tour  of  examination.  Being  skillful  in  mak- 
ing and  mending  the  quill  pens  that  were  formerly 
in  use,  he  had  considerable  of  this  part  of  the  teach- 
er's work  to  do.  The  last  two  years  before  he  was 
of  age  he  was  engaged  in  mechanical  work  with 
his  father,  who  was  a  fine  mechanic,  and  was  paid 
wages  during  his  twenty-first  j-ear.  While  thus  en- 
gaged, ever}-  newly-planed  board  offered  an  invita- 
tion to  indulge  his  taste  for  penmanship,  which  he 
accepted,  and  with  chalk  or  pencil  covered  its  sur- 
face with  off-hand  letters. 

In  those  days  he  attended  evening  singing 
schools,  and  readily  learned  to  read  music.  While 
at  his  daily  work  he  used  to  indulge  his  fancy  by 
seeing  himself,  in  imagination,  as  a  teacher  of  sing- 
ing schools  and  leader  of  choirs,  which  was  after- 
wards realized  to  some  extent.  At  this  time  he 
also  undertook  the  construction  of  a  violin,  but 
gave  it  up  for  want  of  proper  facilities.  These 
things  are  mentioned  as  showing  how  the  dreams 
of  youth  are  often  prophetic  of  what  is  realized  in 
later  years.  About  this  time  he  became  a  Chris- 
tian, and  joined  a  Congregational  church.  Hav- 
ing a  desire  to  extend  his  education  as  a  means  of 
usefulness,  he  started,  with  money  that  he  had 
earned,  in  company  with  the  son  of  a  neighboring 
abolitionist,  for  New  York  Central  College,  an  in- 
stitution that  had  been  recently  founded,  at  Mc- 
Grawville,  upon  anti-slavery  principles,  and  on  the 
same  plan  as  Oberlin  College.  This  classmate  was 
M.  E.  Cravath,  who  afterwards  became  a  minister, 
and    later   president    of    Fisk    Universit}-.        The 


principles  and  spirit  Avhich  brought  the  college 
into  existence  were  naturally  shared  by  the  stu- 
dents who  were  drawn  to  it,  who  were  of  an  un- 
usually thoughtful  class.  Among  them  was  a  tal- 
ented sister  of  Gen.  J.  R.  Hawley.  While  in 
attendance  at  the  college  he  found  time  to  take  les- 
,sons  in  instrumental  music  and  in  penmanship,  two 
branches  in  which  he  felt  an  especial  interest.  At 
vacation  he  extended  his  lessons  in  penmanship  by 
taking  what  was  called  a  teacher's  course.  He  made 
such  proficienc}'  in  the  art  that  at  the  end  of  his 
course  he  went  home  to  instruct  neighborhood 
classes  in  penmanship.  In  his  morning  class  were 
sisters  of  F.  C.  Carpenter,  who  has  since  become 
famous  as  the  painter  of  "  Lincoln  and  his  Cabinet." 
To  the  evening  class  came  loads  of  young  men  and 
women  riding  in  lumber  wagons,  with  their  hay 
racks  on,  as  they  had  been  used  in  the  fields  during 
the  day. 

On  his  return  to  college  he  was  employed  by  the 
faculty  to  instruct  students  in  the  preparatory  de- 
partment; at  the  same  time  he  instructed  others  on 
his  own  account,  by  which  he  more  than  paid  his 
college  expenses.  After  a  year  and  a  half  at  the 
college,  finding  that  the  change  from  physical  exer- 
cise to  the  confinement  of  study  was  impairing  his 
health,  he  decided  to  give  up  attendance  at  the  col- 
lege and  do  what  good  he  could  in  the  world  as  a 
teacher. 

While  at  the  college,  and  in  vacations,  he  had 
given  lessons  in  vocal  music,  which  he  thought  to 
make  his  life  work,  in  preparing  for  which  he  after- 
wards spent  a  good  deal  of  time  and  money.  But 
finding  himself  adapted  to  teaching  penmanship, 
and  successful  in  it,  hg,  continued  in  that  work. 
Earl}'  in  his  experience  as  a  teacher  he  found  a  way 
to  relieve  students  of  rigidness  in  the  arm.  wrist, 
hand  and  fingers,  which  has  proved  invaluable  to 
hundreds  of  business  men.  After  teaching  a  few 
years  in  some  of  the  large  villages  and  small  cities 
of  southern  and  western  New  York,  finding  that  in 
each  place  where  he  taught  he  had  to  contend  with 
the  influence  of  incompetent  and  unprincipled 
teachers  who  had  preceded  him,  he  decided  to  lo- 
cate in  some  city  large  enough  to  sustain  a  teacher 
continuously,  and  chose  Hartford  as  the  city.  Here 
he  opened  a  school  for  instruction  in  penmanship 
alone,  at  first,  afterwards  was  associated  with 
teachers  of  other  commercial  branches,  and  was  en- 
gaged as  a  special  teacher  in  several  of  the  public 
schools. 

About  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  civil 
war,  Bryant  &  Stratton  opened  a  business  college 
in  Hartford,  which  was  a  link  in  the  chain  of  fifty 
or  more  business  colleges  known  as  "  The  Bryant 
&  Stratton  Chain."  Mr.  Hannum  was  engaged 
to  conduct  the  department  of  business  penmanship 
and  correspondence,  and  to  take  charge  of  the  col- 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


367 


lege  paper  which  was  published  in  the  interest  of 
the  institution.  After  a  few  years  Mr.  Stratton, 
who  was  the  traveling  member  of  the  firm,  died; 
and  just  before  his  death  most  of  the  colleges  were 
sold  to  the  resident  principals.  About  this  time 
Mr.  Hannum  left  the  college  and  established  what 
was  known  as  Hannum's  Commercial  School.  The 
Bryant  &  Stratton  college  was  discontinued  after  a 
few  months,  leaving  Mr.  Hannum  in  sole  posses- 
sion of  the  field.  He  was  assisted  at  first  in  the 
bookkeeping  department  of  his  school  by  a  brother 
of  Judge  Carpenter,  and  was  afterwards  associated 
with  the  late  Prof.  H.  F.  Klinger,  who  was  a 
thorough  scholar  and  capable  teacher.  In  1876  the 
school  was  removed  to  the  new  Batterson  building, 
corner  of  Asylum  and  High  streets,  enlarged  and 
changed  to  a  regular  business  college,  which  took 
the  name  of  Hannuiu's  Hartford  Business  College. 
Mr.  F.  A.  Stedman,  who  after  five  years'  experi- 
ence in  business  had  taken  a  course  at  the  former 
school,  and  developed  an  unusual  talent  for  book- 
keeping and  mathematics,  was  employed,  first  as 
an  assistant,  and  afterwards  became  a  partner  and 
associate  principal.  The  college  had  a  steady 
growth  from  the  first,  which  has  been  largely  in- 
creased during  the  last  few  years.  'Mr.  Hannum 
is  an  educator  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word.  About 
the  time  of  his  coming  to  Hartford  he  became 
acquainted  with  the  principles  of  Pestilozzian  teach- 
ing, which  he  has  applied,  as  far  as  practicable,  to 
his  teaching  of  commercial  branches.  He  draws  out 
the  minds  of  his  students  and  helps  them  to  a  true  and 
harmonious  development  of  their  powers,  and  thus 
assists  them  to  make  the  most  of  themselves.  He  has 
always  taken  a  great  interest  in  young  people  who 
show  that  they  have  a  purpose  in  what  they  do, 
and  a  desire  to  make  the  most  of  their  opportuni- 
ties for  improvement.  Hundreds  who  are  now 
holding  prominent  positions  got  their  start  by  the 
help  of  his  training.  Last  year  (iSgo)  he  delivered 
the  address  on  "  Bu.siness  Correspondence"  at  the 
twelfth  annual  meeting  of  the  Business  Educators' 
Association  of  America,  held  at  Chautauqua,  N.  Y. ; 
this  year  he  is  to  speak  on  ' '  First  Lessons  in  Pen- 
manship," at  the  same  place. 

Mr.  Hannum  is  a  member  of  the  Fourth  Congre- 
gational church,  of  which  he  has  been  a  deacon 
about  twenty  years. 

When  a  boy  he  learned  to  play  the  violin,  and 
has  always  taken  much  interest  in  the  instrument. 
In  1874  he  saw  the  late  Dr.  S.  G.  Moses  making  a 
violin,  and  said  to  the  doctor,  "  I  wish  I  could 
make  a  violin."  The  doctor  told  him  he  could,  and 
that  he  would  assist  him  if  he  needed  assistance. 
With  the  doctor's  help  he  made  one,  and  while 
away  on  a  vacation  made  another.  After  he  had 
made  three  or  four,  the  doctor  said  to  him  one  day, 
"  I  have  been  looking  over  j^our  last  violin,  and 


have  made  up  my  mind  that  if  you  continue  mak- 
ing violins  you  will  some  day  make  as  good  ones  as 
have  ever  been  made."  At  first  the  difference  in 
tone  of  violins  which  looked  alike  was  a  perfect 
mystery;  but  he  had  the  patience  to  work  out  the 
problem,  point  by  point,  until  the  making  of  a  first- 
class  instrument  was  mastered.  In  spare  mo- 
ments, on  Saturdays,  and  during  vacations  he  has 
made  fifty-three  violins.  His  instruments  have 
attracted  much  attention  and  are  highly  prized  by 
those  who  own  them.  One  of  them  was  owned  by 
the  late  G.  Edward  Bishop,  violinist  and  teacher, 
who  was  well  known  in  Hartford  ;  he  became  so 
attached  to  this  violin  that  in  his  last  sickness  he 
kept  it  within  reach  on  his  bed,  and  at  his  funeral  it 
w^as  placed  upon  his  coffin.  Having  made  violins  as 
a  recreation,  and  not  as  a  business,  his  aim  has  been 
to  make  as  perfect  an  instrument  as  possible,  in  all 
respects.  In  addition  to  beauty  of  form,  he  has 
succeeded  in  putting  into  them  that  emotional 
quality  of  tone  which  moves  the  feelings  of  both 
player  and  listener.  He  carried  the  same  desire  for 
perfection  into  his  violin  work  that  he  has  always 
shown  in  his  teaching,  and  some  who  have  seen  his 
later  instruments  think  the  prediction  of  Dr.  Moses 
is  likely  to  be  verified.  It  has  been  said,  by  one  who 
has  looked  into  the  matter  thoroughly,  that  only 
one  or  two  men  in  a  century  combine  all  the  quali- 
fications necessary  for  the  making  of  a  ^'iolin  that 
is  first-class  in  all  respects.  Mr.  Hannum  had  the 
advantage  of  a  mechanical  talent,  the  use  of  tools, 
patience  to  investigate  and  caution  in  working  out 
the  results  of  investigation,  sufficient  knowledge  of 
the  instrument  to  be  a  judge  of  tone,  and  an  eye 
trained  to  curves  and  beauty  of  form  by  the  work 
of  his  profession.  He  has  also  had  the  advantage 
of  examining,  from  time  to  time,  some  of  the  most 
perfect  instruments  of  the  celebrated  Cremona 
makers,  in  the  collection  of  Mr.  R.  D.  Hawley  of 
Hartford. 

He  made  the  selection  of  violin  wood  a  careful 
study,  and  did  not  varnish  any  of  his  instruments 
until  he  had  learned  the  secret  of  making  the  finest 
amber,  oil  varnish,  with  dragon's  blood  color  incor- 
porated. The  increase  of  his  business  college 
work  now  leaves  him  but  little  time  for  work  on 
violins,  but  he  hopes  to  be  able  to  make  one  or 
two  a  year  in  vacations. 

Mr.  Hannum  was  married  in  1859  to  Miss  Eliza- 
beth T.  Wright,  of  Elmira,  N.  Y.  There  has  been 
but  one  child,  a  son,  T.  W.  Hannum,  Jr.,  who  is  at 
present  in  the  office  of  the  Connecticut  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company  in  this  city.  He  inherits  musi- 
cal tastes  from  both  father  and  mother,  is  a  cul- 
tured vocalist,  and  has  for  some  time  taken  charge 
of  the  music  at  one  of  our  Congregational  churches. 

By  a  strictly  temperate  life,  and  attention  to 
matters  of  health,   Mr.   Hannum  has  kept  himself 


368 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


young  in  feeling  and  appearance.  He  was  never 
more  active,  mentallj-  or  physically,  than  at  the 
time  this  sketch  is  written. 


O.  A.   HISCOX,  Woodstock  :  Grain  and  Lumber 
Dealer. 

O.  A.  Hiscox  was  born  in  Woodstock  Valley, 
August  21,  1854,  and  received  a  public  school  and 
academic  education.  He  is  the  master  of  Crystal 
Lake  Grange,  and  is  the 
chairman  of  the  republi- 
can town  committee  in 
Woodstock.  He  is  r e - 
garded  as  one  of  the  most 
active  young  republicans 
in  his  section  of  the  state. 
He  has  held  the  offices  of 
justice  of  the  peace,  con- 
stable, and  grand  juror. 
In  1S83  he  was  one  of  the 
messengers  in  the  House, 
and  in  1886  occupied  a 
similar  position  in  the 
Senate.  He  is  the  owner 
of  saw  and  grist  mills  at  Woodstock  Valley,  and  is 
also  engaged  in  farming.  Mr.  Hiscox  is  a  descend- 
ant of  the  earliest  settlers  in  that  locality.  His 
grandfather.  Lieutenant  David  Hiscock,  was  in  the 
revolutionar}-  army  under  General  Samuel  McClel- 
lan.  Mr.  Hiscox  was  married  in  1884,  his  wife  be- 
ing Miss  Lillian  E.  Briggs  of  Pomfret.  He  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  great  energy  and  perseverance,  and  un- 
questionably has  a  successful  future  before  him. 


O.    A.    HISCOX. 


CHARLES  PHELPS,  Rockville:  La^-yer. 

Charles  Phelps,  who  holds  the  Tolland  count}- 
coronership,  and  is  the  city  attorney  of  Rockville 
under  the  municipal  government,  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  house  in  1885, 
and  served  with  credit  on 
the  judiciary  committee. 
He  is  a  republican  in  pol- 
itics, and  an  influential 
member  of  the  Tolland 
county  bar.  He  is  at 
present  a  member  of  the 
state  board  of  examiners 
for  the  admission  of  at- 
.  >- \  ,  xit^yy^//  torneys,  receiving  his  ap- 
^^  •  , dr  y^  pointment  from  the 
judges  of  the  superior  and 
supreme  courts.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Methodist 
church,  and  a  graduate  of  Wesleyan  University. 
While  in  college  he  was  a  member  of  the  Psi  Upsi- 
lon  fraternity,  and  is  now  connected  with  the  order 
of  Odd  Fellows.     The  wife  of  i\Ir.  Phelps,  who  died 


CHARLES    PHELrS. 


Sept.  30,  18S8,  was  Miss  Leila  L.  Bill,  daughter  of 
States  Attorney  Benezet  H.  Bill,  and  niece  of  Judge 
Loomis  of  the  supreme  court.  The  father  of  Cor- 
oner Phelps  was  the  Rev.  B.  C.  Phelps,  a  Metho- 
dist clergyman,  who  is  still  living  at  the  age  of 
eighty  years.  The  subject  of  this  sketch  was  born 
in  East  Hartford,  Aug.  10,  1852,  and  has  resided  at 
Wethersfield,  East  Greenwich,  R.  I.,  Middletown, 
and  Rockville.  He  is  a  gentleman  of  superior 
training,  and  is  held  in  marked  esteem  by  the  mem- 
bers of  his  profession. 


HENRY  R.  PALMER,  Stomngton:    Joumahst; 
on  editorial  staff  of  "  Providence  Journal." 
Henry  Robinson  Palmer  is  a  native  of  Stoning- 
ton,  and  was  born  Oct.  15,  1867.      He  is  a  son  of 
Ira  Hart  and  Harriet  Trumbull  Palmer,  and  a  direct 
descendant  of  Roger  Sher- 
man of  Connecticut, 
who    signed    the   Bill   of 
Rights,    the    Declaration 
of      Independence,     the 
Articles     of     Federation, 
and  the  Constitution.     He 
is  a  grandson  of  the  Hon. 
John    F.    Trumbull,  who 
^\=%^   was  well  known  through- 
out the  state  as  an  anti- 
slaverj'^  and  early  repub- 
lican leader.     Mr.  Palmer 

H.    R.    PALMER.  ^^   ^^^°  ^  ^^^P^^^^'  «^   ^°°- 

Henry  C.  Robinson  of 
Hartford.  He  is  a  prohibitionist  in  politics,  and 
was  nominated  for  secretary  of  state  by  that  party 
in  1S90.  He  received  the  highest  vote  of  any  can- 
didate on  the  ticket.  He  has  been  the  president  of 
the  Clinton  B.  Fisk  club  at  Stonington  since  its  or- 
ganization in  1888,  and  was  the  prohibition  candi- 
date for  the  legislature  in  Stonington  the  same 
year.  He  is  a  member  of  the  Second  Congrega- 
tional church  in  that  town,  member  of  the  Connec- 
ticut Society  of  the  Sons  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion, and  of  the  college  Delta  Kappa  Epsilon 
fraternity.  Mr.  Palmer  is  a  graduate  of  Brown 
University,  receiving  his  diploma  in  iSgo  a  few 
weeks  prior  to  his  nomination  for  secretary  of 
state.  He  was  chairman,  while  in  college,  of 
the  board  of  editors  of  The  Brunonian,  and  editor- 
in-chief  of  The  Browfi  Magazine,  the  literary 
monthly  of  the  university.  He  was  the  class  poet 
of  1890,  and  a  speaker  at  commencement,  and  his 
literary  qualities  are  of  a  superior  order.  At  gradua- 
ation  he  was  offered  and  accepted  a  position  on  the 
editorial  staff  of  77/1?  Providence  Joiernal,  the 
leading  newspaper  in  Rhode  Island,  and  will 
probably  make  journalism  his  life  profession.  But 
few  young  men  in  the  state  possess  a  brighter  future. 


BIOGRAPHY  OP  CONNECTICUT. 


369 


li.    C.     I'ATTEKbUN. 


B.    C.    PATTERSON,    Torrington  :    Wholesale 

and  Retail  Grain  Merchant. 

Burton  C.  Patterson  was  born  in  Cornwall,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1839,  ^iid  received  a  common  school  edu- 
cation. He  is  engaged  in  the  retail  and  wholesale 
lumber  trade,  in  addition 
to  his  business  as  a  builder 
and  farmer.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  legislature 
in  1884,  representing  the 
town  of  Torrington  in  the 
house,  and  is  a  republican 
in  politics.  He  has  also 
been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  selectmen,  and 
is  at  present  the  town 
auditor.  Mr.  Patterson 
is  prominently  associated 
with  the  Patrons  of  Hus- 
bandry,   being    treasui-er 

of  the  Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company  belonging 
to  the  order,  and  is  chairman  of  the  State  Grange 
executive  committee,  and  State  Grange  purchasing 
agent.  He  is  also  a  member  of  the  United  Order 
of  American  Mechanics,  and  is  thoroughly  inter- 
ested in  the  elevation  of  the  working  classes.  Mr. 
Patterson  has  been  married  twice.  His  first  wife 
was  Miss  Hattie  M.  Beach,  daughter  of  Amzi 
Beach  of  Goshen,  Conn.  The  second  wife,  who  is 
still  living,  was  Miss  Annie  M.  Merwin,  daughter 
of  Samuel  T.  Merwin  of  New  Milford.  There  is 
one  son  by  the  first  wife  and  two  by  the  second. 
Mr.  Patterson  is  connected  with  the  Congregational 
church  in  Torrington,  where  most  of  his  life  has 
been  spent. 

S.  H.  SEWARD,  Putnam:  Attorney-at-Law. 

Major  Samuel  H.  Seward  was  in  the  Fourteenth 
Connecticut  regiment  during  the  war  and  won  a 
most    creditable    record    in    the    field.      He    was 
wounded    four    times    in 
action,  losing  his  left  arm ;  '"-   I> 

and  after  leaving  active 
service  in  the  field,  and 
in  recognition  of  his  gal- 
lantry, he  received  the 
rank  of  major  and  was 
assigned  to  the  pay- 
master's department.  He 
is  at  present  one  of  the 
leading  members  of  the 
Grand  Army  in  eastern 
Connecticut,  and  during 
18S6,  and  again  in  1890, 
was    judge    advocate    of 

the  Department  of  Connecticut.  He  was  born  in 
Guilford,  Conn.,  April  16,  1835,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in   New  Haven  county  in   1869.      The 

34 


S.    H.    SEWARD. 


most  of  his  professional  life  has  been  spent  at  Staf- 
ford and  Putnam.  Since  1885  he  has  been  the 
clerk  of  courts  for  Windham  county.  In  1881  he 
represented  Putnam  in  the  legislature,  winning 
more  than  commonly  falls  to  the  lot  of  members 
during  the  first  session.  He  was  an  able  debater 
on  the  floor  and  his  influence  was  felt  from  the  be- 
ginning to  the  end  of  the  legislative  proceedings. 
Major  Seward  is  a  descendant  of  William  Seward, 
who  emigrated  from  England  to  Lowell,  Mass., 
prior  to  1643  and  removed  to  New  Haven  in  1651. 
Soon  afterwards  he  settled  in  Guilford,  where  the 
family  has  been  represented  from  that  time  till 
now.  The  grandfather  of  Major  Seward,  Timothy 
Seward,  was  a  soldier  of  the  revolution.  The  wife 
of  the  major,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Sarah 
M.  Watson  of  Beloit,  Wis.  There  is  one  son,  who 
is  now  engaged  in  business  in  California,  being  lo- 
cated at  San  Francisco.  Major  Seward  is  a  repub- 
lican in  politics  and  a  member  of  the  Congrega- 
tional church. 


WILFRED  HOPKINS  NETTLETON,  Bristol: 
Manufacturer  of  Clock  Parts  and  Sewing  Ma- 
chines. 

W.  H.  Nettleton  was  born  in  Waterbury,  June 
2,  1825.  After  attendance  at  the  public  schools  of 
Waterbury  and  Bristol,  to  which  latter  place  his 
parents  removed  when  he 
was  twelve  years  old,  he 
went  to  work  in  a  clock 
factory  at  the  age  of  sev- 
enteen, e  ngaging  to  re- 
main for  one  year  at  eight 
dollars  per  month  and 
board.  After  the  expira- 
tion of  his  apprenticeship 
he  entered  into  a  contract 
to  make  certain  parts  of 
clock  movements.  In  the 
execution  of  this  contract 
he  conceived  the  idea  of 
automatic  machinery  for 

making  the  "  pillars,"  "  shafts,"  and  "  arbors,"  and 
by  patience  and  perseverance  succeeded  in  perfect- 
ing machines,  and  obtaining  patents  thereon,  which 
saved  about  one-half  the  labor  and  performed 
the  work  much  better  than  by  the  old  hand  method. 
For  many  years  he  supplied  nearly  all  the  clock 
manufacturers  in  the  country  with  those  parts;  also 
with  the  finer  wire-work  which  regulates  the  strik- 
ing part  of  the  clock  movement,  called  "  lock- 
work,"  using  on  an  average  about  half  a  ton  of 
clock  wire  per  day  —  which  will  give  some  idea  of 
the  number  of  clocks  made  in  this  country.  About 
the  year  1859  he  engaged  in  manufacturing  sewing 
machines   in    Brattleborough,    Vt.,   with    Charles 


H.    NETTLETON. 


3/0 


AN    ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


Raymond,  who  had  been  his  machinist  and  inventor 
for  several  years.  After  building  up  a  very  profit- 
able business,  he  sold  out,  rather  than  to  leave 
Bristol  and  his  clock  business.  Soon  after,  the 
sewing-machine  business  was  removed  to  Guelph, 
Ontario,  where  Mr.  Raymond  has  been  very  suc- 
cessful, employing  two  hundred  workmen  or  more. 
After  prosecuting  the  clock  business  in  Bristol 
about  twenty-five  years,  Mr.  Nettleton  sold  out,  on 
account  of  poor  health,  to  George  A.  Jones,  of  New 
York,  who  removed  to  Bristol  and  conducted  the 
business. 

Mr.  Nettleton  is  married.  His  wife  was  Miss 
Harriet  Newell  Tuttle.  They  have  no  children. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Bristol  Congregational 
church,  and  of  the  republican  party.  He  is  a 
director  in  the  Bristol  National  Bank,  and  has 
been  since  its  incorporation.  He  has  social  con- 
nections with  the  Republican  League  Club  of  New 
Haven  and  with  the  Masonic  fraternity. 


vSAMUEL  L.  BLOSS,  Bethlehem  :  Farmer. 

Mr.  Bloss  is  a  native  of  Bethlehem,  and  was  born 
July  I,  1S20.  His  education  was  in  the  common 
and  high  schools  of  Bethlehem  and  Woodbury, 
and  he  has  followed  agri- 
cultural pursuits.  He  held 
a  military  commission  as 
lieutenant  in  the  cavalry 
in  the  old  "  training 
days  "  of  1842-43.  He  is 
a  democrat,  and  was  ap- 
pointed a  justice  of  the 
peace  when  quite  a  young 
man,  trying  a  large  pro- 
portion of  the  cases  in 
the  town.  He  has  been 
often  honored  by  the 
votes   of    his    townsmen, 

S.    I..    bLUbb. 

and  has  held  nearly  every 
office  in  their  gift.  In  i860  he  was  a  mem- 
l3er  of  the  lower  house  of  the  Connecticut 
legislature,  and  in  1S75  was  elected  to  the 
state  senate.  After  holding  the  office  of  justice  of 
the  peace  for  twenty  years.  Governor  Jewell  for- 
warded to  him  a  commission  as  notary  public,  un- 
sought. He  has  been  a  member  of  the  Crocodile 
Club  of  Hartford  county  and  its  vice-president  since 
its  organization  in  1876.  This  is  a  social  club  of 
some  300  members,  who  meet  annually  in  the  early 
part  of  September  at  Compounce  Lake,  in  the  town 
of  Southington,  for  a  sheep  bake  or  barbecue.  He 
is  also  a  member  of  the  Legislative  Club  of  1875. 
Mr.  Bloss  has  been  twice  married,  his  second  wife, 
who  is  still  living,  being  Mary  Tyler  of  Middlebury. 
He  has  five  children,  one  son  and  four  daughters, 
all  living.  He  is  connected  with  the  Congrega- 
tional church.     In  politics  a  democrat. 


HENRY  E.  H.  GILBERT,   Coventry:   Merchant 
and  Farmer. 

Mr.  Gilbert  was  born  December  17,  1822,  in 
Mansfield,  and  received  his  education  at  the  neigh- 
boring school  and  academies.  He  then  entered  his 
father's  store,  and  at  the 
age  of  eighteen  engaged 
in  teaching  when  his  pres- 
ence was  not  required 
upon  the  farm,  which  he 
superintended.  In  1859 
he  removed  to  Coventry. 
As  a  republican  he  has 
served  in  most  of  the 
offices  in  the  gift  of 
his  townsmen.  He  was 
elected  to  the  house  of 
representatives  for  the 
.sessions  of  1868, 1872,  and 
1885,  and  in  the  latter  was 
house  chairman  of  the  committee  on  temperance. 
He  has  been  a  meinber  of  the  Congregational 
church  for  forty  years,  and  for  an  equal  length  of 
time  either  treasurer  or  committee  of  the  ecclesias- 
tical societies  of  North  Mansfield  and  Coventry. 


E.    H.    GILliEKT. 


p.   B.   SIBLEY,   Brooklyn:    Deputy   Sheriff  and 
Jailer  Windham  County  Jail. 
Preston  P.   Sibley  was  born  in   Eastford,  June 
25,  1840,  and  received  a  common  school  education, 
following  the  occupation  of  farmer  and  mechanic 
for   the   most  part.      He 
resided    in    Eastford    till 
March,  1881,  when  he  re- 
moved to  Brooklyn,  Ct., 
and   took   charge   of   the 
jail.     While   in   Eastford 
he    was    honored    many 
times   by   his    fellow-citi- 
zens, holding  various  of- 
fices within  the  town  and 
county,  and  representing 
the  town  in  the  legislature 
in  I S 73-74;  and  is  one  of 
the    best-known   men    in 

p.    B.    SIBLEY. 

eastern  Connecticut.  He 
was  first  appointed  deputy  sheriff  under  Prescott 
May,  and  reai^pointed  by  C.  H.  Osgood,  which 
position  he  held  until  called  to  take  charge  of  the 
jail.  His  services  at  that  institution  have  been 
highly  appreciated.  Althotigh  having  had  no  pre- 
vious experience  in  prison  management,  he  has 
proved  a  valuable  officer.  His  business  interests 
are  extensive.  He  is  a  director  in  the  Brooklyn 
Savings  Bank,  director  in  the  Windham  County 
Fire  Insurance  Company,  and  its  agent;  and  secre- 
tary,   treasurer,    and    director    of    the     Brooklyn 


BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


371 


Creamery  Company.  He  is  connected  with  the 
Congregational  church  and  society,  and  is  clerk  and 
treasurer  for  both  organizations.  He  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  republican  party  from  its  organ- 
ization, has  been  a  member  of  the  State  Central 
Committee,  and  has  always  worked  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  its  principles.  He  is  a  member  of 
the  Ancient  Order  United  Workmen.  He  has  a 
wife  and  three  children.  Sheriff  Sibley  has  a  host 
of  friends,  won  by  long  continued  efforts  both  in 
public  and  private  business  affairs,  and  is  regarded 
as  one  of  the  most  genial  and  companionable 
of  men,  and  a  force  in  all  matters  of  public 
I^rogress. 


M.    H.    SMITH. 


MARTIN  H.  SMITH,  Sukfield. 

The  subject  of  this  sketch,  who  has  been  con- 
nected with  the  Travelers  Insurance  Company  of 
Hartford  since  1889,  has  spent  most  of  his  life  in 
educational    work.       He 
graduated  from  Williams 
College,    Williamstown, 
Mass.,  in  1S57,  and  spent 
the  following  two  years  as 
instructor  in  mathematics 
at  the  Connecticut  Liter- 
ary Institute,  at  Suffield, 
Conn. ,  where  his  prepara- 
tory course  had  been  pur- 
sued.    In  1859  he  became 
the  principal  of  the  Mays- 
ville  Literary  Institute  at 
Maysville,  Ky. ,  an  institu- 
tion  chartered   with   col- 
legiate privileges,  and  remained  there  until   iSSo, 
when  he  returned  to  Suffield,  having  been  elected 
principal  of  the  institute  by  the  board  of  trustees. 
Mr.  Smith  remained  at  the  head  of  the  school  for 
nine  years.     Prior  to  his  withdrawal  from  the  posi- 
tion he  declined  the  chief  clerkship  of  the  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics,  which  was  offered  to  him  by  Com- 
missioner Hotchkiss.     In  1 871-2  he  was  the  grand 
commander  of  Knights  Templar  in  Kentucky  and 
stands  high  in  Masonry.     The  wife  of  Mr.  Smith, 
who  is  still  living,  was  Miss  Nancie  G.  Thompson! 
daughter  of  Hem.  E.  P.  Thompson  of  East  Granby.' 
There  are  two  daughters,  one  being  the  wife  of 
Charles  L.  Spencer  of  Suffield,  and  the  second  is 
the  wife  of  Elmer  E.    Bailey  and  resides  at  San 
Mateo,  Fla.     Mr.  Smith  has  written  extensively  in 
connection  with  his  life  work.     He  is  a  member  of 
the  Baptist  church  and  is  connected  with  the  re- 
pubHcan  party.     He  was  born  at  Suffield,  August 
5,  1833.     His  parents  were  Henry  and  Lydia  Smith. 
His  father  was  a  farmer  of  moderate  means,  and 
the  family  were  held  in  the  most  thorough  esteem 
in  the  community  where  they  resided. 


CHARLES     H.     MAIN,      North     Stomngton  . 

Farmer. 

Charles  Henry  Main,  first  selectman  of  the  town 
of  North  Stonington,   has  been  a  member  of  the 
legislature  through  two  sessions,  the  first  being  in 
18S3,    and   the   second  in 
1887.    His   colleagues 
from  New  London  county 
included  Colonel  Wm.  H. 
Bently  and  Bryan  F.  Ma- 
han  of  New  London,  N. 
Douglass   Sevin   of   Nor- 
wich,   now   of    the   state 
pharmacy       commission, 
Eben  P.  Couch  of  Ston- 
ington,    the     Hon.     Ste- 
phen A.  Gardner  of  New 
London,  and  E.  Burrows 
Brown  of  Stonington.  He 
has  been  a  member  of  the 
board  of  selectmen  for   nine   years,   and   belongs 
to   the   democratic   party.     He  is  connected   with 
the   Baptist  church,    and   occupies   a  leading   po- 
sition in  the  denomination.  '  Mr.   Main  has  been 
married  twice.    The  first  wife  was  :\riss  Louisa  Mi- 
ner,  who  died  September   12,    1875.     The  second 
wife  was  the  twin  sister  of  the  first,  Lovisa  Miner, 
and  is  still  living.     There  are  four  children  in  the 
family.     Mr.  Main  was  born  January  3,  1837,  and 
received  a  common  school  education.    His  business 
is  that  of  a  farmer. 


NORMAN  A.  WILSON,  Harwin'ton:  Farmer. 

Norman  Addison  Wilson  is  a  descendant  of  Rev. 
John  Wilson,  who  emigrated  from  Windsor,  Eng- 
land, and  was  the  first  one  of  the  name  in   New 
England,  arriving  in  Bos- 
ton   in    1630.      The   sub- 
ject   of   this    sketch    was 
born  in   Harwinton,   De- 
cember 16,  1S19,  and  re- 
ceived an  academic  edu- 
cation,    completing      his 
studies    in   Western    Re- 
serve   College     in    Ohio. 
Mr.  Wilson  has  been  en- 
gaged in  farming  and  the 
lumber    trade,    and   is   a 
prominent   business  man 
in  his  locality.     With  the 
exception    of    one    year, 
which  was  spent  as  a  book  agent  in  the  South.  Mr. 
Wilson  has   resided  at  Harwinton.     He  was  mar- 
ried June   30,  1 841,  his  wife  being  Miss  Harriett 
Latham  Griswold,  only  daughter  of   Oliver  (zris- 
wold  of  Windsor.       She  was   born  May   7,    1819. 
The  golden  wedding  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Wilson  oc- 
curred in  June  of  this  year.     There  are  six  children 


A.    WILSON. 


372 


AN   ILLUSTRATED   POPULAR 


in  the  family,  four  sons  and  two  daughters.  One 
daughter  died  in  September,  iSgo.  Mr.  Wilson  has 
held  numerous  town  offices,  including  that  of  grand 
juror  for  nine  years,  first  selectman  for  eight, 
justice  of  the  peace  for  twenty,  and  registrar  of 
births,  deaths,  and  marriages  for  ten.  He  has 
been  a  trial  justice  for  a  great  many  years,  and  his 
aim  has  always  been  to  do  to  others  as  he  would 
like  to  be  done  by.  He  is  at  present  a  commis- 
sioner of  the  superior  court,  and  has  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  board  of  relief.  In  1S69  he  was  a 
member  of  the  general  assembly  from  Harwinton, 
serving  as  a  republican  in  that  body.  He  was  an 
original  member  of  the  know  nothing  party  in  this 
state.  His  religious  connections  are  with  the  Con- 
gregational church.  Mr.  Wilson  is  a  valued  corre- 
spondent of  several  Litchfield  county  papers,  and 
is  held  in  high  esteem  in  the  community  where  he 
resides. 

REV.    R.    P.    STANTON,    Norwich:    Congrega- 
tional Clergyman. 

Rev.  Robert  Palmer  Stanton  was  born  in  Belch- 
ertown,  Mass.,  January  20,  1818,  and  was  educated 
at  Monson  Academy  and  Yale  College,  graduating 
from  the  latter  institution 
in  1843.  His  classmates 
included  the  Hon.  Benj. 
T.  Eames  of  Providence, 
R.  I.,  W.  L.  Kingsley  of 
New  Hampshire,  W.  W. 
Atterbury  of  New  York, 
E.  W.  Gilman  of  New 
York,  the  Hon.  Gardner 
Greene  of  Norwich,  Rev. 
Sylvester  Hine  of  Hart- 
ford, and  Rev.  Geo.  A. 
Bryan  of  Scotland.  After 
completing  his  college 
course  Mr.  Stanton  grad- 
uated from  the  Theological  Seminary  and  was 
settled  as  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  at 
Cohoes,  N.  Y.,  remaining  there  for  five  years.  He 
then  accepted  a  pastorate  in  Derby  and  was  called 
from  that  town  to  the  pastoral  charge  of  the  Fourth 
Congi-egational  church  in  Norwich  which  he  occu- 
pied for  twenty-four  years.  He  still  resides  in  Nor- 
wich and  preaches  frequently,  but  is  without  pas- 
toral charge.  In  1852  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  gen- 
eral assembly  of  the  Presbyterian  church  of  the 
United  States  from  the  Presbytery  of  Albany,  and 
was  a  delegate  to  the  National  Congregational 
Council  from  the  New  London  A.ssociation  in  1886. 
He  is  a  member  of  the  Eastern  Connecticut  Con- 
gregational Club.  Mr.  Stanton  is  a  republican  in 
politics.  His  wife,  who  is  still  living,  was  Miss 
Harriet  Jones,  daughter  of  Dr.  Timothy  Jones  of 
Southington.      There    are    two    daughters.      Mr. 


STANTON. 


Stanton  has  been  a  school  visitor  in  Norwich  for 
thirty-three  years,  and  is  thoroughly  interested  in 
educational  work. 

AARON    THOMAS,  Thomaston:  President  Seth 
Thomas  Clock  Compan3\ 

Aaron  Thomas  was  born  in  the  town  of  Ph^mouth, 
in  Litchfield  county,  March  13,  1830,  and  received 
a  common  school  education.  He  is  associated  and 
closely  identified  with  the 
extensive  clock  industries 
in  that  locality,  and  is 
known  throughout  the 
country  as  the  head  of  the 
great  manufacturing  in- 
terests which  the  family 
have  established  in 
Thomaston,  the  place  it- 
self being  named  in  their 
honor  when  it  was  incor- 
porated by  the  legislature 
iniSys.  Mr.  Thomas  was 
born  in  that  part  of  Ply- 
mouth that  was  included 
in  the  new  town.  He  has  been  prominently  identi- 
fied with  local  interests  during  the  entire  period  of 
his  adult  life.  He  is  one  of  the  principal  managers 
of  the  noted  Seth  Thomas  Clock  Company  and  has 
been  its  president  for  the  last  thirty-two  ^-ears. 
In  politics  Mr.  Thomas  is  a  republican  ;  his 
religious  connection  is  with  the  Congregational 
church.  His  family  consists  of  a  wife  and  three 
children.  The  former  was  Miss  Phoebe  A.  Hine 
prior  to  her  marriage.  Mr.  Thomas  is  one  of  the 
most  honored  and  respected  citizens  of  Litchfield 
countv. 


AARON    THOMAS. 


WALTER  P.  WHITE,  Putnam:  Farmer. 

Walter  Peregrine  White  is  of  the  tenth  genera- 
tion in  descent  from  Peregrine  White,  the  first  child 
of  European  parentage  born  in  New  England.  He 
is  a  member  of  Quinne- 
baug  Lodge,  No.  106,  F. 
and  A.  M.  of  Putnam,  al- 
so of  the  American  Order 
of  United  Workmen,  a 
director  of  the  Putnam 
Dairy  Company,  and  of 
the  Connecticut  Dairy- 
men's Association.  He  is 
prominently  associated 
with  the  Farmers  League, 
being  the  president  of  the 
local  and  one  of  the  treas- 
urers of  the  national  or- 
ganization. He  has  been 
the  first  selectman  of  the  town,  occupying  that  of- 
fice in  188S;  and  has  also  held  the  position  of  secre- 


W.    p.    WHITE. 


BIOGRAPHY   OF  CONNECTICUT. 


373 


tary  and  president  of  the  board  of  health.  He  is  a 
member  of  the  Congregational  church,  and  is  a  re- 
publican in  polities.  June  5,  1890,  he  was  married 
to  Julia  Demarest,  the  only  daughter  of  Abraham 
Demarest,  of  the  engraving  firm  of  A.  Demarest  & 
Son,  No.  240  Broadway,  New  York  city.  He  has 
served  for  seven  years  in  Co.  G,  of  the  Third  regi- 
ment, C.  N.  G.,  and  is  a  well-known  National 
Guardsman.  Mr.  White  was  born  in  Putnam,  May 
17.  1S59.  and  received  an  academic  education,  com- 
pleting his  course  in  the  Putnam  High  school.  He 
is  engaged  in  dairying  and  market  gardening. 


DEACON  THOMAS  WATSON,  Winstel.    (De- 
ceased.) 

During  the  last  twenty  years  of  his  life,  from 
1856  to  1876,  no  resident  of  Winsted  was  so  con- 
spicuous in  some  respects  as  Deacon  Thomas  Wat- 
son. A  few  of  his  local 
cotemporaries  were  bet- 
ter known  to  the  outside 
world  —  Elliot  Beardsley , 
John  Boyd,  and  George 
Dudley — but  in  the  realm 
of  intellectual  activity 
Deacon  Watson  possessed 
characteristics  rarely 
found  in  the  man  of  busi- 
ness. He  was  born  a  far- 
mer's son,  and  lived  at 
the  family  homestead  in 
the  adjoining  town  of 
New  Hartford  until  past 

fifty  years  of  age,  when  he  removed  to  Winsted, 
making  the  change  that  he  might  be  relieved  from 
the  care  of  his  large  farm,  and  to  derive  the  social 
advantages  a  village  like  Winsted  offered;  and 
here,  at  the  age  of  fifty-five,  he  engaged  in  the 
lumber  business.  And  though  he  was  dihgent  in 
it*  and  gave  to  it  the  careful  attention  which 
brought  him  pecuniary  success.  Deacon  Watson 
was  always  regarded  by  those  who  knew  him  inti- 
mately to  have  mistaken  his  caUing,  either  in  re- 
maining upon  the  farm  or  in  engaging  in  active 
business.  Had  a  phrenologist  indicated  the  chan- 
nel in  which  he  would  come  to  his  highest  useful- 
ness, he  would  most  likely  have  said  it  would  be 
through  the  divinity  school.  It  is  said  to  have 
been  one  of  the  chief  regrets  of  his  life  that  he  did 
not  receive  a  "  liberal  education."  Notwithstanding 
this  lack,  however,  he  was  to  a  greater  degree  than 
any  townsman  of  his  day  a  thinker,  and  might 
with  good  reason  have  been  called  a  Christian  free- 
thinker. Although  in  good  standing  in  the  church 
with  which  he  was  connected  (Congregational),  he 
refused  to  be  bound  by  dogmatic  utterances  of 
other  men,  however  high  they  might  be  in  ecclesi- 


THOMAS    WATSON. 


astical  authority.  He  reserved  for  himself  the 
right  to  be  his  own  interpreter  of  hidden  mysteries , 
though  his  uprightness  of  life  and  evident  honesty 
of  purpose  shielded  him  from  the  severe  criticism  of 
those  who  held  more  closely  upon  the  line  of  com- 
monly-accepted scripture  interpretation.  He  was 
contemporaneous  with  Dr.  Horace  Bushnell,  Hart- 
ford's noted  and  much-criticized  divine,  for  whom 
he  had  a  strong  admiration,  and  of  whose  writings 
he  was  a  diligent  student.  Those  of  us  who  can 
still  recall  to  mind  Deacon  Watson's  gifts  as  a  re- 
ligious teacher,  and  his  resources  in  arguing  a 
theological  point,  cannot  but  feel  that  he  might 
have  become  distinguished  as  a  scholar  could  he 
have  enjoyed  the  advantages  for  study  which  his 
mind  and  heart  craved.  Politically  Deacon  Wat- 
son was  a  republican,  and  represented  both  New 
Hartford  and  Winchester  in  the  general  assembly. 
He  was  never  politically  ambitious,  however,  car- 
ing more  about  being  on  what  he  believed  to  be 
the  right  side,  and  of  performing  his  duties  as  a 
citizen  in  a  conscientious  and  judicious  manner, 
than  of  being  regarded  with  popular  favor.  He 
possessed  a  keen,  Puritanic  sense  as  to  the  right 
and  wrong  of  things,  which  in  ante-bellum  days 
led  him  to  become  a  strong  anti-slavery  man. 

Deacon  Watson  was  born  in  the  western  part  of 
New  Hartford  (Torringford  society)  in  1800,  and 
died  in  Winsted  March  13,  1876.  His  widow,  a 
daughter  of  the  late  Deacon  Elizur  Curtis  of  New 
Hartford,  still  survives  him  (1891),  as  also  do  his 
three  daughters  —  Mrs.  Dr.  G.  B.  Miller  of  Grand 
Rapids,  Mich. ;  Mrs.  Henry  Gay  of  Winsted,  and 
Mrs.  Edward  R.  Beardslev  of  Hartford. 


FRANCIS  BROWN,  Winsted.     (Deceased.) 

During  the  war  of  the  rebellion  no  resident  of 
Winsted  gave  evidence  of  greater  regard  for  her 
citizen  soldiers  than  did  Francis  Brown,  and  his 
patriotism  was  of  the 
kind  that  T:ook  firm  hold 
upon  his  pocketbook  as 
well  as  his  heart.  It  is 
still  remembered  by  vet- 
erans of  the  war  that 
when  they  were  starting 
for  "  the  front  "  his  part- 
ing hand-clasp  left  within 
theirs  generoiis  gifts  of 
money, pressed  upon  them 
without  ostentation,  with 
the  suggestion  that  it 
might  sometime  prove 
useful.    Nor  did  his  sense 

of  obligation  die  away  the  moment  peace  was  re- 
stored. The  unique  memorial  tower  which  to-day 
is  Winsted's  most  conspicuous  feature  was  made 


FRANCIS    BROWN. 


374 


AN   ILLUSTRATED    POPULAR   BIOGRAPHY   OF   CONNECTICUT. 


possible  by  his  subscription  of  $i,oqo,  his  gift  being 
supplemented  by  several  thousands  more  from  his 
generous  widow,  who  still  survives  him.  The 
story  of  Mr.  Brown's  life  is  full  of  suggestion  and 
inspiration  for  young  men  and  boys  who  aspire  to 
become  useful  and  honored  citizens.  Told  in  brief 
outline  it  runs  as  follows:  He  was  born  in  Hart- 
ford, June  30,  1815.  At  the  age  of  six  years  his 
father  died,  and  at  eleven  he  became  motherless. 
He  was  one  of  ten  children,  and  was  not  born 
"with  a  golden  spoon  in  his  mouth."  Not  long 
after  the  death  of  his  mother  he  was  taken  to  Nor- 
folk, where  he  was  "  bound  out  "  to  a  relative  who 
was  engaged  in  scythe-making.  After  a  faithful 
service  in  that  business  until  about  eighteen,  he 
became  dissatisfied,  having  been  deprived  of  school- 
ingand  clothingpromised  him, and  decided  to  "  strike 
out "  on  his  own  account.  In  his  passage  through 
Winsted  (en  route  to  see  his  sisters  in  Hartford, 
and  making  the  journey  on  foot,  for  he  started  out 
with  but  eight  cents  in  his  pocket)  he  called  upon 
Theodore  Hinsdale,  manager  of  the  Beardsley 
Scythe  Company,  hoping  to  obtain  employment. 
Mr.  Hinsdale  told  the  youngster  there  were  no 
vacant  positions  there;  but,  being  impressed  with 
the  boy's  honest  face,  and  his  willingness  to  under- 


take aiiy  kind  of  work,  he  was  told  that  a  place 
woiild  be  found  for  him.  The  young  scythe-maker 
so  grew  in  the  estimation  of  his  employers  that  at 
the  age  of  twenty-three  he  was  made  foreman  of 
the  company,  in  due  time  being  advanced  to  the 
positions  of  superintendent  and  president,  retiring 
from  the  company  in  1871,  after  a  service  of  nearly 
forty  years,  having  laid  aside  an  ample  competence. 
For  several  years  he  received  a  salary  of  $3,000  for 
his  services.  It  should  be  remembered,  however, 
by  all  young  men  who  read  this  sketch  that  the 
secret  of  his  successful  and  honored  career  was 
mainly  the  fact  that  the  welfare  of  his  employers 
was  always  his  first  concern.  He  did  not  spend 
his  time  clamoring  for  an  eight-hour  law;  if  his  ser- 
vices were  needed  by  the  company  for  fifteen 
hours,  they  were  rendered  with  cheerfulness. 
Politically  Mr.  Brown  was  a  republican,  and  though 
never  an  aspirant  for  office,  he  was  chosen  to  repre- 
sent Winchester  in  the  ■  legislature ;  on  many  occa- 
sions, however,  declining  political  honors  on  account 
of  the  demands  upon  his  time  by  his  business  affairs. 
Mr.  Brown's  death  occurred  at  Saratoga  Springs, 
where  he  was  at  the  time  a  temporary  visitor,  June 
I,  1884.  His  only  child,  now  Mrs.  Susan  M.  B. 
Perry,  survives  him,  residing  in  Nichols,  Conn. 


POSTSCRIPT. 

The  prepai-ation  of  the  foregoing  Sketches  was  completed  and  the  manuscript 
placed  in  the  hands  of  the  printer  about  the  first  of  May.  Since  that  date,  until  the 
present  completion  of  the  work,  the  applications  for  place  tipon  its  pages  have 
been  so  numerous  from  gentlemen  who  neglected  to  respond  earlier,  and  the  disap- 
pointment occasioned  by  their  necessary  denial  has  been  so  evident,  that  the  aiTthor 
has  been  almost  compelled  in  some  cases  to  encourage  the  hope  that  a  second 
volume  would  shortly  follow.  No  final  decision  favorable  to  such  an  undertaking 
has,  however,  yet  been  reached.  As  the  present  volume  will  doubtless  come  at 
once  tinder  the  observation  of  inost  persons  within  the  State  who  have  any 
ambition  to  appear  in  a  subsequent  similar  work,  this  Postscript  is  introduced  here 
for  the  purpose  of  inviting  all  such  to  now  signify  their  wishes  definitely  to  the 
undersigned,  with  all  convenient^  promptness.  If  the  desire  for  further  biographical 
work  in  this  line  should  thus  prove  as  general  as  many  profess  to  believe  it  to  be, 
the   publication   of   a   second   volume   would   be   undertaken   without   hesitation. 

J.     A.     SPALDING. 
Hartford,    July,    1891. 


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